Abe Leaves for Hawaii to Visit Pearl Harbor

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left for Hawaii on Monday night to mourn for World War II victims at Pearl Harbor, where a Japanese raid triggered war between Japan and the United States 75 years ago. Abe will become the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. U.S. President Barack Obama will accompany Abe on the Pearl Harbor visit. "I will visit Pearl Harbor as a representative of the Japanese people to mark the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack," Abe told reporters at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda before his departure. "Together with President Obama, I hope to show the world the significance of postwar reconciliation (between Japan and the United States) and our pledge not to repeat the tragedy of war," he said. According to the Japanese government, three of Abe's predecessors, Shigeru Yoshida, Ichiro Hatoyama and Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's grandfather, made visits to Pearl Harbor in the 1950s. The USS Arizona Memorial was completed after the last of these visits. On Tuesday morning local time, Abe and Obama will attend a memorial service at the USS Arizona Memorial. Abe will later deliver a speech, which is not expected to include an apology for the 1941 Japanese attack. The Japanese leader will then meet U.S. veterans and survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. Earlier on Tuesday, the two leaders will hold their final summit, with Obama set to leave the White House next month. They are expected to reaffirm the significance of their efforts to strengthen Japan-U.S. ties, aiming to help convince President-elect Donald Trump of the importance of the two countries' alliance. On Monday, Abe will visit the U.S. National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, the resting place for U.S. soldiers killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, as well as a cemetery for Japanese descendants there. Abe is scheduled to arrive back in Japan on Wednesday night. END