Prime Minister of Japan’s Schedule April 27-May 3, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015
AM
(Local time in Boston, U.S.)
Visit the site of the Boston Marathon bombing incident, lay a wreath
Visit Harvard Kennedy School. Deliver address, question and answer session with students
Visit Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

PM

designed so he does not bow

(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)
Arrive by personal government aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base on outskirts of Washington, DC

Visit and walk around Lincoln Memorial guided by President of U.S. Barack Obama 

Visit Arlington National Cemetery, lay a wreath

Visit Holocaust Memorial Museum

Tuesday, April 28, 2015
AM
(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)
Welcome ceremony at White House, summit meeting with President of U.S. Barack Obama

PM
(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)
Joint Press Conference
Attend a luncheon hosted by Vice-President of U.S. Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at U.S. Department of State
Attend a state dinner at White House

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

again careful not to bow or lean forward

AM
(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)
Visit National World War II Memorial
Deliver an address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress

PM
(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)

Interview with Nippon TV in Blair House

Attend a reception hosed by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, meet with members of the U.S. Senate 

Participate in a symposium organized by Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA

Meet with members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Attend a dinner reception for contributors to U.S.-Japan relations in Freer Gallery of Art.

Thursday, April 30, 2015
AM
(Local time in Washington DC, U.S.)
Attend a breakfast meeting with members of the U.S. science and technology community
Depart on personal government aircraft from Andrews Air Force Base on outskirts of Washington, DC

PM
Arrive at San Francisco International Airport by personal government aircraft
Exchange opinions with members of the U.S. business community, technology industry, and venture capital industry
Attend the Silicon Valley Japan Innovation Program and other events at Stanford University
Visit the headquarters of Tesla Motors and the headquarters of Facebook, and hold talks with Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
Visit the Gladstone Institutes, which are affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco Hold talks with Gladstone Institutes Senior Investigator and Director of Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application Shinya Yamanaka and other members of the Institutes
Receive a courtesy call from Governor of the State of California Edmund G. Brown Jr., attend a cocktail reception and banquet held for contributors to Japan-U.S. exchange

Friday, May 1, 2015
AM
(Local time in California, U.S.)
Attend a breakfast meeting with Japanese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley
Depart from San Francisco International Airport by personal government aircraft
Arrive at Los Angeles International Airport

here Abe bows

PM
(Local time in California, U.S.)
Attend a luncheon with contributors to Japan-U.S. exchange
Attend the Japan-U.S. Economic Forum
Hold talks with accompanying press group
Hold talks with Japanese nationals living in the United States and Japanese-Americans

Visit the Go For Broke Monument for Japanese American World War II veterans, lay a wreath
Visit the Japanese American National Museum, attend a reception hosted by the Museum

Saturday, May 2, 2015
AM
(Local time in California, US)

Hold talks with members of the KAKEHASHI Project
Visit University of Southern California

PM
(Local time in California, US)
Depart from Los Angeles International Airport on personal government aircraft

Sunday, May 3, 2015
AM
(In transit)

PM
(Japan time)
03:03 Finish visit to U.S., arrive at Haneda Airport on personal government aircraft with wife Akie
03:20 Depart from airport
03:44 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
05:33 Depart from private residence
06:54 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Ren in Fujiyoshida city, Yamanashi Prefecture. Dinner with mother Kishi Yoko, friends, and secretary
08:51 Depart from restaurant
09:01 Arrive at holiday home in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture

Provisional Translation by: Erin M. Jones and Lu Pengqiao 

Yasukuni is no Arlington

Judge Pal at Yasukuni Shrine

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed a carnival of reporters and sycophants to the Yasukuni Shrine on December 26th. In a well-planned visit, the Prime Minister paid homage to both the known defenders of Imperial Japan and their enemies. Abe brushed aside criticism by saying that going to Yasukuni is no different than an American president’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Beyond being war memorials to some who served their country, there is no similarity between Yasukuni and Arlington. They share neither the same history nor spirit. Any effort at comparison questions who won the Pacific War and why. It revises Japan's modern history. This is what Prime Minister Abe wants for to do that is to disavow Japan's pacifist constitution and its decades of democracy.

Arlington National Cemetery was created from the estate of General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederacy. Occupying Union Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs appropriated the grounds around the mansion in 1864 to use as a military cemetery. Meigs wanted to ensure that if the Lee family returned, their home would be surrounded by tombstones and widows in mourning. The intent was for Lee's estate to symbolize the pain and suffering caused by the South's engaging in the Civil War.

Unlike Yasukuni, Arlington is a cemetery. The bodies or ashes of those who served and their family members are interred on the grounds. The fallen will continue to rest at this national park as long as the United States exists.

None of this is true at Yasukuni. It is a religious shrine established in 1869 to embed the Shinto faith, the Imperial institution, and the divinity of the Emperor into the national polity. At Yasukuni, those fighting for the Emperor from the civil wars of mid-19th century Japan through the end of the Pacific War were transformed into divine spirits to join as one with the Emperor. Here the common foot soldier became equal to the Emperor.

At Arlington, men and women of all religions and races are buried. At Yasukuni, only the souls of identified and approved members of Imperial Japan's military who died on the battlefield--although there have been many exceptions--can be apotheosized with the Emperor. Some Japanese social classes are not allowed; and the unknown are not mentioned.

Yasukuni is now a private shrine. It hosts a museum glorifying wartime deeds. The Yushukan displays a museum full of memorabilia and trophies of past conflicts, especially the “Greater Asian War” and related “incidents.” The narrative boasts of how Japan liberated Asia from the Western colonialists. Its website states “the truth of Japanese history is now restored.”

In contrast, Arlington does not dwell on the glory of any war and claims no truth. It is a quiet place of reflection and contrition. Arlington’s website is subdued and factual. It reviews the rules for interment, outlines the property, and notes the names of famous people buried there, especially women, Jews, African Americans, and Japanese Americans.

Most important, one of the criteria for those buried at Arlington is that they have had to have been honorably discharged from the military. Those court-martialed or tried for war crimes cannot be interred. This is not the case for Yasukuni. In addition to the 14 Class A convicted war criminals who were found responsible for carrying forward the Pacific War, there are thousands who violated both Japanese and international laws.

Yasukuni is about rejecting the judgments of Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. Many Japanese conservative nationalists believe that Imperial Japan should not be subject to rules created by the West. To emphasize this point, a large monument to Tribunal Judge Radha Binod Pal, who rejected its judgments, stands on a plaza at the Shrine (see above).

Yes, buried at Arlington are soldiers from campaigns of which Americans are less than proud. And there are many that escaped justice. Americans, however, do not visit the cemetery to honor them or to consider them gods. And unlike their Japanese counterparts, American politicians do not come to Arlington make political points, especially on the souls of the defeated. For Japan’s leaders, Yasukuni has become a tacit political expression of Japanese defiance and autonomy.

A visit to Yasukuni is a political act. The rites, the grounds, and museum all focus on Japan's Pacific War. The story Yasukuni wants to tell is that Japan liberated Asia and that their fellow Asians should be grateful. Mostly, the Shrine swipes at the United States and the Allies for not believing this narrative. And finally it is a protest against the Peace Treaty and Constitution that remove the divinity of the Emperor.

The Yasukuni Shrine is about declaring victory. The Emperor God was right, the barbarians were wrong. Yasukuni is not about contrition or reflection, but about certainty. It is a place of defiance and this is what separates it most from Arlington National Cemetery.