Aug 15 06:34 AM US/EasternTOKYO, Aug. 15 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe visited the war-related Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday morning on the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II, while Prime Minister Taro Aso did not pay tribute at the shrine as he had indicated earlier.
With Aso's absence, Japanese incumbent prime ministers opted not to visit Yasukuni for the third straight year. Among Aso's 17 Cabinet members, only consumer affairs minister Seiko Noda visited the shrine in the afternoon.
In remarks to reporters Monday, Aso hinted he would avoid a visit. "I think it is wrong to make people who sacrificed their precious lives for the state a political or election issue or fodder for newspapers. They should be far away from the (media) frenzy and kept in a place for more quiet prayer," he said.
Instead of visiting the Shinto shrine, Aso visited Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery to lay flowers in the morning.
Main opposition Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama said he would not visit Yasukuni if he becomes prime minister as a result of the Aug. 30 House of Representatives election.
According to a group of nonpartisan lawmakers who advocate visits to Yasukuni, a total of 44 politicians -- lawmakers as well as former Diet members who lost their seats due to last month's lower house dissolution -- came to the shrine Saturday.
Koizumi did not respond to reporters' questions during his visit, while Abe said he visited the shrine to pay his respects to Japan's war dead.
Koizumi has visited Yasukuni in central Tokyo every Aug. 15 for the past four years, since shortly before stepping down as premier in 2006.
Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine while in office, including on occasions other than Aug. 15, chilled Japan's relations with China and South Korea, which see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
Abe, Koizumi's immediate successor, did not visit the shrine while in office in 2007 but visited it on Aug. 15 last year.
Meanwhile, Noda told reporters after the shrine visit, "I always care this day, regardless of my position as a Cabinet member or not."
To commemorate the end of the war and those who were killed in the conflict, the government hosted an anniversary ceremony Saturday at the Nippon Budokan hall in central Tokyo.
Aso, Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, other dignitaries and nearly 5,000 relatives of the war dead attended the ceremony.
Aso in his speech mentioned Japan's war responsibility with regard to its Asian neighbors, saying, "Humbly reflecting on the past, and by not allowing the lessons from the tragic war to fade, we must pass the lessons to the next generation."
He also said Japan renews its oath not to go to war again and that it "will proactively contribute toward establishing permanent world peace."
After Aso's speech, the participants offered a minute of silent prayer from noon for about 2.3 million Japanese military personnel and military employees and some 800,000 Japanese civilians killed in the war -- the latter mainly by U.S. atomic bombings and air raids on Japanese cities.
The emperor and the representatives of war-bereaved families also delivered speeches.
The emperor said in his speech, "Reflecting on history and ardently wishing the tragedy of war will not be repeated, I, along with the whole people, express my heartfelt sorrow for people who lost their lives in the war."
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