Nationalistic talk in Japan threatens U.S. ties

Nationalistic talk in Japan threatens U.S. ties
TOKYO  NY TIMES  19Feb2014
BY MARTIN FACKLER
A series of defiantly nationalistic comments,
including remarks critical of the
United States, by close political associates
of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has
led analysts to warn of a growing chill
between his right-wing government
and the Obama administration, which
views Japan as a linchpin of its strategic
pivot to Asia.
Rebuttals from the American Embassy
in Japan have added to concerns
of a falling-out between Japan and the
United States, which has so far welcomed
Mr. Abe’s efforts to strengthen
Japan’s economy and military outreach
in the region to serve as a counterbalance
to China. The comments, which express
revisionist views of Japan’s World
War II history, have also led to renewed
claims from Japan’s neighbors, particularly
China and South Korea, that Mr.
Abe is leading his nation to the right,
trying to stir up patriotism and gloss
over the country’s wartime history.
One of the most direct criticisms of
the United States came this week, when
Seiichi Eto, a governing party lawmaker
and aide to Mr. Abe, posted a
video online in which he criticized the
Obama administration for expressing
disappointment in the prime minister’s
recent visit to a shrine. The visit to the
shrine, which honors the war dead including
war criminals, stoked anger in
South Korea and China, which both
suffered under Imperial Japanese rule.
‘‘It is I who am disappointed in the
United States,’’ said Mr. Eto in the video
on YouTube, which was removed on
Wednesday as the prime minister’s office
sought to control the diplomatic
damage. ‘‘Why doesn’t America treat
Japan better?’’ he added.
The disconnect between Washington
and its strongest Asian ally comes at a
time of rising regional frictions that Mr.
Abe has likened to Europe on the eve of
World War I. The disputes over history
and territory have complicated the
United States’ already fraught attempts
to persuade Japan and Korea to present