Q: How do you feel about the trend, in Asia and in the United States, to demand that Japan face its past?

A: I don't think the United States has taken an anti-Japan stance. It still feels as amicable to Japan as it always has. Although, there is a growing movement for Japan to closely investigate its past.

In the last two to three decades, nongovernmental organizations have developed an international movement to bring to light past violations of human rights. Some historical facts that had been hidden were exposed because of information disclosure.

The significant rise in the population of Asian immigrants to the United States, in particular Chinese-Americans and Americans from the Republic of Korea (South Korea), have developed a stronger voice. In America, they brought up such Asian issues as "comfort women" and the Nanking massacre. As a result, books like "The Rape of Nanking" became bestsellers.

In the past, the United States promoted democratization and economic expansion in Japan and Germany without delving into their past.

However, the situation changed with the end of the Cold War. Although they were allies, the United States could no longer turn a blind eye to a past they would rather forget. The change in U.S.-China relations also had an impact.

All of these are moves that began in the 1970s. In the last 30 years, people have changed their way of thinking.

Q: Victims are demanding that Japan reexamine postwar settlements that ended with the San Francisco Peace Treaty. How do you feel about that?

A: Diplomacy does not only concern relations between governments. It can also extend to relations between governments and individuals, companies and individuals, and individuals and individuals.

While governments no longer hold such high prestige, individuals are speaking out for themselves.Under the peace treaty, Japan made government-level postwar settlements and agreed to reparations and requisition of foreign assets. However, there are American views that compared with Germany, which compensated individual victims, Japan should do more to redress victims.

If there is anything it can do outside the treaty, it should also think about it.

Q: Specifically, what can Japan do?

A: Countries around the world are wondering why Japan is reluctant to make postwar settlements. Japan needs to address that issue.

First, Japan needs to clarify facts and figure out who is responsible for what. For example, it should look into the Nanjing massacre and the activities of Unit 731 and publicize its findings. Japan could even set up an impartial fact-finding mission including foreign researchers.

It could build a monument or a museum. Japan should exhibit all records, including ones that show it as an aggressor and others that show it as a victim, to make an effort to form a domestic consensus on the interpretation of history.

As a reaction to globalization, nationalism is increasing around the world. In the United States, many books and movies are being produced that show positive evaluations of World War II.

I think Americans are looking to the period when the United States was at its peak, from the New Deal to the fight against fascism, to find the source of their identity.

Of course, Japan alone should not be criticized. U.S. egocentrism is also worrisome. Global awareness of this is rising. If countries only stick to putting national interests before anything else, they will become isolated. It is time citizens took the initiative to develop a shared history.

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Born in Tokyo in 1934, Akira Irie received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1961. Before he became a professor at his alma mater in 1989, Irie was an assistant professor at the University of California and a professor at the University of Chicago. He is the first Japanese to have served as president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and of the American Historical Association.