Japan's lower house passed a world peace resolution

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Japanese House of Representatives with support of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, New Komeito, the Social Democratic Party and others passed a resolution on August 3. Its summary reads:

Despite world peace being the earnest desire of all humanity, lives have been threatened by never-ending disasters caused by war. Lives have been lost to war, terrorism, starvation, disease and environmental destruction with concerns prevailing over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons.

Amid such realities faced by the international community, the House of Representatives pays a deep respect to the wisdom and effort exercised by the United Nations in the 60 years since its establishment toward maintaining and creating world peace.

We, herewith, create a "Resolution to renew our determination for peace with lessons learned from history," which expresses a deep regret to peoples of Asia and other countries who suffered immensely from involvement with Japan in the past, and once again dedicates true condolences to all victims.

Based on the philosophy of eternal peace praised in the Japanese Constitution, as the only nation that has suffered atomic bombings, the Japanese government should exercise maximum effort to hold hands with all peoples to explore a sustainable coexistence of humanity through the abolishment of nuclear weapons, prevention of all types of war and pursuit for ways of establishing a world federation.

But the resolution plays down Japan's militarist policies in World war II. It omitted references to "invasion" and "colonial rule" that were used in the 50th anniversary revolution.