Speaking at the annual ceremony to commemorate Japan's war dead at Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Friday touched on the country's wartime responsibility to its neighbors and renewed the nation's pledge to never again wage war.
Friday marked the 63rd anniversary of the public radio address made by Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Showa, announcing Japan's surrender, ending World War II.
Fukuda, echoing several of his predecessors, expressed "deep remorse" to all of the war dead, adding that Japan caused "tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations."