Emperor, empress to participate in wreath-laying ceremony in Hawaii

"The cemetery at Punchbowl Crater on Oahu is the burial place for 34,000 veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War."

I went there several years ago and it was a very moving experience.

"Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are not scheduled to visit Pearl Harbor during next month’s trip to Hawaii...."

It's a shame they don't have the courage to go and honor the memory of so many that his father sent to their deaths with his approval of a cruel, calculated sneak attack.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

pathat, all attacks are sneak attacks even if they are suprise sneak attacks which is a xymoron or I am one too.

Birds being let out of the cage (on long leashes).

Let lei layers lay.

Pathat, so you're suggesting they visit Yasukuni? I don't get it.

Yet the princess (forgot her name) is still locked up in the palace while the rest of the family get to travel?

No "Remember Pearl Harbor" on this visit. Seems a bit "sneaky" to me that they sidestep the most significant war memorial in Hawaii, where Japan's forces--in his father's name--began the Pacific War with the attack on the U.S.

Why can't the Japanese just face up to history?

More people are buried in the Punchbowl than are entombed in the U.S.S. Arizona. Added to that is the fact you can hold more people at one time at the Punchbowl than you can at one time at the Arizona Memorial. It makes more sense to render honors there, once you figure in press corps and other spectators.

I have to say from an international perspective it would be more significant if they visited Pearl Harbour and layed a wreath there. I dont know the facts about Punchbowl but Pearl Harbour would garnish more press for the Royal family and go some way to addressing the war.

I wonder if they will stop at LV in Waikiki...the Empress must be really looking forward to this (if she can escape her minders for 5 minutes).

Why can't the Japanese just face up to history?

Cause they lost. Same as the US speaks about the Vietnam war, Mai Lai and Abu Ghrab. Embarrassing at best and painful at worst.

Good for US Japn ties I think. It's a nice jesture.

Aren't "preemptive" attacks okay now? I thought the previous US administration retroactively legitimized the attack on Pearl Harbor through their own offensive against another country with whom no war had yet been declared? Or does it only count when it happens to America? Who will represent the US during its wreath-laying ceremony in Baghdad?

Visiting Pearl Harbour has more to do with WWII vets being up in arms. Native Hawaiians actually like Japanese tourists better than mainland tourists.

I wonder if the Emperor & Empress were actually asked which of the two places THEY thought was best to go to? Somehow I doubt it. This is one of those organised by numbers tours that all royalty seem to do.

motytrah (at 04:36 AM JST)

“Native Hawaiians actually like Japanese tourists better than mainland tourists.”

That might be because Native Hawaiians class “mainlanders” as occupiers who invaded their islands & whom they cannot get rid off. Which if you think about it is true.

Hawkeye: Thanks for taking the bait hook, line and sinker. Semantics aside, I'll just use the popular, albeit grammatically dubious expression, "It was what it was."

Sydenham: Yes, I think the Emperor should visit Yasukuni Shrine annually, even though his father strongly disagreed with the decision to enshrine certain war criminals and stopped going three decades ago.

The decision-presumably by the Imperial Household Agency-for the Emperor and Empress not to visit Pearl Harbor is a wrong one.

I shed a few tears on the USS Arizona Memorial. It would do the Emperor some good to do the same at Yasukuni Shrine and Pearl Harbor each year.

Hopefully, he will feel sincere regret for the actions of his father and the militarists who controlled Japan at the time of WWII and launched a catastrophic conflict that resulted in the deaths of millions, including so many of the Emperor's own subjects.

Americans should never forget Pearl Harbor, and they should make sure the Japanese do not, either.