Shinzo Abe To Visit Pearl Harbor

Above, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It has been a long time in coming, but a visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by a Japanese prime minister will be taking place this month.

Newsline reported:

Tokyo, Japan – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Monday that he will become the first incumbent Japanese leader to set foot in Pearl Harbor. Abe’s visit signifies an important milestone to the place where Japan started its war against the US in WWII. 

In the televised press conference, Abe mentioned he will visit the American naval base along with President Barrack Obama. The trip is scheduled on December 26 to 27 during his travel to Hawaii. 

The trip will reciprocate Obama’s visit to Hiroshima City in May. The United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city near the end of WWII in 1945. 

The Prime Minister said, “We must never repeat the horror of war.” Abe added, “I want to express that determination as we look to the future, and at the same time send a message about the value of U.S.-Japanese reconciliation.” 

Also, Abe’s visit marks the forthcoming 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

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