JAPANESE Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama projects a simple integrity and manifest sincerity that sets him apart from many of his predecessors, with the exceptions, in recent years, of Toshiki Kaifu and Morohiro Hosokawa. When Mr Murayama expresses the desire to create a country deserving of the trust of Asia and the world, as he did yesterday, there is no reason to question his honesty.
Few people outside Japan, however, would put faith in a discredited political machine whose obsolescence contrasts with the dynamism of the country's industry over the past four decades. Tokyo regards international pressure over its imperialist past as it regards pressure to open the economy: as something to be resisted. If concessions are to be made, they will be offered singly, and at a glacial pace; and for every concession considered, a quid pro quo will be sought. This strategy has served Tokyo well in economic terms vis a vis Washington, but it is not the way to build an alliance, and such an approach will win Japan no friends in Asia.
Asian governments are wary of Japan not because they are anti-Japanese, but because it would be foolish to believe the promises of politicians who lie about the past. While Japan has its own powerful and distinctive culture, there is nothing exclusively Japanese about a failure to come to terms with the past.
The main victims of the failings of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats are the Japanese people themselves. Generations of Japanese school children have been fed lies about the past, and, even as adults, these people are confused and bewildered by the hostility they sometimes encounter outside Japan.
The wartime military machine rolled through the Asia-Pacific region, systematically inflicting suffering everywhere from Harbin to Hawaii, and, indirectly, causing unbearable pain in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Asia needs a Japan that is strong enough to face up to the shame of its past, and confident enough to contribute to a vision of Asia's future.
Confidence without shame will not earn Japan trust, any more than shame without confidence would provide a basis for future partnerships between Tokyo and other Asian governments. Asia is undergoing a process of rapid economic and political development that is not necessarily to Japan's advantage. Tokyo should redouble efforts to earn forgiveness for past wrongs, if only to avoid repeating such errors in the future.