Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday expressed willingness to deliver a message to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II that would include a reflection on the war.

"Regardless of the format (of the message), we should issue something to avoid memories being forgotten and never let a war happen again," Ishiba told the day's meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee.

There was no mention of when such a message might be made.

Ishiba will avoid issuing it on Aug. 15, which is the anniversary of Japan's surrender in the war, or Sept. 2, the day on which Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender 80 years ago.

The prime minister's remarks came in response to a request by Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, for the prime minister to release a statement.

"I have a firm idea of the kind of message our country should send to the rest of the world this year," Ishiba said. "We'll strive to release a better message while taking into account various opinions."

In 1995, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued an official statement to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. For the 60th anniversary, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did the same, and so did Shinzo Abe when he was prime minister at the time of the 70th anniversary.

All the statements were approved by the Cabinet.

Ishiba indicated that he hopes to "value the accumulation" of such statements, adding that he will decide what to say in his message after "carefully reading through" the statements of his predecessors.

Saying that the Japanese government needs to assess what went wrong in the country during the period of WWII, Ishiba said that the government needs to "think carefully about why the nation's political system could not prevent" the war.

Ishiba has already decided not to release an official statement with Cabinet approval after taking into account strong opposition from conservatives within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party he leads.

Recognizing the significance of issuing a message to mark the 80th anniversary, Ishiba plans to present his personal views on the matter, drawing in part on input from experts.