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Start 2/5/2000

2001年3月5日 01時17分
March 5th, Mon.


「英語は受験のためならず! TAhira really means it!」

解説は無しだが、何度でも読み返して欲しい。TA。



Bush Envoy Will Visit Families of Fishing Boat Victims
_____Commentary_____

• We've Apologized Enough to Japan by Richard Cohen (2/27/01)

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 28, 2001; 11:12 AM


TOKYO, Feb. 28 -- In an effort to "help the families achieve closure," a
special envoy from President Bush said he will go to the home port of a
sunken Japanese training vessel on Thursday to meet relatives of the nine
victims.

"I come seeking their understanding, seeking their acceptance of our
apology," said Adm. William J. Fallon, who had been dispatched here by
Bush.

Fallon met Japanese cabinet members, parliament members, military officials
and two representatives of the victims' families today in his effort to
limit the resentment from the Feb. 9 collision of the USS Greeneville
submarine and the Ehime Maru high school fisheries training ship near
Hawaii.

That resentment first centered on the actions of the ship and crew, but now
is focused on dissatisfaction with the statement of regret from the
submarine's captain, Scott Waddle. Fallon acknowledged that his chief task
is to convince Japan of the sincerity of the U.S. apologies.

"I'm aware we have many things in common between these two nations, but
there are fundamentally some cultural differences," he said. "My
understanding of Japanese feelings and sensitivities [is] that there is a
very, very strong need to have those in authority, with some responsibility
for the events, [make an] expression of apology."

He said he will do that in Uwajima, the fishing town 420 miles southwest of
Tokyo, which is home to the fisheries vocational high school that trained
students aboard the Ehime Maru. Four teenage students, two teachers, and
three crewmen were lost in the accident; 26 others were rescued.

Fallon also said he has assured Japanese officials and the victims'
representatives of the "determination to undertake" the raising of the
Ehime Maru to recover any bodies in the wreckage. American and Japanese
Navy officials are working with a salvage company to see if the job is
possible. Fallon said there never has been such a large ship raised from
2,000 feet of water, where the Ehime Maru lay.

At a press conference with foreign and Japanese press, Fallon sidestepped
questions about the role of civilians in the control room of the submarine,
but he defended the practice of taking civilians on demonstration drills.

"This was not a joy ride. We need to demonstrate the capabilities of our
forces to our people," he said. "The exposure of our operations to
civilians, particularly those in key leadership and positions of key
influence in society, is very worthwhile."

Fallon was met in Japan today by controversy stirred by a Washington Post
opinion article by columnist Richard Cohen, who wrote that "the United
States has apologized enough," and cited Japan's failures to apologize for
wartime crimes. The column was quoted and broadcast in much of the Japanese
media, and prompted numerous complaints.

"Whenever America says 'Remember Pearl Harbor,' we will say 'Remember the
Ehime Maru,' " said one angry caller to the Post's Tokyo bureau.

"To connect this accident to the war problem does not make sense. I am
surprised there are people who think that way," said another caller, Tadahi
Tomioka, 63, of Suzuka City.

In Washington, the Japanese ambassador, Shunji Yanai, also criticized the
article. "I want to ask Mr. Cohen this: did Americans apologize for all
they did in the past? I don't think so," Yanai was quoted as saying by
Kyodo news agency.


© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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