TOKYO - Japan on Saturday marked the 81st anniversary of its surrender in World War II, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledging peace while not mentioning the nation's "remorse" in her speech at a memorial held in Tokyo to mourn the war dead.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako also took part in the government-sponsored ceremony to mourn the approximately 2.3 million military personnel and about 800,000 civilians who died in the war that ended in 1945.
Takaichi, known for her hawkish views on national security, attended the annual event for the first time since taking office last October. In her speech, she said Japan has "consistently walked the path of a nation that values peace and made all possible efforts for world peace and prosperity."
But she fell short of using the words employed at last year's memorial by her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, who vowed to keep in mind Japan's "remorse" over the war and expressed its "resolute pledge to renounce war."
Ishiba, seen as a relatively dovish moderate in the conservative Liberal Democratic Party currently led by Takaichi, was the first Japanese leader to mention "remorse" at an Aug. 15 ceremony in 13 years.
Like recent Japanese prime ministers including Ishiba, Takaichi also avoided directly mentioning the country's wartime aggression in Asia, including China and the Korean Peninsula.
Before the late Shinzo Abe, Takaichi's political mentor, took office as prime minister for the second time in December 2012, Japanese leaders had consistently mentioned the nation's aggression and expressed remorse at the ceremony.
While Takaichi's predecessors said they "must never repeat the horrors of war," she used an expression that could be interpreted as less proactive, saying, "The horrors of war must never be repeated."
"Although 81 years have now passed, no matter how time flows, we will remain committed to this resolute pledge, passing it down across generations," she added.
This year's anniversary comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and a significant shift in Japan's defense policy, with a sharp increase in national security spending and the easing of rules on defense equipment exports.
Tokyo-Beijing ties have also worsened since Takaichi suggested in parliament in November that an attack on Taiwan could present a "survival-threatening situation" leading to an intervention by Japan's Self-Defense Forces in support of the United States.
At the ceremony, Emperor Naruhito expressed "deep remorse" in his speech, as he does every year.
He also said he sincerely hopes that people will continue to "pass down the memories of the suffering endured during and after the war," the wording he used at last year's event, as they seek peace and happiness in the future.
A moment of silence was observed at noon, the time when then Emperor Hirohito declared Japan's surrender in a radio broadcast in 1945.
