TOKYO: Japan’s Emperor Akihito on Wednesday expressed “deep remorse” about his nation’s wartime acts, as Tokyo marked the 73rd anniversary of the end of World War II.
The carefully choreographed annual ceremony is the last Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko will attend before the emperor abdicates in April.
“Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated,” the 84-year-old monarch said in a televised address.
“Together with all of our people, I now pay my heartfelt tribute to all those who lost their lives in the war, both on the battlefields and elsewhere, and pray for world peace and for the continuing development of our country.”
It was Akihito’s father, war-time emperor Hirohito, who announced his decision to surrender in a radio address on August 15, 1945.
Japan signed documents officially formalizing the surrender on September 2, 1945.
Though he has no political power, Emperor Akihito has hinted throughout his reign at pacifist views, sharply at odds with the aggressive expansionism Japan pursued under his father’s rule.
He has annoyed Japanese right-wingers by acknowledging that his country inflicted “great suffering” in China, and expressing regret over Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean peninsula.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also spoke at the ceremony, pledging to remember war dead while building a peaceful future.
“Never again will we repeat the devastation of war. Humbly facing history, we shall stand firm on this pledge,” he said, avoiding any specific expression of regret.
Abe has been criticized for what some see as a revisionist attitude to Japan’s wartime record, though he has softened his rhetoric as he works to improve ties with Beijing.
In recent years, he has avoided visiting the controversial Yasukuni shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals, offering a ritual cash donation instead.
Previous visits by Abe and other senior Japanese politicians have angered China and other Asian neighbors.
Yasukuni honors some 2.5 million people, mostly Japanese, who perished in the country’s wars since the late 19th century.
It also enshrines senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal after World War II.
Abe last visited in December 2013 to mark his first year in power, sparking fury in Beijing and Seoul and earning a diplomatic rebuke from close ally the US.
Groups of Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine Wednesday, but Abe’s key cabinet members were not expected to be among them.
![]()
Japan emperor expresses World War II ‘remorse’
Japan emperor expresses World War II ‘remorse’
- The carefully choreographed annual ceremony is the last Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko will attend before the emperor abdicates in April
- Japan signed documents officially formalizing the surrender on September 2, 1945
Myanmar junta calls coup-protesting civil servants back to work
- Tens of thousands of public workers left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience after the junta took power in 2021
- Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta called on Sunday for ex-civil servants who quit their jobs in protest over the coup five years ago to report back to work, pledging to remove absent state employees from “blacklists.”
After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience.
Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands on all sides.
Last week, the junta completed a month-long election it has touted as a return to civilian rule.
But the dominant pro-military party won a walkover victory in a vote democracy watchdogs say was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power.
The junta’s National Defense and Security Council said civil servants who “left their workplaces without permission for various reasons” since February 2021 should “report and make contact with the offices of their former departments.”
“Following verification, employees found not to have committed any offense, as well as those who had committed offenses but have already served their sentences and whose names still appear on the blacklists, are being removed from the blacklists,” the council said in a statement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Public employees who had been absent from work were placed on blacklists, “leading some to remain in hiding,” it added.
After the coup, in which the military ousted the elected government of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, tens of thousands of striking public workers joined the “Civil Disobedience Movement” in protest.
The junta responded with a crackdown on demonstrators, relying on tips from informers and surprise raids to round up those on strike.
Today, more than 22,000 people are languishing in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
Suu Kyi remains in military detention and her massively popular party has been dissolved.
The junta’s phased elections ended last Sunday without voting in one in five of Myanmar’s townships, amid fighting that has left large swaths of the country outside military control.
Parties that won 90 percent of seats in the previous election in 2020 — won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s party — did not appear on the ballot this time, the Asian Network for Free Elections said.
After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience.
Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands on all sides.
Last week, the junta completed a month-long election it has touted as a return to civilian rule.
But the dominant pro-military party won a walkover victory in a vote democracy watchdogs say was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power.
The junta’s National Defense and Security Council said civil servants who “left their workplaces without permission for various reasons” since February 2021 should “report and make contact with the offices of their former departments.”
“Following verification, employees found not to have committed any offense, as well as those who had committed offenses but have already served their sentences and whose names still appear on the blacklists, are being removed from the blacklists,” the council said in a statement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Public employees who had been absent from work were placed on blacklists, “leading some to remain in hiding,” it added.
After the coup, in which the military ousted the elected government of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, tens of thousands of striking public workers joined the “Civil Disobedience Movement” in protest.
The junta responded with a crackdown on demonstrators, relying on tips from informers and surprise raids to round up those on strike.
Today, more than 22,000 people are languishing in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
Suu Kyi remains in military detention and her massively popular party has been dissolved.
The junta’s phased elections ended last Sunday without voting in one in five of Myanmar’s townships, amid fighting that has left large swaths of the country outside military control.
Parties that won 90 percent of seats in the previous election in 2020 — won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s party — did not appear on the ballot this time, the Asian Network for Free Elections said.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.