Japan’s new liberal prime minister shunned a visit to a shrine which has outraged Asian neighbours for honouring war criminals, breaking from past governments’ tradition and instead apologising today for the suffering World War II caused.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency said today that the country’s capital is officially in bloom, a closely watched announcement that marks the start of the yearly cherry blossom viewing season.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed sympathy for victims of Japan’s war-time aggression today as the country commemorated the 62nd anniversary of its surrender in the Second World War.

THE house and office of a politician critical of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s controversial visit to a war shrine burned down yesterday.

The house and office of a politician critical of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a war shrine burned down today, police said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine reviled by critics as a symbol of militarism, triggering a further erosion in Japan’s ties with its neighbours just a month before he leaves office.

REGIONAL tensions rose amid speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would visit a shrine for war dead tomorrow, on the anniversary of Tokyo’s World War Two surrender, which is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.

Japan’s rising sun flag flew at the Yasukuni war shrine and tourists thronged today in anticipation of the event of the year – a possible pilgrimage by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Japan’s top court today threw out two appeals challenging the constitutionality of prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to a Tokyo war shrine, news reports said.

Southeast Asian nations pressed Myanmar’s (Burma’s) generals to get serious about democracy as they opened a summit today aiming for broader Asian integration – an uphill task as shown by a feud raging between China and Japan.

South Korea’s foreign minister today said it was inappropriate for him to travel to Japan now because of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s recent visit to a controversial war shrine, scuttling tentative plans for talks in Tokyo later this month.

China today cancelled a planned visit by Japan’s foreign minister, after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi infuriated Beijing by visiting a contentious war shrine.

More members of Japan’s newly elected parliament believe Japanese troops should be withdrawn from Iraq when their mission expires in December than believe they should stay, a survey said today.

A top politician today urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to reconsider his annual visit to a controversial war shrine, warning it could damage Japan’s already strained relations with China.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will continue his annual visits to a war shrine, a close aide said today, despite furious objections from China and other Asian countries who say the visits glorify Japan’s past wartime brutality.

China’s vice-premier called off a meeting with the Japanese prime minister and suddenly left Tokyo today – a day earlier than expected – but Beijing’s reasons for ending a visit aimed at repairing strained relations remained a mystery.

Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today sharply defended his visits to a Tokyo war shrine and told other countries not to interfere – a pointed reference to China, which says the shrine of glorifying Japan’s militarist past.

A Japanese court today rejected a lawsuit against visits by the prime minister and the Tokyo governor to a war shrine vilified by China and other Asian countries, a court spokesman said.

A Japanese court has thrown out a lawsuit stemming from visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a Tokyo shrine that honours Japan’s World War II dead, a spokesman said today.

Despite a thriving economic partnership, political ties between Japan and China are at their lowest ebb in years.