washington deliberately set the bar on history very low for abe because he has been evasive and ambiguous about embracing responsibility for japan 's wartime actions in asia where the bitter legacies remain divisive .
during this 70th year anniversary of the end of world war ii , abe has been disappointing on japan 's wartime history because he has delivered more on fulfilling washington 's longstanding security demands than all of his predecessors combined .
but the newly expanded security role embraced by japan enjoys little support among japanese .