I was very much interested in "Anthem refuseniks, and ancient legends" by Hiroaki Sato in the Oct. 23 edition. And I quite agreed with him.
For a long time I was one of the Japanese who apologized for what prewar Japan did in China, Korea and Southeast Asian countries. When I visited former Manchukuo, Japan's puppet country in China, I personally apologized for what Japan did during the war, especially at the museum of the biochemical Unit 731.
However, I have a little different attitude toward such cases recently. I try to apologize for what I personally did. I won't apologize for what our country did because those are not my own misdeeds.
Almost all the advanced countries like Britain, the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium etc. have both light and dark sides. We must consider what the world was like back in those days.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.