Has Japan ever apoligized for Pearl Harbor

Why would some think the grandchildren should apologize for the error of their grandfathers?

History tells us that the Japanese mistreated those taken by their war machine, such as the Chinese and the Americans taken as POWs. And I believe many of the children killed by the fire bombing of Tokyo or the nuking of Hiroshima had never mistreated prisoners.

A saying of today is "it is time to turn the page." What is the basis for putting the wrongdoings of the past behind us, and working together based on the present reality?

 

Great post, Salty. I like that first article linked to. It was succinct and factual, giving those statements that were supposedly apologies.

There are many specific actions in the war that Japan never apologized for, as far as I know. I never heard of an apology for Pearl Harbor while I lived in Japan (several decades). They should also apologize for: Unit 731, which tortured prisoners of war and used them for "scientific" research; the "Rape of Nanking," in which they surrounded the Chinese city, and commenced to torture, rape, and kill as many as 200,000 inhabitants; the Koreans made to be slaves in the mines of Japan; the effort to completely erase the culture of Korea and replace it with the Japanese culture, even down to the religion and language; etc.

I once stopped my motor scooter at an old man's back yard and tried to give him a tract. He refused to take it and said, "Let me tell you a story. I was fighting the Russians in North China in a tank. [Japanese tanks had very little armor.] For some reason our tank stopped, and right then a Russian shell landed where we would have been. I would have died if we had been hit. So I do not fear death. I also do not fear punishment for sin. I sinned in the war. My country sinned. But I do not regret it."

I've had other, similar conversations. So there are many Japanese with no regrets or repentance about the war.

 

Cool! I'm sure they had a great time. A great place to visit, but a stressful place to live.

But just look how sane and normal I am after---SQUIRREL--what was my name again?