Abe avoids Yasukuni Shrine as Japan marks World War II’s end
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stayed away Monday from a Tokyo shrine that honours convicted war criminals among the nation’s war dead, a bid to avoid controversy with neighbouring countries on the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II.
Abe instead sent a gift of money and religious ornaments to Yasukuni Shrine. His visit to the shrine in December 2013 drew sharp rebukes from China and South Korea, which see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism and consider the visits an attempt to whitewash the country’s wartime aggression.
Abe’s government is reportedly trying to arrange a meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G-20 summit in China next month.
At an official memorial ceremony later Monday, Abe reiterated his pledge not to let the tragedy of war be repeated, but neither mentioned Japan’s wartime actions in Asia nor apologized to its victims.