I was wondering about all that and did not understand just how the whole elective office structure would be naturally co opted by the traditional family. Of course it was and so far as that goes it has worked well enough.
It still does little to properly mend fences with their neighbors and a public display is really demanded for that. How to construct one has obviously been a challenge. Perhaps a national day of mourning honoring all the Japanese war dead combined with a national day of contrition could do the job. That would allow setting wreaths in China even.
It is amazing just how long these wartime imbalances can linger.
Why is it so difficult for Japan to apologize for WWII in contrast to Germany?
Because
the Japanese political establishment is highly hereditary . Most
politicians are the sons / daughters / in-laws of another one who ran
almost entirely on their former generation's political capital. This is
especially true at the upper end of the echelon .
For example, Shinzo Abe's mother is the daughter of Nobusuke Kishi
, who was a minister in charge of munitions for WW2 in the infamous
Tojo cabinet. and was later charged with war crime and jailed for a
short period. even on his father's side he's a 3rd generation politician
His deputy Tarō Asō somehow manage to have an even more prestigious political background , being a direct decedent of Ōkubo Toshimichi , often hailed as one of the founders of Meiji Japan. and every generation from Toshimichi to Aso have been in politics.
It
doesn't take a political scientist to tell you that for a environment
where most of the political big shots are a nearly unbroken feudal
family streaming right from Meiji era (and some even earlier. ) the
difficulty of said people coming out to condemn their ancestors whom
their entire system is built around is more than a little difficult.
Guess who was elected in his seat when he announced retirement in 2008?
I'll let you guess what this then 27 year old's young man's credential is.
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