Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday after the United States urged him not to do so, prompting Washington to use harsher than normal language in criticizing him, a U.S. official said.
Another U.S. official blasted Abe for visiting the controversial shrine, which honors war criminals among Japan's war dead, saying he rendered recent U.S. efforts to help Japan mend its fences with China and South Korea "useless."
The Obama administration repeatedly asked Abe through informal channels not to visit the Tokyo shrine, knowing it would draw strong reactions from Beijing and Seoul, and worrying it would develop into a major international problem, the first U.S. official said.