Shame in denial of massacre

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's remark that the Japanese government should face up to its wartime crimes during her visit to Japan on Monday sent a good warning to the Japanese public that they are being misled by political bias.

Merkel said that her country was lucky to be reintroduced and accepted by the international community after the terrible days of Nazi rule and the Holocaust. "I think it was possible because Germany did face its past squarely."

But unlike Germany, Japan has never fully done this, a Xinhua commentary says.