Japanese FM's remark reveals real difference

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was modest when she told a press conference after her meeting with Shinzo Abe on Monday in Tokyo that settling wartime history is a prerequisite for reconciliation. But her call for Japan to resolve issues concerning Japan's system of wartime sex slavery was loud and clear.

Yet such sincere advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears, as verified by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida when he said it is inappropriate to simply compare Japan with Germany over their postwar settlement. He told reporters that the background - what happened to Japan and Germany during World War II and what countries their neighbors are - is different.

He seems to forget that wartime Germany was a fascist country and so was wartime Japan. Both waged wars of aggression against others and the invaders of both committed wartime crimes against humanity. Unlike Kishida, we can see little difference in the fascist background of wartime Germany and Japan.