Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's historic visit to Pearl Harbor later this month is for the purpose of remembering the victims of the Japanese attack 75 years ago, not for apologizing for Japan's actions, the government's top spokesman said Tuesday.
"This visit is an opportunity to remember those who died in war, demonstrate a resolve that the horrors of war must never be repeated, and at the same time send a message about the reconciliation between Japan and the United States," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
Abe will become the first serving Japanese prime minister to visit the site of the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II.