Akihito traveled to China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — all places that had suffered from Japan’s wartime aggression.
At every stop, he honored Japan’s war dead while also paying tribute to its victims. At every stop, he spoke of peace, promising his nation would never repeat the horrors of war.
Though many said it was not enough, his pacifist message helped rehabilitate Japan’s reputation abroad. At home, opinion was divided.
With the end of the American occupation, a fault line had emerged in Japan over how to think about the war. Some on the right sought to minimize the Imperial Army’s actions, and derided Akihito’s “apology tour,” arguing that Japan had apologized enough.
A planned visit to Pearl Harbor in 1994 was derailed by nationalist protests. Akihito laid a wreath at a war monument a few miles from the site of the Japanese attack instead.
Under the Constitution, the emperor is barred from participating in politics. Akihito nevertheless served as a check on Japan’s far right. As traditionalists, they revered the monarchy. Yet they chafed at his refusal to let the nation forget its past.
In 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed through legislation that opened the door to allowing the Japanese military to fight in foreign conflicts. The same year, Akihito added a phrase to his annual address on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender.
“Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse,” he said, “I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated.”
The “deep remorse” was new, and it seemed an unmistakable rebuke of Mr. Abe. He has repeated the phrase every year since.
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