Japan marks 75 years since end of WWII

Japanese Emperor Naruhito expressed “deep remorse” over the country’s wartime past and prayed for world peace on Saturday, the 75th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War Two.

“I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated,” Naruhito, 60, said at a ceremony for war dead. Naruhito, the grandson of Emperor Hirohito in whose name Imperial troops fought the war, is Japan’s first monarch born after the war. He ascended the throne last year after his father, Akihito, abdicated.

Naruhito, who together with Empress Masako has been largely absent from public view since Japan’s coronavirus outbreak worsened earlier this year, also expressed hope the country could come together to overcome the pandemic.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on Saturday – the 75th anniversary of Japan’s World War Two surrender, but avoided a personal visit that would anger China and South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whose ties with Japan have been chilled by the legacy of the past, said in a speech Seoul was always ready to discuss history disputes with Tokyo.

At least four Japanese cabinet ministers paid their respects in person at Yasukuni, which honours 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, as well as Japan’s war dead. The shrine is seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan’s past military aggression.

Abe, as well as Emperor Naruhito, will attend a separate official, secular ceremony later in the day that has been scaled down due to concerns over the pandemic.