Roundup: Japanese, German perception of own wartime history vastly different despite factual similarities

Surveys conducted by a Japanese national daily revealed Tuesday showed that Japan's perception on wartime history and atrocities was left far behind by Germany and less Japanese thought their country developed good relations with neighbors.

The surveys, which were taken in both countries by the Asahi Shimbun, showed that 94 percent of Germans polled responded that they felt their country had developed good relations with its neighboring countries since the massacres that occurred in the region during WWII, compared to just 46 percent of Japanese respondents.

To detail, current relations with neighboring countries that Germany brutalized during the war, 39 percent of Germans said that their ties with neighbors were "very good"compared to 55 percent who said that relations are"somewhat good."

In terms of Japan-related ties in East Asia following Japan's acts of atrocities on its neighbors during the war, 45 percent of those surveyed said that Japan's ties in the region are"somewhat good"with a meager 1 percent claiming that relations were "very good."

As for the continuation of apologies to the countries that suffered at the hand of Japan's brutal militarism during the war, currently 46 percent of Japanese feel such messages of remorse should be continued, although 42 percent said that such messages were not necessary.

The figure compares to Germany where 55 percent wish messages of remorse to continue compared to 42 percent who do not.

On issues of historical education, a paltry 13 percent here said they had received sufficient education about Japan's role in WWII, compared to 48 percent of Germans who said they had been sufficiently educated about the Nazis.

Regarding war crimes trials conducted by the Allied powers after the end of WWII, just 3 percent of Japanese said they knew" very well"about the details of the Tokyo war crimes tribunal, that saw Japan's Class-A war criminals tried and convicted. Some 30 percent, however, claimed they had some knowledge about the tribunal.

As for Germany and the details of the Nuremberg trials, a far higher percentage of respondents knew about the details of the trials, compared to Japan, the surveys revealed.

While the majority of Germans though the Nuremberg trials were fair, 48 percent of Japanese respondents felt the Tokyo war crimes tribunal was flawed, but necessary to bring closure, with 32 percent believing the trails were unfair and biased in favor of the victors of WWII.

Only 16 percent of Japanese polled said the trials were fair and that those found responsible for carrying out the war were judged responsibly.

The survey was conducted by mail on 3,000 Japanese adults between March 11 and April 10, according to the Asahi, which commissioned a polling company in Germany to conduct the survey by telephone there on adults between March 11 and 24.

The survey concluded that the results of the surveys taken in both countries "directly reflect" the different actions and paths taken by the respective countries' leaders in the 70 years since the end of WWII.

Germany has long been held up as a shining example to Japan of how a nation can truly stand up to its past wrongdoings and chart a positive future alongside its neighbors, achieving not just peace and stability, but also economic prosperity and fruitful people and cultural exchanges.

German leader Angela Merkel, on a recent trip to Japan, invited Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to take a leaf out of Germany' s history book in how to deal with its tainted wartime past, and to truly make amends with those victimized at its hands, and work hard towards being reaccepted by the international community.

She said to Abe, himself a known historical revisionist, of her own country that"those who sought to deny Germany's Nazi past were blind to the present."

She added that Japan's neighbors and former victims would be more receptive if Japan squarely and honestly faced its history and it was only because Germany had honestly confronted its past, that it could be truly rehabilitated.

As Abe prepares to deliver his war statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII this summer, Germany, along with the rest of the international community who hold dear the virtues of peace and recognize the horrors of war, will be looking to the Japanese leader to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and do his best to make amends for Japan's past atrocities, while pledging to chart a course towards peace and honesty, rather than conflict and revisionism, as his actions of late, regrettably, would suggest he is doing. Endi