home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- WORLD, Page 41World NotesJAPANSing a Sorry Song
-
-
-
- On the rare occasions when Japanese discuss World War II, they
- usually speak of their own victimization by the militarists who
- led the country into battle and by the Americans who bombed their
- cities. Japan's brutal aggression is ignored. But last week, at a
- ceremony marking the 46th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima,
- the city's mayor, Takashi Hiraoka, for the first time apologized
- for the pain Japan caused. Noting that the "horror" began with its
- 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he said, "Japan inflicted great
- suffering on the peoples of Asia and the Pacific during its reign
- of colonial domination and war. For this we are truly sorry."
-
- Hidekatsu Tojo, 53, eldest grandson of Hideki Tojo,
- Japan's wartime Prime Minister, who was hanged for his crimes
- in 1948, is dealing with the war's legacy in a different way:
- by pursuing a singing career. His first record is a war requiem
- called Under the Southern Cross. "The reaction to Tojo's name
- has become quieter recently," he said. "Attitudes toward the war
- are changing now."
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-