hankyoreh

Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio announced his “Asia policy” in Singapore two days ago. The main gist of his policy is a pledge to contribute to achieving peace, stability and prosperity in Asia based on a spirit of friendship with the U.S.-Japan alliance as a main pillar. This appeared conscious of a speech given by U.S. President Barack Obama the day before in Tokyo, where he said that the U.S. would strengthen its involvement in Asian issues as a “Pacific nation.”

While explaining about his pursuit of an East Asian community, Prime Minister Hatoyama said that even though more than 60 years have passed since Japan caused great harm and suffering to many people in Asian nations, no true reconciliation has been realized. Hatoyama also said that the model from his concept of an East Asian is the “anti-war community” that had been created after much effort principally between Germany and France, two European nations that had fought each other in two major wars. Since before his inauguration, Hatoyama has said that he has the “courage to look squarely at the past,” and we applaud his frank awareness of history and the genuineness of his determination to clear away the darkness of the past and move ahead into the future.

Indeed, the Japanese government’s historical understanding has changed greatly since Hatoyama arrived on the scene. He and Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya have taken every opportunity they get to pledge to carry on and further develop the 1995 statement by Murayama Tomiichi, in which the then-Prime Minister apologized for Japan’s invasions and colonial rule. Okada has emphasized actions over words and has presented Korean-Chinese-Japanese jointly-produced history textbooks as an ideal for the future. Recently, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Japanese Emperor Akihito’s accession to the throne, he said, “My greatest worry is that Japan is forgetting about history.” 　

However, these warm sentiments represent only the cozy part of the picture. A greater percentage of history textbooks made by right-wingers have been adopted in Japan, and the right-wing groups have grown more vehement in their opposition to local voting rights for foreigners, including overseas Koreans living in Japan.

While we have welcomed the reflective mode of the Hatoyama administration, people in South Korea and other neighboring countries have been reluctant to send a full-scale vote of confidence. Countless times in the past, we have seen a Japanese prime minister make such a reflection, only to have it undermined by thoughtless remarks from politicians or moves by conservatives and right-wing forces. Hatoyama himself certainly knows that gaining the trust of the people in neighboring countries is key to the successful pursuit of an East Asian community. A shortcut to this is offering an action, rather than words of apology or reflection, to show that Japan has truly changed by addressing at least one of the major outstanding issues, such as textbook authorization or the Yasukuni Shrine.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]