Japan's finance minister has publicly retracted comments he made this week that appeared to call on Japan's conservative government to emulate Adolf Hitler's takeover of pre-war Germany, a gaffe that underscored the potential for disputes over Japan's own wartime history to derail its popular prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
Taro Aso, also a former prime minister, insisted that his comments on Monday, in which he seemed to say that Japan should learn how the Nazi party quietly rewrote Germany's constitution, were taken out of context.
Faced with growing criticism within Japan and abroad, he countered that he had never meant to praise the Nazis. He said he had hoped to prompt debate in Japan over whether to change its pacifist constitution to allow a full-fledged military, as many conservatives now seek.
Still, the uproar over the comments by Mr Aso seemed to confirm the fears of some Japanese and other Asians that members of Mr Abe's government want to revise views of World War II to present Imperial Japan, an Axis ally of Nazi Germany, in a more positive light.
Advertisement
brad pitt and angelina jolie brad and angelina herniated disc luke scott tom benson royals nicole richie
