A top Japanese envoy sought Wednesday to calm negative sentiment in the U.S. against the Shinzo Abe government's controversial take on history.
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Ambassador to Washington Kenichiro Sasae said his country has already expressed its "feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology" for wartime atrocities.
"The (Japanese) government believes that it is always important to face history head-on and with humility," he said. "It is also desirable that efforts to do so be facilitated by the progress made by historians and public intellectuals to research individual facts of history."
His piece was in reply to a editorial Saturday by the Post that criticized the Abe administration for its history views.
In the editorial titled, "An inability to face history," the Post said fury in South Korea and China over Abe's recent remarks is understandable.
Responding to a question from a local lawmaker about whether he would reconsider Tokyo's official apology in 1995 for its colonization of Korea in the past century, the conservative leader hinted at the possibility.
"The definition of what constitutes aggression has yet to be established in academia or in the international community," he said. "Things that happened between nations will look differently depending on which side you view them from."
The Post contended that Abe's rhetoric has put some of his accomplishments in recent months at risk.
Japan occupied Korea from 1910-45 and it also occupied Manchuria and then the rest of China. Japan also invaded Malaya and committed aggression, said the Post.
"Why, decades after Germany solidified its place in Europe by facing history honestly, are facts so difficult for some in Japan to acknowledge?" it asked.
In an op-ed article carried by the Post along with the Japanese ambassador's piece, meanwhile, a Japanese national here said Tokyo should follow in the footsteps of Germany.
"I often have wondered at how Japan's denial contrasts with Germany's atonement," said Yuki Henninger, who resides in Vienna, Virginia. (Yonhap News)
