LONDON -- European issues inevitably seem remote to readers in Japan just as Far Eastern problems are remote to the public in Britain. But no one concerned about world peace can be other than apprehensive about friction between major powers in the Far East, especially against the background of threats to Taiwan from China.
The more serious parts of the media in Britain have tended to be critical of Japan for failing to come to terms with its past activities in Asia and for approving history textbooks that gloss over tragic episodes in the Japanese occupations of China, Korea and countries in Southeast Asia.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, Japan's memorial to its war dead, in an official capacity have also been considered, at best, insensitive and, at worst, pandering to rightist sentiments. But responsible commentators have given due prominence to Koizumi's repetition of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's 1995 apology for the behavior of Japanese Imperial forces, noting that the latest brouhaha over approved history textbooks is somewhat artificial, not least because approval of a textbook does not necessarily mean that it will be used in a particular school.