Japan shouldn't repeat mistakes of the past

On the 77th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender at the end of World War II, over 100 Japanese people assembled in Tokyo on Monday to protest against moves to amend its pacifist Constitution and to call for removing the Yasukuni Shrine.

In contrast, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, sent ritual offerings to the shrine, while the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura visited the shrine the day before.

This is a good example of how the nation's leaders betray the interests of the people by forgetting its militarist past and honoring war criminals.

Japan inflicted untold suffering on people in all the countries they invaded. In China alone, there were 35 million casualties. There were also many in Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mongolia and Malaysia. Wherever the Japanese army went, it committed massacres and atrocities.

The fascist regime took the sons of farmers and working families in Japan and turned them into killing machines. They were actually cannon fodder who died meaninglessly to fulfill the dreams of a conquering regime.

That's why the Japanese politicians' move of shamelessly honoring their war criminals draws fierce criticism. And it will get worse if Japan amends its Constitution and revives Japan's military ambitions again.

As there are external forces keeping an eye on regional affairs and preparing to intervene at an opportune moment, the ambitions of a few Japanese politicians might drag the region into a deeper abyss of military confrontation. That's a scenario that must be avoided at all cost.

The key to preventing that lies in certain Japanese politicians correcting their mistakes and returning to the right path.