Something About Anniversaries

At the conclusion of the annual ASEAN meetings, Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Southeast Asian leaders Tuesday he failed to understand why his Chinese counterpart refused a one on one meeting with him during the conference. It is ironic that the day Koizumi made these comments just happened to be the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. It was 68 years ago today that the Japanese went into Nanjing, China, and, in a period of one month, killed an estimated 300,000 innocent Chinese and raped an estimated 20,000 women and children. South Korean and Chinese leaders have repeatedly asked Koizumi to stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, a place that honors, among others, those responsible for the Massacre. I bet this anniversary never even crossed Koizumi's mind as he made his comments to the leaders. The U.S. seems so worried about China's military build up. I think I'd be more concerned about Japan's ambitions to reinstate it's military.