Glance

Abe's remarks on Japanese history

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to the Lower House on Oct 6, 2006: "They (the 14 Class-A war criminals honored at Yasukuni Shrine) are not war criminals under Japanese law because the relatives of the convicted men receive war pensions, and one of them - wartime foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu - received a first-class award from the postwar government."

From Abe's book Toward a Beautiful Nation, published in July 2006: "Some people used to point to my grandfather as a 'Class-A war criminal suspect', and I felt strong repulsion. Because of that experience, I may have become emotionally attached to 'conservatism'.