Angela Merkel intervened in Japan’s debate about how it remembers the second world war by telling an audience in Tokyo that Germany had faced its history “openly and squarely”.
But the German chancellor also has a message for Japan’s neighbours, noting that it was the “generous gestures” of Germany’s adversaries that had made postwar reconciliation possible.
Ms Merkel’s remarks on her first visit to Japan for seven years come as Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, prepares a statement to mark the 70th anniversary of defeat in a war that continues to plague relations with China and South Korea.
Although Ms Merkel insisted she was not offering advice, saying the process of dealing with war memories “must come out of society”, Germany’s clarity on the past contrasts with Japan’s inability to reconcile fully with its neighbours.