Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows as he offers a chrysanthemum flower to the war dead during a memorial service ceremony marking the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War Two at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo August 15, 2016.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual donation to a controversial Tokyo war shrine instead of visiting the location.
Abe’s last visit to the shrine in December 2013 irritated Beijing and Seoul, who see the shrine as a symbol of Japan’s militaristic era during the first half of the 20th century, and continue to harbor bitter memories of Japan’s wartime occupation.
Ties between China and Japan, Asia’s two largest economies, were strained in recent days after a growing number of Chinese coastguard and other government ships sailed near disputed islets in the East China Sea.
Tomomi Inada, Japan’s new defense minister who had been widely expected to visit the war shrine, is on her first overseas trip to Djibouti. In his last four speeches to mark the end-of-war anniversary, Abe has not acknowledged Japan’s war atrocities or expressed his regrets over them.
Japanese Emperor Akihito stated his “deep remorse” over the past war for the second time at the national memorial service, and expressed his wish for world peace.
Regardless of the feelings of the peoples of neighboring countries, Abe also sent his aide Yasutoshi Nishimura to make an offering Monday morning as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine which honors 14 Class-A convicted criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from the World War II.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said he was aware of the visits but declined to comment, saying it was a private matter for each individual.
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But he has since refrained from going and reactions by China and South Korea to Yasukuni visits by Cabinet ministers and lawmakers, while remaining critical, have become less intense.
