Students protest in the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo on Sunday, against what they call the "war bill," - Japan's new defense bill, and the revision of article 9 of the constitution, which together will allow overseas operations by the Self-Defense Forces, a major change to Japan's post-war defense-oriented security policy. Photo: CFP

70 years ago, the inferno of war was finally put out after colossal losses to human civilization. 

We now enjoy peace, as well as prosperity that built on victory in the war. This year is an opportunity for the world to remember and reflect.

As close neighbors, China and Japan's history has been intertwined, mingling both mutual learning and battle.

The past century saw the most bitter memories of warfare but also magnanimity in peace.

However, while the mainstream calls for peace and cooperation, the right-wing camp in Japan has never stopped its pursuit of overturning the postwar consensus and political structure. Their efforts have increasingly driven the national policymaking process.

As a result, we have seen worrying scenes in Japan: The emboldened challenging over the fact of using wartime "comfort women," the systemic change of history-telling in textbooks, as well as the clear-cut denial of war criminal verdicts in the Yasukuni Shrine.

In particular, the push for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security bills that seek to untie Japan's military makes the world wonder how long Japan will remain on its pacifist path.

We arrived in Tokyo to the sudden approval of the security bills at the lower house, and landed in the unprecedented 10,000-plus protesting crowd. There we saw the silver-haired veterans who lived through the bitterness of the war trying to remind people of the value of peace, and we saw young mothers take their daughters to the scene and let them join the struggle to forge their own future.

We talked to college professors who campaigned for the government to compensate "comfort women," and we talked to right-wingers disseminating flyers that claimed the "comfort women" were a lie. And we listened to former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama explain why his statements should be inherited and renewed after two decades.

To echo many who have commented on Sino-Japanese relations: The future belongs to those who recognize the past.