Emperor Weighs In on Japan's War Past

In a speech marking his 73rd birthday, Japan's Emperor Akihito 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.

"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.

However, BBC reports, the Emperor did not touch on how people should honour those who died in World War II. He also made no mention of the Yasukuni shrine.