Kishida vows to push rules-based order as Japan’s defense chief visits Yasukuni 79 years after WWII

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to step up his country’s effort to defend a rules-based international order in a solemn ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II. During his speech Thursday, Kishida noted that more than three million Japanese were killed in the war. He did not mention his country’s aggression. Earlier Thursday, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and two other ministers prayed at the controversial Yasukuni shrine seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of militarism. The controversial shrine honors convicted war criminals among about 2.5 million war dead. Victims of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as a lack of remorse.