Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not visit a controversial shrine to war dead on the anniversary of his country’s surrender in World War II, sources and a report said late on Thursday.
The premier will stay away on August 15 from the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, two government sources close to Abe said just days after the country’s deputy premier sparked controversy by saying Japan should look to Nazi Germany for guidance in changing its pacifist constitution.
The decision to stay away from the shrine, also reported by Kyodo news agency, could be seen as part of efforts to avoid further tensions with countries such as China and South Korea, which were victims of Japan’s pre-war and wartime aggression.
The shrine honours some 2.5 million citizens who died in World War II and other conflicts, including 14 top war criminals.
Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese leaders spark anger in neighbouring nations, who say the country has failed to atone for its brutalities in the first half of the 20th century, including the 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean peninsula.
Abe, a hawkish nationalist, has defended the right of leaders to visit the shrine.
“I think it’s quite natural for a Japanese leader to offer prayer for those who sacrificed their lives for their country, and I think this is no different from what other world leaders do,” he told Foreign Affairs magazine earlier this year.