TOKYO – Polemical gesture of two Japanese ministers – Haruko Arimura, who is in charge of women’s conditions, and Sanae Takaichi, interior minister – who wanted to pay tribute to the sanctuary where some of the criminals convicted for actions against the people are buried Chinese, Cambodian and Korean during the Second World War. The visit was also attended by about 100 conservative parliamentarians, including the head of the LDP policy, Tomomi Inada, former president of the National Public Security Commission, Keiji Furuya and Shinjiro Koizumi, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The tribute to the sanctuary occurred at the same time as the speech by Shinto Abe who, though reluctantly, had apologized and expressed “great unease”

“Deep remorse”. It was Emperor Akihito, who however has no constitutional role, who spoke the words that the nations challenged by Japan during the Second World War expected from Shinzo Abe, the premier, even disavowing the polemic action of the two ministers who they have honored the remains of “war criminals”.
“Looking back to the past, with remorse for the war, I pray that this tragedy will not happen again and I express my condolences to those who died in battle and in destruction, I pray for peace and prosperity in the world,” stressed Akihito during the annual ceremony commemorating the day his father, Hirohito, admitted Japan’s defeat.