Japan emperor urges teaching about WWII
Japan's Emperor Akihito has said the practice of mourning Japan's war dead can help younger generations better understand the past.
He said he hoped facts about World War II would be correctly conveyed so the suffering his generation experienced would never be repeated.
The emperor's comments came in a speech marking his 73rd birthday.
Correspondents say teaching Japan's wartime history and remembering the war dead is still highly controversial.
"Now that the number of those who were born after the war increases as years pass by, the practice of mourning the war dead will help them to understand what kind of world and society those in the previous generations lived in," Emperor Akihito said, in remarks made on Wednesday, but only made public on Saturday.
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He said he hoped facts about World War II would be correctly conveyed so the suffering his generation experienced would never be repeated.
The emperor's comments came in a speech marking his 73rd birthday.
Correspondents say teaching Japan's wartime history and remembering the war dead is still highly controversial.
"Now that the number of those who were born after the war increases as years pass by, the practice of mourning the war dead will help them to understand what kind of world and society those in the previous generations lived in," Emperor Akihito said, in remarks made on Wednesday, but only made public on Saturday.