Redemption or self-deception

The attempts of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other politicians to change history, combined with his visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A and hundreds of lesser war criminals, on Dec 26, has further soured relations between China and Japan. Especially nauseating has been the denial of "Nanjing Massacre" and trivialization of the "comfort women" issue by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) chief Katsuto Momii.

Abe says he visited Yasukuni to pray for the souls of the people who laid their lives for Japan. But if he is really keen on doing so, he can visit Tokyo's Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, which houses the remains of unidentified Japanese who died during World War II.

What redemption is Abe seeking by praying to war criminals who were responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the massacre and rape of millions of people in countries neighboring Japan? Or is he trying to invoke the ghost of his grandfather, role model and former Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who escaped conviction as a Class-A war criminal at the Tokyo Trials, to rebuild Japan into an aggressive military power?