Japan’s premier sends war shrine offering on surrender anniversary

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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine as Japan observed the 69th anniversary of its surrender in World War II on Friday.

wpid-04-16-2014SendaiJapan.jpgThe premier, who has been criticized for glossing over Japan’s wartime history, paid for a sacred tree branch to be sent to the shrine, which honours the nation’s 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals from the conflict.

Abe did not offer prayers himself at the shrine, instead visiting the National Cemetery in Tokyo where he laid flowers for unknown Japanese soldiers killed overseas in World War II.

Keiji Furuya, state minister in charge of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens, as well as Tomomi Inada, state minister of regulatory reform, and Minister of the Interior Yoshitaka Shindo, visited the Yasakuni Shrine.

Visits to the shrine by political leaders provoke anger in neighbouring countries, especially China and South Korea, which see them as glorifying Japan’s wartime aggression.

About 80 Japanese lawmakers also visited the shrine amid strained relations between China and Japan over a territorial spat and differing views of wartime history.

On Friday, Beijing criticized the premier and the ministers, saying their moves represented Japan’s “wrong attitude” toward its wartime history, the Kyodo News agency reported.

“The core of all the issues surrounding the Yasukuni Shrine is whether the Japanese government can adopt a correct understanding of and attitude towards its history of aggression,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Only when Japan “faces up to and deeply reflects upon its past of aggression,” the two countries’ relations have “the chance to realize a sound and stable development,” she said.

Since Abe took office in December 2012, he has not held formal talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. To mend the ties, he has called for a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing in November.

Shiro Odamura, vice chairman of a group of bereaved family members and former soldiers, vented his anger at countries, including China, South Korea and the United States, which criticize political leaders’ visits.

Abe paid homage at the shrine in December, which prompted Washington to express disappointment.

Odamura, who is also former president of Takushoku University, used his visit to condemn Washington’s earlier criticism as “outrageous.”

They “can’t interfere in our domestic affairs,” Odamura told an audience of hundreds at the Yasukuni compound.

Masahiro Murata, a visitor to the shrine, whose father was a guard of the then-emperor, said Japanese political leaders should not worry about the feelings of the Chinese and Koreans when visiting Yasukuni.

Murata, who visits the shrine almost every year, added: “China and South Korea owe their economic development to Japan.”

Yoshimasa Shimazaki, who was stationed in the Kuril Islands, north-east of Japan, during the war, said he comes to the shrine every year with a list of 500 fellow soldiers.

Shimazaki expressed sympathy for his fellow soldiers during the war. He said physical punishment was “excessive” within the military, especially, before Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 1941.

“As always, low-class soldiers suffered most,” said the octogenarian.

At the ceremony attended by Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and 4,700 bereaved family members of the war dead, Abe said, “Today is a day to reiterate that pledge toward peace.”

But, for the second year in a row, the premier did not mention Japan’s wartime aggression in Asia or a pledge not to fight another war, as premiers have done at the annual event since 1994.

The emperor also made a speech at the ceremony.

“I truly hope the horror of war will not be repeated. With all Japanese citizens, I express my heartfelt sorrow over the war dead and pray for world peace and the further development of our country,” the emperor said.
GNA
PDC

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