WW2-ANNIVERSARY/JAPAN-SHRINE-POLITICIANS Japan PM Abe sends offering to shrine for war dead on WW2 anniversary

Record ID: 143810

  • Title: WW2-ANNIVERSARY/JAPAN-SHRINE-POLITICIANS Japan PM Abe sends offering to shrine for war dead on WW2 anniversary
  • Date: 15th August 2015
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 15, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** JAPANESE POLITICIANS WALKING THE HALLS OF YASUKUNI MEDIA WAITING VARIOUS OF POLITICIANS WALKING IN SHRINE SIGN IN FRONT OF ENTRANCE READING (Japanese) "40TH NATIONAL FESTIVAL TO REMEMBER THE SOULS OF THE WAR DEAD" AIDE TO THE PRIME MINISTER, KOICHI HAGIUDA, WALKING IN HAGIUDA SPEAKING TO MED
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAKVKHBH3A9UF37HG648QUX7R5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to a shrine for war dead on Saturday (August 15), the 70th anniversary of Japan's World War Two defeat, but did not visit the shrine, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime militarism.
    The premier sent a cash offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, his aide Koichi Hagiuda, a lawmaker in Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told reporters.
    "Abe visited Yasukuni quietly a year into his second term, but he was misunderstood and it became a diplomatic and political issue. A lot happened, but all in all, he decided not to visit Yasukuni today. However last night when I met him he told me that his thoughts remained with the souls of the war dead today," Hagiuda said, adding he was visiting on behalf of Abe in the premier's role as head of the LDP.
    Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese top politicians outrage China and South Korea because the shrine honours 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, along with war dead. Abe has not visited in person since December 2013.
    Abe, in a statement on Friday (August 14), expressed "utmost grief" for the "immeasurable damage and suffering" Japan inflicted during World War Two but said future generations should not have to keep apologising for the mistakes of the past.
    The legacy of the war still haunts relations with China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan's sometimes brutal occupation and colonial rule before Tokyo's defeat in 1945.
    Abe, who wants to repair ties with China and South Korea and could visit Beijing as soon as next month, was not planning to visit Yasukuni himself on Saturday, Hagiuda said.
    But the LDP's policy chief, Tomomi Inada, attended along with two cabinet ministers. Scores of other conservative lawmakers also planned to visit.
    Abe's conservative supporters are keen for Japan to put an end to what they see as a humiliating cycle of apologies.
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