Japan marks 80 years since Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s surrender to Allied forces.A Japanese cabinet minister was among thousands of people to visit a controversial war memorial in Tokyo as Japan marks 80 years since the end of World War II.Agricultural Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Friday paid his respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japan’s militaristic past.He was joined by dozens of national and local politicians from the far-right “Japan First” Sanseito Party, according to local media.The Shinto shrine was built in the 19th century to honour Japan’s war dead, but it is best known for enshrining 14 Japanese “class A” war criminals and 1,000 others also found guilty by an Allied tribunal after World War II.The Yasukuni Shrine is considered a political lightning rod in East Asia, where memories of Japan’s wartime atrocities are not forgotten, but senior Japanese leaders have continued to visit over the years.But the shrine was just one site where Japanese people gathered on Friday to mark 80 years since Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in an August 15, 1945, radio broadcast.Tokyo formally surrendered a few weeks later on September 2, 1945.Japanese media reported that more than 4,000 people attended the National Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead in Tokyo, including Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako bow durin …
