Abe playing to a gallery

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ambiguous remarks on Friday in his speech to commemorate Japan's defeat in World War II reflect an elusive attitude toward core issues and his lack of sincere repentance for wartime crimes.

Abe's speech has invoked criticism and suspicion both at home and abroad. In an editorial, Asahi Shimbun claimed that Abe's ambiguous attitude has made people wonder for whom he was speaking. Mainichi Shimbun said that the focus of the speech, made at a time when the public approval rating for Abe's Cabinet is sagging because of people's opposition to the new security bills Abe is trying to push through parliament, had shifted from the crucial issues, such as an apology, to some lesser ones.

On Saturday, a day after Abe made these remarks and also the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, Abe's aide Koichi Hagiuda sent a cash offering on behalf of Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 Class-A war criminals are honored among the numerous war dead.