Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The war-end anniversary is a yearly flashpoint for friction with neighboring countries over Yasukuni and historical memory, and this year two disputes overlapped. China's Foreign Ministry criticized Prime Minister Takaichi's memorial address, saying it "avoided reflection and lessons and set history in reverse." Separately, comedian Ota Hikari of Bakusho Mondai said on TBS's Sunday Japon that "it would be ideal for the prime minister to be able to make an official Yasukuni visit" and that the side which dropped the atomic bombs also committed a war crime, prompting a South Korean professor to demand a public apology. These fed a recurring argument over whether admitting or denying wartime responsibility better serves the national interest.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Interference backlash — Many treated a foreign government's criticism of the address, and a demand that an individual apologize, as "meddling in domestic affairs" and an intrusion on free speech.
  • The national-interest calculus — A debate between "already settled by the San Francisco Peace Treaty" and "admit it as an international-PR strategy," each argued as the better play for Japan.
  • Split over Ota's remark — Some praised him for raising a substantive question; others faulted him for making light of friction with neighbors.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

China's Foreign Ministry criticizes the memorial address

China's Foreign Ministry said Takaichi's memorial address "set history in reverse."

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「歴史を逆行させた」中国外務省が高市総理の戦没者追悼式式辞を非難 ift.tt/S0ulYRI

newsdig.tbs.co.jp「歴史を逆行させた」中国外務省が高市総理の戦没者追悼式式辞を非難 | TBS NEWS DIG高市総理が戦没者追悼式の式辞で「反省」という言葉を使わなかったことについて、中国外務省の報道官は、「歴史を逆行させた」と述べました。中国外務省　林剣 報道官「挨拶において反省や教訓を回避し、侵略の罪…
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Sources: Yahoo! news, 2ch

Comments:

  • "Not even worth engaging with."
  • "There they go losing it again."
  • "What about Tiananmen? What about the Cultural Revolution?"
  • "A country that doesn't reflect on war has no future."
  • "They can't say it to Russia, though."
  • "For a red imperialist country 150 years behind the times to say that is laughable."
  • "They just can't help wanting attention, huh, lol."
  • "Right? Since you'll be criticized anyway, he should've just visited Yasukuni."
  • "China's foolish, isn't it? It had a good model in Japan, yet became a country rotted by the Communist Party's self-interest."

Debate over admitting vs. denying wartime responsibility

A thread arguing over whether admitting or denying wartime responsibility serves Japan's national interest.

Sources: 2ch

Comments:

  • "If anything, haven't we already admitted it? What was the San Francisco Peace Treaty for?"
  • "It's completely settled, though."
  • "Honestly, Japan's argument has little chance of prevailing internationally, so it'd be more useful to just admit it and pivot to crafting the mood that Japan is reflecting while they still refuse to reconcile."
  • "Japan's wartime responsibility is all settled. If there are individual claims, please take them up with your own country."
  • "The approach is bad—there's not enough appeal to the world. We should learn from Germany: appeal our apologies relentlessly until it sinks in, then rebuff the claims. In fact, Germany uses this method to grovel at Auschwitz while shrewdly demanding reparations from the countries that occupied it."

Ota Hikari's Yasukuni remark and a Korean professor's apology demand

Comedian Ota Hikari called an official Yasukuni visit ideal, and a South Korean professor demanded a public apology.

Sources: Yahoo! news, 2ch

Comments:

  • "Why should someone have to publicly apologize just for stating a personal opinion?"
  • "Either way, Korea has nothing to do with this. The US, the Philippines, or China would, but not Korea."
  • "The second they don't like something, they demand a public apology, lol—even though they'd never do it themselves, lol."
  • "If it's Sunday Japon, they staged the whole thing themselves."
  • "Ota goes full net-right sometimes, huh!"
  • "If you're going to say that to someone—to a nation's prime minister, no less—then go pay your respects yourself. Though I guess that's not really the point of his comment, you crap comedian."
  • "Whatever the matter, I can't picture Ota apologizing, though."
  • "A media geisha who fawns to the right and to the left."
  • "Enshrining together the Class A, B, and C war criminals who led or carried out the calamity of war—I have my doubts about that. What do you all think?"