Abstract
In November 1998 when Chairman Jiang Zemin of China visited Japan, a good deal of discussion occurred about the words for 'apology' (owabi and shazai). The discussion triggers off a curiosity about how language has been used to apologize for the damage incurred by Japan's recent war. Following is my methodology and procedure to deal with this reserch question: 1. I considered the state of language of 'apology' as speech act; 2. I analyzed historically the language of apology used by the Japanese government and the Emperor, mainly in their meetings with Chinese and Korean government officials; 3. I analyzed how such language of apology was accepted on the Chinese and Korean sides. As the result of my analysis, I have learned the following, First, the Japanese government has repeatedly used the very term 'apology' (owabi) toward Korea since 1990. It did so only once, however, toward China when Prime Minister Hosokawa visited there in 1993. Second, Japanese government's speech act of apology shifted from an incomplete act of "deep reflection" (hansei) and "regret" (ikan) to a complete act of "deep reflection and apology" (hansei to owabi) in 1990's. This shift is parallel to a change in recognizing "a speaker's responsibility" , and such a shift is reflected in the change in the language used about the recent war. That is, language changes from a vague term "an unhappy period of time" (fukoo na ichi jiki) to "deep reflection on the previous war" (kako no sensoo e no hansei), and further to more concrete terms such as "an agressive war" (shinryaku sensoo) and "colonial rule" (shokuminchi shihai). Correspondingly I observe an increasing tendency toward the acceptance of the other party.
