Abe in need of deed to match his words

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent some positive signals during his interview with Phoenix TV on Monday. His remarks that Japan has deeply reflected upon its past and will never follow the disastrous road of war were aimed at easing tensions with Japan's neighboring countries and quell concern at home over his new controversial security bills.

Abe's remarks were made at a sensitive moment. With the commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II drawing near, Abe, as a history revisionist and right-leaning politician, has come under increasing pressure from the international community to formally apologize for the wrongs his country did during that period.

The latest survey by the Japanese media has revealed that support for his Cabinet has fallen to just above 40 percent, the lowest level since he took office in 2012, with two-thirds of voters opposed to Japan exercising the right of collective self-defense embodied in the new security bills proposed by Abe.