Why do so many foreign commentators feel they can get away with anything they say about Japan?
The July 10 Washington Post editorial, "Awkward Japan," was particularly bewildering in its insouciant ability to ignore fact. To illustrate its assertion that Japan "punches below its weight on the world stage," it jammed together the news stories of the U.S. military's handing over of a rape suspect to the Japanese police and the protests of China and South Korea against Japanese history textbooks for junior high school.
What "common thread" did the editorialist see in the two news items? The answer: Japan's determination to "avoid disharmony at home." The editorialist then enlarged his point: "In order to suppress divisive arguments about the past, Japan has long avoided a painful reckoning with history." Suppress divisive arguments about the past?