Japan apologises for WWII invasions

Asia commemorated the 60th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender yesterday by honouring the dead and searching for reconciliation. Japan's leader tried to salve wounds by apologising for the "great damages and pain" it inflicted on its neighbours.

With ceremonies and protests, the region memorialised the end to a conflict that killed millions of soldiers and civilians from the jungles of Burma to the glistening beaches of the Pacific and the sprawling cities of Japan and Korea.

Anger mixed with sorrow amid rekindled tension between Tokyo and the countries its Imperial Army invaded decades ago.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed "deep reflections and heartfelt apology" for the Tokyo's wartime colonisation and pledged that his country would never forget the "terrible lessons" of the war, which ended Aug. 15, 1945.

"Our country has caused great damages and pain to people in many countries, especially our Asian neighbours, through colonisation and invasion," Koizumi said in a statement. At a ceremony shortly thereafter, Koizumi and Emperor Akihito son of wartime Emperor Hirohito bowed before an alter of chrysanthemums at a nationally televised service for the nation's estimated 3 million war dead.

Japan's relations with some of its Asian neighbours are at the lowest in years in part because of disputes about whether Japan has properly atoned for its past aggressions. The issue has contributed to opposition to Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Fueling the grievances are Koizumi's controversial visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine and his government's approval of history textbooks that critics say whitewash wartime atrocities such as the Rape of Nanjing, in which Japanese troops massacred as many as 300,000 people while taking the Chinese city in 1937.