Commentary: Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor won't whitewash Japan's "original sin"

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's upcoming visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii won't whitewash Japan's original sin on history at a time when the country continues to re-write the past and ignore the pleas of its victims for a genuine apology.

Abe, unpopular in Asia and the world at large for his unapologetic approach to Japan's wartime atrocities and arbitrary pursuit of militarism, will visit Pearl Harbor in late December, accompanied by the U.S. President Barack Obama.

The surprise announcement will make Abe the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit the site of a Japanese sneak attack on the U.S. force on Dec. 7, 1941.

However, the world - including the United States - shouldn't be fooled by Japan's move because it overlooks Abe's desire for historical revisionism and military ambitions.

The trip is widely believed to be an attempt to relieve Japan of its past war debts to the United States and demonstrate the importance of the close ties between the former adversaries, amid uncertainties lingering over the shape of the alliance under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

But Abe's trip won't go far enough.

Although Abe will visit Pearl Harbor to mourn those who died and portray Japan has a peaceful nation, don't expect an apology for the attack 75 years ago.

Abe's ultimate dream is as clear as daylight. Since starting his second term in office in 2012, the prime minister has begun tearing apart Japan's post-war constitution, including exercising the right to collective self-defense, enacting new security laws and falsifying historical accounts and textbooks.

In fact, the upcoming visit to Pearl Harbor is only a diplomatic show elaborated by the Abe administration to send out misleading messages about World War II while failing to reconcile with those Asian nations that suffered at Japan's hands.

Perhaps there's been reconciliation between Japan and the United States, but the same cannot be said about Japan and its Asian neighbors.

Japan's reconciliation with the U.S. should not mean the former is off the hook for all of its past war crimes in Asia. Japan must acknowledge its past militarism if it wishes to gain the respect of its Asian neighbors. A trip to Pearl Harbor won't cut it. Endi