OnAugust 6, 1997, when 55,000 people gathered in Hiroshima to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the devastating bombing that killed an estimated 140,000 people and brought World War Ⅱ to a sudden halt, the city’s newly elected mayor broke with tradition by adding a few uncustomay lines to the annual PeaceDeclaration. It should also be recalled, he declared, that “Japan inflicted great suffering and despair on the peoples ofAsia and the Pacific during its reign of colonial domination and war. For this we are truly sorry.” Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Japaness assalt on the U.S., he added, “Remembering all too well the horror of this war, starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor and ending with the atombombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we are determined anew to work for world peace.”　　Usually, in Japan, when people discuss the war at all, they speak of vicitimization: their own victimization by the militarists who led the country into battle and by theAmericans who bombed their cities. The suffering inflicted by the imperial army on the peoples ofAsia is ignored, as is Japna’s aggression inChina and at Pearl Harbor. The appealing image of Japan the victim has no room for the underside of Japan the aggressor.