Pope says never again, recalling ‘horrific’ WWII atomic bombings

The legislation passed Japan’s lower house of parliament in May amid widespread criticism and a parliamentary walkout from opposition parties. But surveys show a majority of voters are opposed to what would be a significant shift in Japan’s defense policy.

Abe, in brief remarks, said that Japan, as the only country to experience nuclear attacks, would seek to play a leading role in realizing a world without such weapons.

Last week a government panel set up to advise on the wording of Abe’s war statement condemned Japan’s colonising of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and parts of China from 1931.

An initial draft did not include the word “apology”, some media reports have said, which would probably anger China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan’s sometimes brutal past occupation and colonisation run deep.

“Worries and anxieties are now spreading among us that this pledge made 70 years ago and the principle for peace in the Japanese constitution may be now undermined”, he said.

Abe’s supporters say his renewed drive “to loosen its shackles on the military is simply a long-overdue bid to defend his country in an increasingly threatening world”, in particular rising tensions in East and Southeast Asia, according to the Monitor.

It is high time for Abe and his cabinet to realize that the best way to commemorate those who perished in the atomic bombings is to sincerely reflect upon its war past, because those who can not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The so-called Murayama Statement said Japan “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations”.

Nagasaki and Hiroshima were legitimate military and industrial targets, and Japan had moved huge portions of its military industry into civilian housing areas.

The tweet was sent out on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on the Japanese city.

Global Zero partnered with the University of Oregon bike program and other organizations to mourn those lost in the bombing, as well as to advocate for the end of nuclear warfare.

Seventy years after the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima and the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, “this tragic event still gives rise to horror and revulsion”, the pope said Aug. 9 after reciting the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Elsewhere, protesters demonstrating outside the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in southern Japan demanded the cancellation of its planned restart next week, The Associated Press reported.