A group of ruling party members is alleging that U.S. government officials and lawmakers they met with in Washington understood the aim of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to war-related Yasukuni Shrine, a move roundly lambasted throughout Asia.
The lawmakers from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party visited Washington after the U.S. government declared itself "disappointed" by Abe's Dec. 26 visit to Yasukuni and warned it would only exacerbate tensions between Japan and its neighbors.
"I think the prime minister's intent has been reasonably understood," Hirofumi Nakasone, a former foreign minister and head of the Japan-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship League, claimed to reporters after wrapping up the group's three-day trip.