JCP calls for friendship with Asian nations on anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII

Japanese Communist Party leaders took to the streets in all 47 prefectures on August 15, the 56th anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII.

This year's anniversary was marked by a sharp confrontation between war and peace.

The forces endorsing the prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine and the controversial history textbook which gloss over the Japanese war of aggression were confronted by peace forces which call for reflection on the past Japanese war of aggression and defense of the Constitution's Article 9.

Presenting the JCP as the only Japanese political party that has consistently opposed the war of aggression, JCP leaders and parliamentary members called for a direct confrontation with the forces which glorify the past war of aggression.

Speaking in front of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Shii Kazuo, JCP Executive Committee chair, stressed that the scars left by Japan's aggression in Asia are so deep that no heart-to-heart friendship can be built without Japan expressing remorse for what it did.

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), the Japan Peace Committee, and two other peace organizations joined together in a street campaign at Yurakucho Station in Tokyo.

On the same day, five cabinet members, including Defense Agency Director-General Nakatani Gen, visited Yasukuni Shrine, a war shrine which enshrines among others Class-A war criminals. Another five cabinet ministers visited the shrine earlier. (end)