This year Japan appears to be greeting the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II without much political commotion. But a speech nine days earlier should not be dismissed as an insignificant event.

On the night of Aug. 6, the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Mr. Toshio Tamogami, a former Air Self-Defense Force chief of staff — speaking at the very place where the world's first nuclear attack brought unprecedented devastation — called upon Japan to arm itself with nuclear weapons to avoid a "third nuclear attack." This is a despicable suggestion both morally and politically. If Japan develops nuclear weapons it would not only trigger a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia but also turn our nation into a pariah state.

Mr. Tamogami was sacked on Oct. 31, 2008, from his ASDF post over an essay he wrote stating that it is "false" to accuse Japan of being an aggressor nation before and during World War II. Mr. Tamogami, a former general, makes frequent appearances in the media and at gatherings — a sign that a segment of Japanese society supports a revisionist view of Japan's 20th-century wars.

One trait of this revisionism is the vehement attack on the official apology issued by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on Aug. 15, 1995 — the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II — for the "tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations," that Japan caused "through its colonial rule and aggression."

The fact that successive administrations have upheld the statement's position carries significant weight. It is clear that a refusal by Japan to acknowledge its past aggression and colonialism would cause the international community to lose its trust in Japan and severely compromise Japan's moral standing.

Squarely facing Japan's 20th century wars is not "masochism," as revisionists claim, but part of the process of learning the right lesson from history: that Japan's militarism brought immense destruction and suffering to other peoples as well as to the Japanese. Allowing this lesson to go unlearned greatly raises the risk that Japan will make a similar mistake in the future.