Japan minister joins crowds at contentious shrine to mark 80 years since World War Two defeat
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's agriculture minister and a contender in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race last year, arrived at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo early on Friday.
Among the 2.5 million war dead commemorated at the shrine are 14 wartime leaders convicted of the most serious war crimes, along with over 1,000 others found guilty by Allied tribunals after Japan's 1945 defeat.
China and South Korea have criticised past visits by senior Japanese officials that they say gloss over Tokyo's wartime actions and damage diplomatic ties.
"It is important never to forget to show respect to those who gave their lives for their country, regardless of which nation it is. I believe this is a very important principle," Koizumi told reporters.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attended a separate war memorial event in Tokyo along with Emperor Naruhito.
"August 15 is a day to mourn the war dead and commemorate peace. The government will continue to express gratitude to the war dead and their families," government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a regular press briefing.
No sitting Japanese prime minister has visited the Yasukuni Shrine since Shinzo Abe in December 2013, drawing an expression of disappointment from then-U.S. President Barack Obama.
The last premier to visit on the anniversary of Japan's surrender was Koizumi's father, Junichiro Koizumi, in 2006.
Former economic security ministers Sanae Takaichi and Takayuki Kobayashi also went to the shrine, local media reported. Both ran in last year's LDP leadership election.
Ishiba on Friday sent an offering to the shrine. One he made in October provoked criticism from both South Korea, a Japanese colony for 35 years, and China, whose territories were occupied by Japanese forces in World War Two.
At a press conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not directly comment on the Yasukuni visits but said: "Only by facing up to history can one earn respect; only by learning from history can one chart a better future; only by remembering the past can we avoid repeating the same mistakes. We urge Japan to make the right choice."
The anniversary comes ahead of an expected meeting with South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, who will visit Japan on Aug 23-24 to discuss regional security and trilateral ties with the U.S.
While relations between Tokyo and Seoul have often been strained, the two countries are deepening security cooperation to counter China's growing influence and the threat posed to both by nuclear-armed North Korea.
Celebrating the August 15 liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee said the two countries' relationship should be "forward-looking", based on pragmatic diplomacy focusing on Seoul's national interest.
Japan's populist Sanseito Party had 88 national and local lawmakers visiting Yasukuni on Friday, its leader Sohei Kamiya said in a social media post. The 'Japanese First' party wants to curb immigration, which it says is a threat to Japanese culture.
In July's upper house election, it won 13 new seats, drawing support away from Ishiba's LDP.
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