The Japanese, particularly the families of the missing, wanted an in-person apology, and they wanted it from the captain, the man at the top. Last week in Honolulu, that captain, Scott D. Waddle, met with a Japanese vice minister. This was better, the Japanese indicated, but still not enough. In person was what they desired. Not everyone here agrees.
Some pundits suggest enough is enough.
An accident is an accident. The military apologized, accepted responsibility, wrote letters. That's the end of it. Now let's put aside political leaders, who never seem to follow rules that govern normal people. Japan, remember, is the country that invented seppuku, or hari kari, in which the guilty party confesses, apologizes, then disembowels himself in front of the victim.