Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone warned the half-century-old Liberal Democratic Party against "pandering" to populism and urged it to hammer out far-sighted policies.

He also said Class-A war criminals should no longer be honored at Yasukuni Shrine, and believes prime ministers should refrain from visiting the Tokyo institution for the sake of Japan's interests, like he did after drawing flak for one such visit.

Nakasone, who joined the LDP when it was formed through a merger of two major conservative parties on Nov. 15, 1955, was prime minister from November 1982 to October 1987 -- the third-longest postwar term, when the Japanese National Railways was privatized.