Word: abely
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China is usually the first nation to protest-loudly-any perceived backsliding by Japan on its acceptance of guilt for World War II abuses. Yet, last month, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied Japan's wartime army had forced tens of thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery, igniting an international furor, Beijing stayed conspicuously quiet. China's diplomatic silence was the latest sign of an unexpected thaw in the two nations' often icy relationship...
...change began with Abe's own surprise trip to Beijing last October, which established lines of communication that had been all but ruined by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated trips to the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto memorial to Japan's war dead viewed by many nations as an irredeemable symbol of Japanese imperialism. For Abe, who had a nationalist reputation as a legislator, the move assuaged worries that ties with China would further degrade under his administration. For the leaders in Beijing, Abe's visit was an opportunity to show that China could be forward thinking...
...That the superficial rapprochement between China and Japan seems so momentous is a measure of just how far apart the neighbors have drifted. They still face a host of problems, from disputed borders to deep-seated animosity over the memory of World War II. Take security. Abe has upgraded Japan's Defense Agency to a Cabinet-level ministry, sped deployment of American ballistic missile-defense systems on Japanese soil, and is pushing for a revision of the country's pacifist constitution. Last month, after Japan signed a defense agreement with Australia, Abe spoke of the two democracies' "shared destiny...
...Tokyo, for its part, points to China's rapidly increasing military spending, which rose nearly 18% to reach $45 billion officially this year-even as Japan's own defense budget, for all of Abe's posturing, has remained virtually flat. The point is that while both nations want what one Tokyo official calls a "future-oriented relationship," the future will likely find them on opposite strategic sides. That doesn't mean they can't be good neighbors-good fences and all that-but we can expect friction...
...student textbooks told too, until the government announced on March 30 that it had ordered publishers to delete those passages. Instead one textbook now reads that Okinawans were "driven to mass suicide," without mentioning the army's role. The change is the latest controversial tweak by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who also recently denied that women were forced into sexual slavery during...