http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-history-haunts-shinzo-abes-vision-for-japan-1430076754

How History Haunts Shinzo Abe’s Vision for Japan

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Washington, he must sell Americans on his vision of a newly vibrant Japan while quelling doubts about his views on World War II

By Gerard Baker and Jacob M. Schlesinger
April 26, 2015 3:32 p.m. ET

TOKYO—When Shinzo Abe goes to Washington for a pomp-filled visit this week, the Japanese leader faces a delicate balancing act: selling Americans on his vision of the future—a newly vibrant, muscular, more equal Japanese partner—while trying to quell doubts stoked by his views of the past.

A core message: “One plus one will finally become two,” Mr. Abe said during a two-part interview with The Wall Street Journal last week, describing the significance of the modernized military alliance he plans to unveil with President Barack Obama. “The alliance will become even more capable” in policing Asia, he said, once Japan sheds some of its postwar pacifist restrictions.

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Yet from the U.S. perspective, there is one irritant nagging at the relationship. That is Mr. Abe’s ambivalent embrace of apologies for World War II-era aggression. Over 2½ years in power, he and supporters have repeatedly gotten tangled in historical controversies—such as by demanding that a U.S. textbook publisher tone down descriptions of wartime brutalities.

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When he visits Washington, Mr. Abe will be greeted by protests on Capitol Hill. Korean-American groups, among others, plan to demand a more forthcoming concession to “comfort women” forced to work at Japanese military brothels during the war. On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Honda, a California Democrat and Japanese-American, took to the House floor to introduce an 87-year-old comfort-woman survivor and said, “It is time for Prime Minister Abe to be clear and unequivocal, and issue an irrefutable apology.”

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