Bartamaha (Tokyo):- Japan’s prime minister has apologised for the suffering his country has caused in the Second World War on the anniversary of its surrender.

Japanese media said that for the first time in at least 25 years, no member of the government used the date to visit the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo.

The country’s neighbours had been angered by ministers paying respect at the shrine in the past, as it honours Japan’s dead, including its war criminals.

Such visits were a regular event under the previous conservative government, prokoking outrage in China and on the Korean Peninsula where memories of wartime atrocities are still strong.

Instead the prime minister, Naoto Kan, attended a memorial service where he apologised for the suffering caused in the war.

Emperor Akihito also expressed his regret at the alternative service.

“With history in reflection, I sincerely hope that the war atrocities will not be repeated,” he said.

“I, together with the people of Japan, express my heartfelt condolences for the war dead and pray for world peace and the further prosperity of our nation.”

Opposition leaders, however, attended a ceremony at the Yasukuni shrine.

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Source:-ABC.

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