Japanese Prime Minister Abe visits U.S. veterans cemetery

In a solemn, silent tribute, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented a white chrysanthemum wreath at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Monday, bowing his head slightly as a gentle rain fell.

The brief stop at the cemetery was a prelude to the prime minister’s meeting with President Barack Obama today and their visit to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, which Japan attacked in 1941. It comes seven months after Obama journeyed to Hiroshima, where the United States dropped the first atomic bomb.

Not a word was spoken during the ceremony at Punchbowl. The only sounds were the clicking of camera shutters and the rustling of leaves in the stately banyan trees. The cemetery is the final resting place for tens of thousands of American veterans, many of whom served in World War II.

Abe knew one of them personally, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, and placed a second wreath at his grave.

A combined military band from all bases on Oahu played the U.S. and Japanese national anthems to open the ceremony. An honor guard stood at attention, bookended by flags of the two countries that were damp but wafted in the wind as the prime minister paid his respects.

A seven-member rifle team fired three volleys, shattering the silence. Then a bugler played taps, and the sprinkling rain fell a bit harder as the mournful strains of the melody filled the air.

After signing the guest book, Abe walked with Jim Horton, director of the cemetery, to Inouye’s grave nearby, among members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Abe, 62, told Horton that he had spent quite a bit of time with Inouye, who died four years ago.

“We are very honored to have the prime minister stop by Punchbowl and present a wreath both to the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who were killed in the wars, but also to honor a friend of his, Sen. Inouye,” Horton said after Abe’s motorcade had departed. “It was very cathartic for him to be able to visit his grave site as well.”

Foreign Press Secretary Yasuhisa Kawamura said in an interview later Monday that the prime minister sees this Hawaii visit as a chance to offer condolences to those who perished in wartime, and to learn from the past to never repeat such devastation.

“We fought in the battlefield 75 years ago, and today we are the staunchest allies, sharing fundamental values, such as freedom, rule of law, basic human rights,” Kawamura said. “The reconciliation made it possible for our two countries to come together and shake hands and look toward their future role.”

Abe arrived Monday morning from Tokyo. He was accompanied to Punchbowl by Defense Minister Tomomi Inada and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, among other dignitaries. U.S. officials in attendance included Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of Pacific Air Forces; Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Japan; and Gov. David Ige.

In a nod to the enduring ties between Japan and Hawaii, the prime minister headed from Punchbowl to Makiki Cemetery, where a monument honors the first Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii in 1868. Also memorialized there are other Japanese nationals who died in and around the Hawaiian Islands. Abe offered a floral tribute.

The prime minister also visited the Ehime Maru Memorial at Kakaako Waterfront Park and placed a wreath to honor the nine Japanese citizens, including high school students, who died when their fisheries training ship sank after being struck by a U.S. submarine in 2001. Honolulu and Uwajima city in Ehime prefecture later became sister cities.

Abe is in Hawaii for just two days, but it is “an intense time,” Kawamura said. The visit allows Obama and Abe to reflect on their four years of collaboration and look ahead with a new year on the horizon, he said.

“The Japan-U.S. alliance has worked very effectively and secured the peace and stability of the region,” Kawamura said. “Under Mr. Obama’s policy toward Asia, we cooperated quite well. We will continue to work together under the new administration. The bilateral alliance is so important.”

Abe was the first foreign leader to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, last month in New York. The Japanese leader emerged from the meeting saying that trust forms the basis of the alliance and that he was sure he could build a relationship of trust with the incoming president.