A day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe repeated during his historic visit to Pearl Harbor that Japan would never again wage war, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada raised eyebrows by paying a visit to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday.

The move immediately drew protests from China and South Korea, former victims of Japan who regard the Shinto site as a symbol of Japan's fervent militarism from the 1930s and 40s. The shrine honors Class-A war criminals along with Japan's war dead.

The visit is controversial because Inada, once a frequent visitor to Yasukuni, is widely regarded as a historical revisionist and an ardent defender of the wars Japan has waged. It was her first visit to the politically sensitive shrine since she became defense minister on Aug. 3.