Yasukuni Shrine has started offering brochures in Korean and Chinese to "enhance understanding" of the Tokyo shrine's nature, officials there said Wednesday.
The free pamphlet contains an explanation and history of the Shinto shrine. An English version is also available.
"There are an increasing number of visitors from China, Taiwan and South Korea, and the brochures are aimed at enhancing foreign visitors' understanding of Yasukuni Shrine," one official said.
The brochure says the people who are enshrined at Yasukuni include several who "were labeled war criminals and executed after having been tried by the Allies" and refers to the war Japan engaged in, starting in the early 1930s and including its participation from 1940 as an Axis power vs. the Allies in World War II, as the Great East Asian War.
"Unfortunately, Japan was forced to defend its independence and maintain peace in Asia by engaging in warfare with other nations on several occasions," the brochure claims.
The pamphlet says Yushukan, the shrine's war museum, was renovated in 2002 to help the public "better and accurately perceive modern Japanese military history."
At Yasukuni "we celebrate the patriotism of the divinities who rose to defend their nation in times of crisis," the brochure says.
Countries that were occupied by Japan during the 1930s and 1940s, including China and what is now South Korea, see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past. China has criticized the museum specifically for glorifying past militarism.
