Commentary: Historically cowardly Abe needs a good dose of German bravery

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicking off a working visit to Japan on Monday, Tokyo would not be its opportunistic self if it did not try to turn Berlin into a cheerleader for its "normal country" bid.

When announcing Merkel's trip late last month, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Shinzo Abe administration would like to make the visit "an opportunity to send a message to the world that Japan and Germany, as partners sharing basic values, will proactively contribute to global peace and prosperity."

And in January, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that their countries "should both announce positive messages to the world mentioning past contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity."

Those remarks were a dead giveaway of the Abe administration's attempt to elevate itself to the rank of Germany on the international stage and exploit Merkel's trip to doctor its ugly image on historical issues and obtain the kind of global respect Berlin enjoys.

But this wishful scheme is just Abe's pipe dream. For starters, there is no sensible reason for Germany to debase its dignity and throw itself behind Japan's craven and irresponsible historical stance, to which China, South Korea and the broader international community are firmly opposed and from which even Japan's closest ally, the United States, keeps a good distance.

For another, even if Tokyo could cajole some sort of backing from Berlin for its aspiration to become a "normal country," Germany standing behind would not help Abe's Japan look any more normal, but only to reveal how far it is from it.

For against the backdrop of Berlin's bravery on historical reflection, Tokyo's cowardice is all the more conspicuous; against the backdrop of Berlin's sincerity in historical remorse, Tokyo's brazen impenitence looks ever more shameful.

As the world prepares to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Merkel's visit indeed presents Japan with a unique opportunity. But it is not for Tokyo to manipulate the trip for the purpose of gilding its own image, but to truly learn some historical lessons from Germany.

It is time for Abe to understand that when West German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt down at the monument to victims of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, his nation stood up.

It is time for him to recognize that glossing over Japan's past atrocities and gutting its pacifist constitution will never lead it past the threshold of a "normal country."

And it is time for him to realize that without a correct attitude to history, without the courage to face up to Japan's militarist past and take on the inherent responsibility, his dream of Japan becoming a "normal country" will never ever come true. Endi