At World War II Memorial, Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba Expresses ‘Remorse’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:46 JST, August 15, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed “remorse” over World War II in his address at the annual government-organized national memorial service for the war dead in Tokyo on Friday.

“We must once again deeply inscribe the remorse and lessons from that war into our hearts,” Ishiba stated.

A source close to Ishiba emphasized that the prime minister had intended to include the word “remorse” in his address. The source explained that Ishiba’s decision was the “culmination of his deep resolve to prevent the recurrence of war, as the nation marks the 80th anniversary of the war’s end.”

It has been 13 years since a prime minister last used the word “remorse” in their memorial address. It was used in 2012 by Yoshihiko Noda, who was the prime minister under the Democratic Party of Japan and now leads the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

The mention of remorse became a fixture after former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a statement on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end, in which he acknowledged past colonial rule and aggression.

In his 1994 address, Murayama expressed “deep remorse” and stated that Japan had “caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.”

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also referred to “remorse” in his 2007 address during his first term, but he stopped using the term in his second term and beyond. Instead, he stated, “We have the great responsibility to take the lessons of history deeply into our hearts.”