Beijing raps Japan after Abe's wife visits war shrine
China yesterday renewed its call for Japan to "face up to" its 20th-century history after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife visited a shrine Beijing sees as a symbol of Tokyo's warring past.
China yesterday renewed its call for Japan to "face up to" its 20th-century history after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife visited a shrine Beijing sees as a symbol of Tokyo's warring past.
Akie Abe announced on her Facebook page on Thursday that she "paid respects" at the Yasukuni Shrine and visited the sanctuary's museum.
Critics say it glorifies Japan's actions during the second world war.
"My heart aches when reading letters and farewell notes addressed to family members," Akie Abe wrote. "What was on their minds when they perished in the battlefields?"
The prime minister's wife added that she wanted to "do my part for world peace".
"Seventy years since the war. Japan has a large role to play," she wrote.
