Surprise, embarrassment, unease in Japan after Trump uses Pearl Harbor to defend Iran war
Senior US and Japanese officials tend to shy away from anything but very careful public comments about Japan’s 1941 sneak attack on US forces at Pearl Harbor.
So there was embarrassment, confusion and unease on Saturday in Japan after President Donald Trump casually used the World War II attack to justify his secrecy before launching the war against Iran.
The Japanese discomfort was compounded by the fact that the country’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was sitting awkwardly at Trump’s side as he spoke. Partly, the reaction is linked to the crucial security and economic role that the US plays for Japan, its top ally in the region. Put simply, Japan needs to make sure the US relationship thrives. That’s why Takaichi was in Washington.
But it’s also a reflection of just how fresh the political debate about Japan’s role in World War II remains here, even 80 years after its end.
Senior leaders, including Takaichi, have argued that Japan has apologised enough for what happened in the war. Takaichi herself has recently hinted at visiting Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are honoured among the 2.5 million war dead.
It is, however, somewhat startling for Japan to see these history questions spill over into a White House summit. On Friday, when asked by a Japanese reporter why he didn’t tell allies in Europe and Asia ahead of the US attack on Iran, Trump cited Pearl Harbor to defend his decision, saying, “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?” The liberal leaning Asahi newspaper said in an editorial Saturday that Trump’s comments “should not be overlooked”. “Making such a remark to justify a sneak attack and boast about its outcome is a piece of nonsense that ignores lessons from history,” Asahi said.
Social media reaction has ranged from accusations of ignorance and rudeness by the US president to claims that he didn’t see Japan as an equal partner. There were calls for Japan to protest what Trump said.
Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said in an online opinion piece published in the Nikkei newspaper Saturday that the comment signalled that Trump was “not bound by existing American common sense”.
“I get the impression that the comment was intended to bring the Japanese reporter (who asked the question) or Ms Takaichi into complicity in order to justify his sneak attack on Iran during diplomatic negotiations and without telling allied countries,” Watanabe said.
There’s also a feeling that an unspoken understanding exists between US and Japanese leaders to tread carefully on the subject. Both sides need each other, with Washington relying on Japan to host 50,000 troops and an array of powerful hi-tech weapons, and Japan relying on the US nuclear umbrella to deter hostile, nuclear-armed neighbours. Japan’s post-World War II constitution bans the use of force except for its self-defence, but Takaichi and other officials are now seeking to expand the military’s role.
When it comes to US-Japan reconciliation, many here look to the example of former leaders Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe, who in 2016 paid tribute together at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and at the Hiroshima Peace Park.
Takaichi, a hard-line conservative, was praised for not reacting to the comments by Trump, letting them pass with a roll of her eyes and a glance at her ministers seated nearby.
