国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Japans Abe ends non-apology tour to Pearl Harbor_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Japans Abe ends non-apology tour to Pearl Harbor

The attack came as a shock to the Americans and directly led to U.S. entry into World War II.

Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

For years, Abe and his cohorts had refused to reckon with Japanese aggression during World War II and the stealthy attack at Pearl Harbor had for long been described as an inevitable incident caused by U.S.-led oil embargo that wreaked havoc on the Japanese imperial empire.

By whitewashing the Japanese wartime history and highlighting the historic devastation caused by U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, right-wing Japanese politicians, including Abe, helped to implant a distorted historical narrative in some Japanese, who till now still believe that the Imperial Japan was the victim, rather than the initiator of the war.

"It's incredibly important (to know about the war) because I strongly feel that if we don't know history then we are at risk of repeating the dangers of what happened in history," said Cruick Shank, a visitor from U.S. State of Massachusetts.

Abe's decision to visit Pearl Harbor came about six months after Obama visited Hiroshima.

Apart from reciprocating Obama's visit to Hiroshima, Abe's trip to Pearl Harbor was believed to be the latest step by the Japanese government to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance before Trump's inauguration next January.