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2025 August 13 - 19 TOP3 [POLITICS]

JCP issues statement on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war

Japanese Communist Party Chair Tamura Tomoko on August 15 issued a statement on the 80th anniversary of the war’s end. The full text of the statement follows:

On the 80th Anniversary of the End of the War

August 15, 2025
TAMURA Tomoko, Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Japanese Communist Party

On this 80th anniversary of the end of the War, we extend our deepest condolences to all those, in Japan and abroad, who suffered and perished as a result of the aggressive war and colonial rule imposed by Japanese militarism.

Japan’s war of aggression claimed over 20 million lives throughout the Asia-Pacific. Under colonial rule, countless people endured atrocities such as plunder, violence, and sexual assault. Within Japan, the escalation and prolongation of the war brought devastating consequences: the ground battles of Okinawa, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and air raids across the country, leaving more than 3.1 million Japanese dead. Sixty percent of Japanese soldiers who perished in battle died not from combat, but from starvation or illness. It is essential that this history of the war and colonial rule be recognized as a shared national understanding and passed on to future generations.

The Japanese Communist Party reaffirms the pledge enshrined in the Constitution to never again repeat the horrors of war and will do everything in its power to stop the ongoing, unconstitutional military buildup and the push toward a “war-oriented state.”

On this 80th anniversary, the question of how the Japanese government confronts its history of aggression and colonial rule is being put to the test. A clear reckoning with this past is indispensable for building relations of peace, friendship, and cooperation with the nations and peoples of Asia, and for creating lasting peace in East Asia through diplomacy.

Japan’s position on historical issues has been expressed in three important documents: the 1995 Murayama Statement, acknowledging “colonial rule and aggression”; the 1993 Kono Statement, recognizing the military’s involvement and coercion in the “comfort women” issue; and the 1998 Japan–South Korea Joint Declaration, expressing reflection on colonial rule over Korea. Together, these documents represent the Japanese government’s highest level of acknowledgment and reflection on its wartime past.

However, the 2015 Abe Statement, issued on the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, glorified the Japanese-Russo War—which paved the way for Korea’s colonization—and reversed the spirit of reflection embodied in those three documents. On this 80th anniversary, the government must clearly state its intent to correct that reversal and uphold the core principles of the Murayama Statement, the Kono Statement, and the Japan–South Korea Joint Declaration.

From this standpoint, we urge the government to acknowledge the “comfort women” and “forced labor” issues as grave human rights violations inseparably linked to colonial rule, and to fulfill its political responsibility until the honor and dignity of all victims are fully restored.

We further urge the government, based on a sincere reflection on its misguided wartime policies, to offer an apology and provide compensation to civilian victims of the war, including atomic bomb survivors and those who suffered from air raids.

Visits by political leaders to Yasukuni Shrine—which served as a spiritual pillar for mobilizing the nation for war—amount to an implicit endorsement of Japan’s war of aggression. Political parties and Diet members must be fully aware of this. Visits by Self-Defense Forces (SDF) officials are even more alarming, as they suggest a dangerous regression by implying continuity between the wartime military and today’s SDF. We call for the establishment of a clear political principle that prohibits visits by the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, and senior SDF officials.

Since the end of the war, political forces lacking reflection on Japan’s wars of aggression have held the center of power. Today, under their leadership, Japan faces a grave danger as these forces, often at the behest of the United States, push forward a program aimed at turning the country into a “war-oriented state.”

Since the second Abe administration, Japan has discarded its ”exclusively defensive defense" policy, forced through security legislation authorizing the exercise of the right to collective self-defense, and accelerated its shift toward participating in overseas wars alongside the United States, while embarking on a sweeping military buildup. Even more alarming, it has come to light that Japan—the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings—is now conducting joint exercises with the U.S. that envision the use of nuclear weapons.

Peace cannot be built on a vicious cycle of military confrontation. The Japanese Communist Party, together with the people, will stand firm against this reckless military buildup that threatens both peace and livelihoods. We put forward our “Proposals for Peace Creation in East Asia”—a diplomatic initiative rooted in Article 9 of the Constitution, founded on the principles of diplomacy over force and inclusion over exclusion—and we are determined to work tirelessly, both domestically and internationally, to bring this vision to life.

Forces that have long glorified wars of aggression, justified colonial rule, and falsified history have remained entrenched at the center of Japanese politics. These forces have been one of the roots of today’s surge in extreme right-wing and xenophobic movements. Stirring hostility toward foreigners and spreading discrimination and division across society is a grave violation of democracy and human rights, and can never be tolerated. History warns us that once unleashed, discrimination against foreigners eventually turns inward—branding citizens who oppose war as “unpatriotic” and paving the way for renewed militarism and colonialism. We will stand firm against historical revisionism, discrimination, and division, and, together with all who cherish diversity and coexistence, devote our efforts to overcoming the dangers of extreme right-wing and xenophobic movements.

Eighty years after the war’s end, humanity has made great progress toward peace and respect for human rights. This is the global mainstream.

Movements to confront the legacies of colonialism and slavery, and to demand apologies, are spreading across the globe. At the 2001 United Nations World Conference against Racism, the Durban Declaration proclaimed that "wherever and whenever [colonialism] occurred, it must be condemned and its reoccurrence prevented." More than twenty years later, this declaration continues to exert a living moral force.

Since 1945, the Hibakusha—the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—have spoken out tirelessly against the inhumanity of nuclear weapons. Their decades-long appeal finally bore fruit in the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017, which entered into force in 2021. Today, 73 states have ratified and 94 have signed the treaty, forming a powerful global movement surrounding the nuclear-armed states and those clinging to nuclear weapons.

At this year’s World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, a powerful new wave of international solidarity took shape—calling not only for the abolition of nuclear weapons, but also for opposition to military expansion, for the creation of a peaceful order grounded in the UN Charter, and for resistance to xenophobia.

Rooted in its 103-year history of steadfast dedication to peace and anti-war struggle, the Japanese Communist Party reaffirms its determination to continue advancing the global mainstream of peace.