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The #Philippines and #Japan is a prime example of two nations with an unhealthy past, trying to find ways to help each other in the present to protect their future.

The two countries are working in ratifying the RAA or the Reciprocal Access Agreement, which will allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) to train together and have easy access in each others' borders.

* Pre-colonial past: For centuries, pre-colonial "Filipinos" were chasing Japanese sea pirates across open waters, sometimes all the way back to Japan mainland.
* Recent past: World War 2. Death March (which my grandfather went through and escaped). Comfort women. Indiscriminate killings. And many more.

aside: In fairness, it was Imperial Japan and not the current Japan; and also it were the Army Generals who 'forced' the Emperor to approve the war.)

aside: Another fairness, not every Japanese officer and soldier committed 'war crimes'. The Japanese General in-charged of the Ilocos region forbade rape, indiscriminate killings, and discrimination. The locals also said (according to a documentary I've watched) that the said General executed his fellow Japanese soldiers when it was proven they raped a Filipino, indiscriminately killed a Filipino, or tortured a Filipino. He even had a Filipino wife, not forced marriage. The areas under his protection were not bombarded by the Americans later, as the General ordered a retreat, without damaging anything, days earlier. It's why many historical sites in the region are well-preserved.

Going back to the present.

I'm not saying issues were forgotten, re: WW2, bet we don't let the past blind us from the issues of the present. Instead, we learned from the past so we can protect our future better.