Good flows from evil
THE 50th anniversary of the only occasions on which the world has witnessed the full horror of nuclear war should be a time to remember the more than 200,000 who died in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts and redouble condemnation of those countries now defying international opinion by continuing to test such weapons.
But it is also a time to acknowledge that the anti-nuclear sentiment which those events so deeply engrained into the Japanese nation shows how good can come out of even the most horrific of events: with Tokyo now at the forefront of the campaign to stop France and China from conducting nuclear tests.
Fifty years have not eased Japan's pain at the memory of two of its cities virtually vaporised. Historians remain divided over whether it was necessary to shed so much blood in order to end the war, especially in dropping the second bomb on Nagasaki, as highlighted by the protests in Washington over the way an air museum has depicted those events.
But Japan remains as deep-rooted as ever, not just in its opposition to nuclear weapons, but also to all forms of militarism: a feeling which runs so strong that even contributing to United Nations peace-keeping missions causes bitter controversy. Sadly the one area where Tokyo has failed to make a clean break with the past is in unambiguously apologising for the nation's war-time atrocities - a gesture which would go a long way towards easing the lingering bitterness among Western war veterans.
Hiroshima Mayor Takashi's apology for the 'unbearable suffering' inflicted on the rest of Asia is an encouragingstart, but it has not been matched by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who knows any such statement would face intense opposition in the Japanese parliament.
This apart, Tokyo is now acting as a force for good in the region, in its strenuous opposition to nuclear testing: even taking the unprecedented step of making a symbolic cut in aid to China, in protest at Beijing's last underground explosion. More recently, Paris has been feeling the brunt of Japan's pique, with some government ministers even advocating a boycott of French goods.
Although it is better to keep politics out of business, it is perhaps understandable why Japan sees nuclear issues as an exception to this rule and wants to use its economic might to strengthen the campaign to ensure no other nation will ever have to suffer what it endured.
