Hu Jintao Visits Japan
Mitarai Fujio is Chairman of the Japanese Business Fedration – Nippon Keidanren.
He is all for Chinese President Hu Jintao coming to visit Japan – when conditions are met.
Those conditions were not articulated but one is obvious – the Chinese want the Japanese Prime minister to stop visiting Yasukuni Shring in Tokyo, which ‘honors’ Class-A Japanese criminals of WW II among the other war dead there.
Prime Minister Koizumi is due to step down in September of this year. There are high hopes that his successor will resolve the Yasukuni issue once and for all.
I may be wrong but I think a key point is understand what is meant by the word ‘honor’ in Japan. It does not always mean ‘hold in high regard.’ It can mean, ‘well I recognize that is where the dead guy is at.’
I wonder if this is what is going through the Japanese PM’s head when he visits the shrine. Tradition is important to the Japanese as it is important to all cultures.
Words and understandings, however, are not always translated across cultures properly. I think that Japan ought to be more sensitive to the Chinese and Koreans for the atrocities that were committed during the war.
But couldn’t there be a little bit more understanding on the parts of Korea and China as well? I am sure that PM Koizumi does NOT look forward to the visit.
But, Koizumi will not easily dispense with centuries of tradition either.
What do you think?
