27日付米ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙が社説で、「安倍氏が取るべき最初の一歩は靖国神社に参拝するという挑発的な行為をやめると宣言することだ」と指摘。ワシントン・ポスト紙も、25日付社説で「歴史に対して誠実でなければならない」と批判。

各国の新聞 アジア外交で注文（NHKニュース）
安倍総裁：歴史認識に警戒感…米紙ワシントン・ポスト（毎日新聞)
ホワイトハウス、日米協力の強化期待（読売新聞）

各国の新聞 アジア外交で注文
[NHKニュース 9月27日 19時29分]

　安倍内閣の発足を受けて、２７日付けの各国の新聞は「タカ派の内閣」と強調する記事や最優先の課題としてアジア外交を修復するよう促す論調が目立ちました。
　このうち、イギリスのインディペンデントが「安倍首相はおそらく戦後最もタカ派の首相だ」と伝える一方、韓国の朝鮮日報は「北朝鮮に対する強硬論者を配置した内閣で、北朝鮮への圧迫を強めるだろう」と、安倍政権が北朝鮮に対して強硬な姿勢を取るという見通しを伝えています。また、フランスのル・モンドは「安倍内閣の最優先課題はアジア外交を立て直すことだ」として、悪化したアジア外交を改善することが不可欠だという考えを示しています。
　さらに、アメリカのニューヨーク・タイムズは、社説の中で「日本の繁栄と安全保障にとって巨大な隣国との関係ほど重要なものはない。安倍氏が取るべき最初の一歩は靖国神社に参拝するという挑発的な行為をやめると宣言することだ」と指摘し、中国との関係をこれ以上悪化させないためにも安倍総理大臣が靖国神社へ参拝しないよう促しています。

安倍総裁：歴史認識に警戒感…米紙ワシントン・ポスト
[毎日新聞　2006年9月25日　22時26分]

　２５日付の米紙ワシントン・ポストは、日本の新首相は「歴史に対して誠実でなければならない」とする社説を掲載し、新首相に就任する自民党の安倍晋三総裁の歴史認識に警戒感を示した。
　社説は、安倍氏が日本の「植民地支配と侵略」に言及した９５年の村山富市首相談話を踏襲せず、第二次大戦後、連合国が日本の戦争責任を裁いた極東軍事裁判（東京裁判）に疑問を呈してきたと指摘。「過去に関する言い逃れでは小泉純一郎首相を上回る」とした。
　その上で、小泉首相が靖国神社を参拝し「中国や他の隣国の反日感情を無用に刺激した」ことを例に引き、安倍氏に対し「現在の政策は過去への率直な誠実さに裏打ちされていなければならないと知る必要がある」とくぎを刺した。（ワシントン共同）

ホワイトハウス、日米協力の強化期待
[2006年9月26日23時5分 読売新聞]

　【ワシントン＝五十嵐文】米ホワイトハウスは、安倍政権の発足を歓迎し、対テロ戦争をはじめ世界規模の問題で日米協力をいっそう強化することを期待している。
　ただ、米メディアの中には、安倍氏を「ナショナリスト」と位置づけ、小泉前首相の靖国神社参拝によって冷却化した中韓両国との関係がさらに悪化すると警戒する論調もある。２５日付米紙ワシントン・ポストは社説で、安倍氏が東京裁判の正当性に疑問を呈し、過去の植民地支配と侵略に反省とおわびを表明した１９９５年の村山首相談話を「承認していない」と指摘した。
　ブッシュ米政権も基本的には、日本がより世界的な役割を果たす上で、日本とアジア近隣諸国との関係改善が不可欠との見方では一致している。安倍氏の就任を機に、中韓両国との関係改善を求める声はさらに高まりそうだ。

こっちがニューヨーク・タイムズ紙27日付社説。「日本の繁栄と安全にとって、巨大な隣国との普通の関係以上に重要なものはない」「第一歩は、靖国神社――そこには有罪を宣告された戦犯たちの魂が祀られている――を訪れるという小泉氏の挑発的な行いを続けるつもりはないと言明することである」と指摘しています。

Shinzo Abe's Asian Challenge – New York Times

Editorial:Shinzo Abe's Asian Challenge
[The New York TimesPublished: September 27, 2006]

If Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, hopes to be as popular and successful as his departing predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, he needs to be equally daring in breaking with failed policies of the past. The obvious place to start is by rebuilding Japan's badly damaged relations with China.

Nothing is more important to Japan's prosperity and security than normal relations with its giant neighbor. An ugly, but increasingly distant, history of Japanese aggression and war crimes stands in the way. Mr. Koizumi, in one of the greatest errors of his administration, deliberately glorified this history, playing into the hands of Chinese leaders who often use nationalism to distract their people from official corruption and political repression.

Mr. Abe needs to extricate Japan from this destructive dynamic. The first step should be declaring that he will not continue Mr. Koizumi's provocative practice of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where the spirits of convicted war criminals are honored. The shrine controversy, and the failure of Japanese textbooks to deal honestly with the wartime behavior of Japanese troops, complicate the nation's ability to handle contemporary military issues, like the emerging debate over amending the pacifist constitution that America imposed on it after World War II. There is no reason Japan should not be able to make that change. But unless it first comes to terms with its history and its neighbors, such a step would be poorly received by other Asian nations.

Japan has a great deal to be proud of, including an increasingly vital democracy, a revived economy and the difficult but necessary economic reforms that Mr. Koizumi began to push through and that Mr. Abe will now need to take further. It does not need to glorify the darkest period of its recent history and the war criminals most responsible for that terrible aberration.

でもって、こっちが、25日付ワシントン・ポスト紙の「日本の未来――と過去」という社説。

Japan's Future — and Past – washingtonpost.com

Japan's Future — and Past
The new prime minister must be honest about history.
[Washingtonpost.com Monday, September 25, 2006; Page A20]

IN ITS LONG march from military catastrophe to heavyweight status, postwar Japan has oscillated between two kinds of error. Its left wing has been honest about the past but irresponsible about the present: It has shown remorse for atrocities committed by Japanese troops in East Asia in the 1930s and 1940s but has been reluctant to see Japan emerge from its pacifist shell and contribute to international security. Meanwhile, the right has made the opposite mistake: It has pushed for Japan to take more responsibility for defense but has glossed over Japan's war guilt. Since becoming prime minister in 2001, Junichiro Koizumi has tended to make the right-wing mistake. His newly chosen successor, Shinzo Abe, threatens to do the same — but more dramatically.

Mr. Koizumi came to power after a period in which demonstrators called for the removal of American troops from Japanese soil and the value of an alliance forged during the Cold War was widely questioned. He acted decisively to reinforce U.S.-Japanese ties, participating in the Bush administration's missile defense program, sending noncombat troops to Iraq despite Japan's pacifist constitution and taking a tougher line on North Korea than Japan had ventured previously. This pro-American instinct was Mr. Koizumi's good side. But the prime minister also insisted on visiting the Yasukuni shrine commemorating Japan's war dead, including its war criminals, and during his tenure some government-approved textbooks whitewashed Japan's war record. This unnecessarily inflamed anti-Japanese sentiment in China and other neighboring countries.

Mr. Abe promises an extreme version of this formula. He seems likely to dilute Japan's pacifism further: As he correctly says, it is wrong that a Japanese warship cannot come to the aid of a U.S. one attacked by a third country. He will be tougher on North Korea, too, having built his public career on denouncing Pyongyang's dictator. But Mr. Abe has also gone further than Mr. Koizumi in glossing over the past. He has questioned the legitimacy of the Tokyo trials that condemned Japan's wartime leaders. He has not endorsed the apology that Japan's government issued on the 50th anniversary of its surrender.

Mr. Abe sees political advantage in asserting Japan's pride. His grandfather was part of Japan's wartime leadership, so there may be a personal angle to his view of history. But he needs to recognize that forthright policies in the present must be underpinned by forthright honesty about the past. If Japan admits past errors, it will gain acceptance as the responsible democracy that it is, and its muscular foreign policy will be treated as legitimate. But if it professes to see nothing wrong in its own record — including episodes such as the massacre of at least 100,000 Chinese in Nanjing — its efforts to assert itself on security and diplomatic questions will raise tensions with neighbors, undermining regional security rather than contributing to it.