The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Taro Aso and the Emperor spoke of their hopes for world peace at a national memorial service held Saturday in Tokyo to mark the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II and remember 3.1 million Japanese war dead.
About 6,000 people attended the ceremony, including the Emperor and Empress, government representatives and bereaved family members of the war dead. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, about 4,820 bereaved family members attended, about 240 more than last year.
Aso expressed profound remorse for Japan's conduct during the war and offered his condolences to the war dead.
"Our nation inflicted significant damage and pain on many countries, especially on people in Asian nations," he said at the ceremony at Nippon Budokan hall in Chiyoda Ward. "We must pass on the lessons we learned through the tragic war to coming generations without allowing them to fade with time. We'll actively contribute to ensure a lasting global peace."
Attendees offered a silent one-minute prayer as the clock struck noon.
The Emperor said, "I profoundly express my sincere condolences to the soldiers who died on the battlefield, and I sincerely hope for world peace and Japan's further development."
Representing the bereaved families, Norihiro Otsubo, 66, from Ogi, Saga Prefecture, whose father died in battle in New Guinea, said: "We should never forget that today's peace and prosperity is based on the ultimate and heavy sacrifices made by the war dead. We firmly pledge to never repeat this sad history."
According to the ministry, 4,957 bereaved family members were initially scheduled to attend the ceremony. Of them, 4,799 were relatives of military and army civilian personnel, 96 were family members of people who died in air raids and other attacks, and 62 were family members of atomic bomb victims.
The gradual generational change among attendees has become ever clearer. The number of war widows who attended was 64, the lowest ever. No parents of the war dead participated for the second consecutive year. The oldest attendee was the 101-year-old widow of a military member who died in action.
About 2.3 million Japanese military and army civilian personnel and about 800,000 civilians died in World War II.
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Diet members visit Yasukuni
Seiko Noda, state minister in charge of consumer affairs, was the only Cabinet minister to visit war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender.
Noda also visited the shrine, which enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals along with war dead, on Aug. 15 last year when she was a member of the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Three cabinet members visited the shrine last year.
Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, former prime ministers who belong to the Liberal Democratic Party, visited the shrine Saturday morning. Koizumi visited the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's defeat for the fourth straight year, while Abe visited for the second consecutive year.
Forty-one members of a nonpartisan group of lawmakers that promotes Yasukuni visits went to the shrine Saturday morning. The group, which included Koizumi and Abe, is chaired by former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshinobu Shimamura.
(Aug. 16, 2009)
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