Shinzo Abe’s trip to site of Japanese attack that began second world war in Pacific follows US president’s speech at Hiroshima

Shinzo Abe will later this month become the first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor, the scene of a devastating attack by Japanese planes 75 years ago that killed more than 2,400 US servicemen and civilians and triggered America’s entry into the second world war.

Abe, who has been considering a visit to the site for more than a year, will hold talks with Barack Obama in his home state of Hawaii on 26-27 December, seven months after he became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima.

On Monday, Abe said he and Obama would visit Pearl Harbor together to “console the souls of the victims”. “I would like to show to the world the resolve that horrors of war should never be repeated,” he added.

The White House confirmed the meeting, saying the two leaders’ visit would “showcase the power of reconciliation that has turned former adversaries into the closest of allies, united by common interests and shared values”.

Abe praised Obama’s Hiroshima address in late May before a cenotaph to the 140,000 victims of the US nuclear attack on 6 August 1945. Obama met survivors of the attack and visited the city’s peace museum, but did not offer an apology or comment on the decision to bomb Hiroshima or Nagasaki three days later.

Obama’s words remained “etched into Japanese hearts”, Abe said, adding that he intended to use their meeting “to send a message to the world that we will further strengthen and maintain our alliance towards the future”.

He added: “At the same time, I want to use it as an opportunity to signal the value of Japan-US reconciliation.”

Speculation that Abe would go to Pearl Harbor rose after his wife, Akie, visited the site in August and posted on Facebook that she had offered flowers and prayers at the USS Arizona memorial.

Abe said he and Obama had taken the decision to visit the site together during a meeting on the sidelines of last month’s Apec summit in Lima, Peru.

Japan’s surprise attack on the US Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941 prompted the US entry into the European and Pacific theatres of the second world war. By the end of the two-hour bombardment, Japanese torpedo planes, bombers and fighters had sunk 20 ships and destroyed 164 aircraft.

Abe’s visit will be deeply symbolic. Described by former president Franklin D Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy”, Pearl Harbor arouses the same strong emotions among many Americans as the country’s costlier battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

The significance of Pearl Harbour to America and the second world war Read more

Abe’s gesture is likely to anger fellow conservatives at home who believe Japan should stop apologising for its actions during the war. Abe, though widely regarded as a nationalist, has adopted a more conciliatory approach. Last year, on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat, he expressed “deepest remorse” and “sincere condolences” to the country’s wartime victims, but stopped short of issuing a fresh apology.

Some Japanese social media users reacted positively to Abe’s surprise announcement on Monday. “I think it’s a good thing,” said @CNBLUE—6569 on Twitter. “After seeing President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, I felt strongly that I wanted a Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor.”

Another Twitter user wrote: “President Obama came to Hiroshima so prime minister Abe should go to Pearl Harbor. I think Abe made a really good decision.”

The US will mark the Pearl Harbor anniversary on Wednesday with a remembrance ceremony and a moment of silence at 7:55am, the time Japanese planes struck their first target.