The Ukrainian Government issues apology for comparing Emperor Hirohito to Hitler
A tweet depicting Japan’s wartime emperor alongside Hitler and Mussolini in a fascist propaganda video was posted by an official Ukrainian government account.
Later it went on to issue an apology for showing a picture of Japan’s wartime Emperor Hirohito alongside Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the social media video about the defeat of fascism.
Our sincere apologies to @japan for this mistake. We had no intention to offend the friendly people of Japan.
🇺🇦🇯🇵We have corrected it and posted the new video here: https://t.co/dvy7Pyptj3
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) April 24, 2022
“Our sincere apologies to Japan for making this mistake,” read a message on the Ukrainian Twitter feed. “We had no intention to offend the friendly people of Japan.”
It spread widely over the weekend, prompting an official protest because it threatened to alienate a country that has been staunchly supportive of Ukraine.
The Japanese people have backed a tough stance to punish Russia for the invasion.
Japan has joined its ally, the United States, and other leading democracies in imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, breaking with its pacifist tradition by sending nonlethal military equipment to Ukraine. It has also taken the unusual step of welcoming a few hundred refugees fleeing the conflict.
While some Twitter users said they had lost interest in supporting Ukraine because of the post, others said it would have been more appropriate to use a picture of Hideki Tojo, who was Japan’s prime minister for most of WWII and was later hanged as a convicted war criminal.
