Asian Defense News: WASHINGTON (AFP) - Wednesday, January 13– A US lawmaker who has spearheaded calls for Japan to do more to repent for World War II behavior said after talks in Tokyo that he was upbeat about Japan's new government.Representative Mike Honda met with Japanese officials as part of a three-member congressional delegation that visited Japan, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Honda said he detected a change in attitude since now Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's left-leaning coalition defeated the long-ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party in August elections.
"In terms of the issues that we're concerned about, I've been given a hint that they're going to be dealt with," Honda told AFP.
"I think there's more of an openness in doing that," he said.
However, Honda doubted that Japan would act immediately to atone further for its past, saying the government first had other priorities such as redress for Japanese who were taken prisoner after defeat in World War II.
Honda, a Japanese-American who as a child was interned by US authorities in a relocation camp, in 2007 spearheaded a House of Representatives resolution urging Japan to make an "unambiguous apology" for the use of sex slaves.
Japan's former conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had triggered controversy for his views on World War II. His government said Japan had already adequately apologized and compensated the former "comfort women."
Honda said that Japan's new government had made a historic transition.
"My perception of the new government of Japan is one of great hope," Honda said. "It was a powerful change."
His optimism comes despite concern in some quarters in Washington about the new government's calls to revamp the half-century US-Japan alliance.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday pressed Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in a meeting in Hawaii to move ahead on a plan to relocate a controversial base on the southern island of Okinawa. Related article: US-Japan military base talks
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