TOKYO (Reuters) - More than 82,000 well-wishers paid their respects to
Emperor Akihito who turned 85 on Sunday, his last birthday celebration
at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace before stepping down next year...
Although he cannot directly influence government policy, Akihito has
created a broader consciousness of Japan’s wartime past throughout his
symbolic reign, experts said.
In comments made to the media ahead
of his birthday, Akihito said “it is important not to forget that
countless lives were lost in World War Two...and to pass on this history
accurately to those born after the war”.
Meanwhile....
[Japan Today] TOKYO
As Japan's defense policy seems to have taken a new twist
through a decision to seek the deployment of an aircraft carrier,
doubts remain over whether the plan will best serve its national
interests as it struggles with China's growing threat.
Possessing an aircraft carrier has been controversial in and outside
Japan in light of its militarist past and the pacifist postwar
Constitution, which restricts the country from possessing what are
deemed to be highly offensive armaments.
But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government ventured into the move by
endorsing on Tuesday a new five-year defense buildup program that
includes a plan to transform existing Izumo-class flat-topped
destroyers, currently used as helicopter carriers, into ships capable of
launching short takeoff fighter jets.
Keeping the peace is an old man's sport. Younger men invariably 'know better.'
Still, the report sounds better than the US has a “Rogue President.”
ReplyDeleteGiven today’s Japan, I wonder if enough of the population of Japan is listening to the message of emperor Akihito.
I must be young enough to sympathize with the sentiment to be able to well defend one’s living space, turf, country.
I wonder if Japan’s Robotics Industry is providing superior drones to their country’s military.