Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, August 15 (Reporter Guo Dan) August 15 is the 75th anniversary of Japan's defeat. The Japanese government held a "National Memorial Ceremony for the Dead" at the Nihon Budokan in Tokyo. Emperor Naruhito of Japan attended the ceremony and said in his speech that he "deeply reflected" on the past history and prayed that the war disaster would not happen again.
Emperor Naruhito said: "Looking back on the past, on the basis of deep reflection, we deeply pray that the disasters of war will never happen again." Emperor Akihito added "deep reflection" in his speech at the "National Memorial Ceremony for the Victims of War" on the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in 2015. Words, and have always been used.
Affected by the new crown epidemic, only about 550 people participated in the "National Memorial Ceremony for the Dead" in Japan this year, which is only one-tenth the scale of previous years.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the memorial ceremony that day. Abe said in his speech that "the scourge of war must never be repeated." But he did not mention the responsibility for harming Asian countries.
On the same day, Minister of Environment Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Koichi Hagi, Minister of Northern Okinawa Seiichi Eto, and Minister of General Affairs Sanae Takaichi paid a collective visit to the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to Class A war criminals of World War II. This is the first time since 2016 that Japanese cabinet officials have visited the Yasukuni Shrine on the day of Japan's defeat, and it is also the largest number of visitors since Abe's second cabinet formation in 2012.
Abe did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine, but that morning, through the special assistant to the president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Takatorio Osamu, he enshrined the "Yamakushi" (sacrifice fee) to the Yasukuni Shrine. This is the eighth consecutive year that Abe has worshipped the Yasukuni Shrine in the name of the "Liberal Democratic Party". material". In the morning, Abe also went to the "Chidorigafuchi Cemetery for the Dead" to lay flowers.