JAPAN'S conservative prime minister has broken with two decades of tradition by omitting any expression of remorse over the country's past aggression in Asia on the anniversary of its World War II surrender.
Shinzo Abe's speech on Thursday - which came after nearly 100 MPs including two cabinet ministers visited a controversial war shrine - avoided typical words such as "profound remorse" and "sincere mourning" used by his predecessors to atone for those who suffered as the Imperial Japanese Army stormed across East Asia.
The omission was sure to anger China and South Korea, which have bristled at Abe's talk about overhauling Japan's pacifist constitution. They are also enraged by visits to the Yasukuni shrine which they view as a symbol of Tokyo's imperialist past.
China summoned Japan's envoy on Thursday, saying it "strongly opposed and strictly condemned" the shrine visits, while Seoul called on Tokyo to "face history" if it wants to mend frayed ties.
In Taipei, dozens of angry Taiwanese vented their anger outside Japan's de facto embassy in Taipei, burning a giant model of "Izumo", a helicopter carrier. Japan's biggest warship since World War II, the Izumo was unveiled early this month.
Chanting slogans such as "Down with Japanese militarism", the group accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of trying to expand Japan's military.
In a statement, Taiwan's foreign ministry urged "the Japanese government and some political figures to learn from the lessons of history and refrain from doing anything that hurt the feelings of people in the neighbouring countries".
The comments did not directly reference the speech by Japan's leader, who dropped another usual reference in the annual speech to uphold Tokyo's pledge not to wage war.
"I will never forget the fact that the peace and prosperity we are enjoying now was built based on the sacrifice of your precious lives," Abe said in a reference to the 2.5 million war dead honoured at the shrine.
Yasukuni enshrines citizens who died in World War II and other conflicts, including 14 top convicted war criminals such as General Hideki Tojo, who authorised the attack on Pearl Harbor which drew the United States into the war.
Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese politicians anger neighbouring nations, which view them as a painful reminder of Tokyo's aggression in the first half of the 20th century, including a brutal 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula.
"It is hard to build trust without the willingness to face history and consider the wounds inflicted upon others," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a speech marking the day it was liberated from Japanese rule.
Abe was expected to stay away from the shrine on Thursday but he reportedly sent a ritual offering via an aide.
Security was tight with hundreds of police surrounding the leafy site in the heart of Tokyo, as right-wing nationalists carried flags calling on visitors to pray for Japan's "heroic war dead".
Police blocked a small group of visiting South Korean MPs from erecting an anti-Abe banner over fears of a clash with the conservative groups.
Early on Thursday morning, two ministers in Abe's cabinet visited the site, followed by about 90 other MPs later in the day.
"Consoling the souls of war dead is a purely domestic issue," one minister Keiji Furuya told reporters.
"This is not something that other countries are supposed to criticise or interfere with."
Yoshitaka Shindo, internal affairs and communications minister in Abe's cabinet, called his visit "a personal decision".
One 73-year-old man whose father in enshrined at Yasukuni took heart from Abe's comments Thursday.
"We've apologised too much," Shigenobu Hashiguchi, 73, told AFP.
"It's absurd for foreigners to think that Japan will return to its past imperialist military aggression. We should still pray for the war dead regardless of whatever China and South Korea say."
For many, walking down the shrine's stone paths lined with cherry trees and past imposing gates dedicated to Shinto - Japan's animist religion - is part of a ritual far removed from politics.
"My father held me only once before heading to the war zone knowing Japan would lose," said 69-year-old Sumiko Iida.
"I'm absolutely against wars."
There is significant amount of domestic opposition to Yasukuni, including among some relatives of those honoured there, who say it glorifies war and the darker chapters in Japan's history.
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