Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may hope German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s upcoming visit to Tokyo will serve his efforts to put his country on what he views as a normal track seven decades after the end of World War II. Merkel will make a two-day working visit to Japan next week.

At a press conference Friday following the announcement of her visit, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga hoped it would serve as an opportunity for the two countries to express their intentions to make active contributions to peace and prosperity in their respective regions and the world in the future. In a meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Tokyo in January, Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said, “Japan and Germany should both announce positive messages to the world mentioning past contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity.”

Such remarks by top Japanese officials seem to reflect the Abe Cabinet’s wish to carve out the same global respect for Japan as Germany has been awarded in the past decades.

Merkel’s upcoming trip to Japan, which reciprocates Abe’s visit to Germany last year, comes as both countries prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of their defeats in World War II.

Abe’s plan to issue a statement on the occasion this year has drawn keen attention from South Korea and other Asian countries that suffered from Japan’s colonial rule and military aggression. Given his historical revisionism, the planned statement is expected to water down his predecessors’ apologies and expression of remorse and focus on Japan’s future role in the international community.

Certainly, Japan has made significant contributions to global peace and prosperity, establishing a pacifist reputation, since the end of the war. Still, Japan is widely seen to have fallen far short of Germany in apologizing and providing compensation for its wartime atrocities. Abe’s attempts to gloss over his country’s pre-1945 history, including the sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women for imperialist Japan’s soldiers, have only deepened such views.

During her visit to Tokyo, her second in seven years, Merkel is unlikely to strike the same chord as Abe on historical issues. Aside from her meetings with Abe and Japanese Emperor Akihito, she is scheduled to give a speech to the public in an event hosted by the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese daily known for its objective and conscientious editorial policy. Perhaps Abe will receive an unintended lesson on history.