PERSPECTIVES ON PEARL HARBOR : Apologies Across the Pacific? : America and Japan each had a day of infamy, and should take this occasion as an opportunity to admit the wrong.

Here, more than anywhere else in the country, the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is controversial. Superficially, the controversy turns on a point of etiquette. Should we invite the Japanese to participate in the commemorative ceremonies? Hidden behind this polite disagreement is the larger question of reconciliation. Should we seize this opportunity to forgive the Japanese?

On one side are those, such as the mayor of Honolulu, Frank Fasi, and the Hawaii congressional delegation, who strongly favor inviting the Japanese precisely for the purpose of reconciliation. On the other side are a vocal faction of the 13,000-member Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn. and the State Department. Given the relative political power of the two sides, the outcome was never in question. The Japanese will not be invited; Dec. 7, 1991, will not be a day of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is impossible at present not because of Japanese recalcitrance but because of American nostalgia. Indeed, the Japanese are anything but recalcitrant. They could easily apologize to America as they have already apologized to Korea, China and the countries of Southeast Asia, if only we Americans would reciprocate. As film director Akira Kurosawa has said:

“I would be willing to understand all this (the continuing suffering of the hibakusha, the victims of the atomic bombings) as part of the inevitable tragedy generated by war. But, at the very least, the country that dropped the (atomic) bomb should apologize to the Japanese people. Until that happens, this drama will not be over.”

Of course, even the suggestion that we should apologize to the Japanese for anything angers most Americans. Franklin D. Roosevelt, from the very first day, presented the country with what seemed to be simple, well-articulated war aims: “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion (at Pearl Harbor), the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.”

Moreover, and more to the point, it was a “good war” that we did nothing to provoke. Consequently, we have nothing to apologize for, not even the atomic bombings, which, after all, finally forced the “fanatical” Suzuki government to surrender and saved many, many lives.

This nostalgic view of the war is comforting and convenient. No one would dare object to it, except for the fact that it has not led to reconciliation. Indeed, those who study reconciliation would point to this comforting nostalgia as the principal obstacle to be overcome. As the Rev. Don Felt, pastor of the Iao Congregational Church, Maui, explained to those attending an interfaith memorial service on Nagasaki Day, Aug. 9, this year, “Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past.”

However, in searching for that worst past that will reconcile us to the Japanese, we must acknowledge that both Dec. 7, 1941, and Aug. 6, 1945, are equally dates that will live in infamy. The war in the Pacific represents a crude moral equilibrium, each side being equally the wronged and the wrongdoer. The Japanese have demonstrated their willingness to apologize for their day of infamy; one can only hope that we Americans will soon find it in our hearts to respond in like manner and apologize for ours.