Mr. Abe's Dangerous Revisionism

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s brand of nationalism is a becoming an ever more serious threat to Japan’s relations with the United States. His use of revisionist history is a dangerous provocation for the region, which is already struggling with China’s aggressive stance in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas.

Mr. Abe, however, seems oblivious to this reality and to the interests of the United States, which is committed to defend Japan by treaty obligation and does not want to be dragged into a conflict between China and Japan.

Mr. Abe’s nationalism can be hard to decipher, because it is not directed against any country. It is directed instead against Japan’s own history since World War II, which he finds shameful. He wants to shed what he calls the self-effacing postwar regime and recreate a renewed patriotism.

But before he gets to Japan’s postwar culture, he also whitewashes the history of the war. He and other nationalists still claim that the Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops in 1937 never happened. His government on Friday said that it would re-examine and possible rescind an apology to Korean women who were forced into sexual servitude by Japanese troops. And he insists that visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead including convicted war criminals, merely shows respect for those who sacrificed their lives for their country. Despite clear signals from Washington to refrain from visiting the shrine, he went in December.

A confrontational relationship with China at this time could help him convince a deeply pacifist people of the need for heightened defense preparedness. It seems a peculiarity of Japan that those who advocate a greater military posture tend to overlap with historical revisionists. Mr. Abe’s nationalism aside, however, neither he nor other mainstream Japanese leaders are about to enhance Japan’s military capabilities without American consent because they are deeply committed to the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

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일본 아베표 민족주의, 역사수정이 결과적으로 미일간 관계에 심각한 위협이 되고 있다는 뉴욕타임스 사설이다. 각설하고 말미에 군사력 증강은 하지 않을 거라고 예측하고 있지만, 행간의 의미는 '제발 하지 말아달라'는 뉘앙스가 역력하다. 핀란드 투르크 대학에서 만난 몇몇 유럽인들과 나눈 대화이다. American은 naive하다는데 모두가 일치했다 / 미국에 사는 전 동료의 내용을 발췌한 내용입니다.