As the nation marks the 62nd anniversary of its defeat in World War II, the Japanese people should strive to reflect upon the conflict's epic costs and consequences.

In the past year, some politicians have called for discussions on Japan "going nuclear," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attempted to dilute Japan's responsibility for the Japanese military's sex slavery system, the government ordered rewriting of history textbooks to obscure the role of the Imperial Japanese Army in the mass suicides among local residents during the Battle of Okinawa, and the defense minister said that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki "could not be helped."

In addition, Mr. Abe has not withdrawn his call for a "departure from the postwar regime" — a phrase smacking of a call for a return to the pre-August 1945 regime because the Liberal Democratic Party's draft constitution proposes a creation of full-fledged armed forces, and the revision of the Fundamental Law of Education is designed to instill patriotism in children and strengthen state control of education.