Another decade, another war apology from the Japanese

Forgiveness benefits everyone: For seven decades, Japan has been a peaceful contributor to the global community, says Yuriko Koike

In recent years, the number of tourists visiting Japan has been increasing rapidly, reaching a record 13.4m last year, a 29% increase from 2013.

Japan seems to be making great strides towards its goal of recapturing the position as an Asian cultural centre that it held a century ago, when the Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore lived in Tokyo. Chinese revolutionary leaders Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, along with many other prominent Asians, moved there as well.