Bieber is sorry after his war shrine visit whips up a storm
Print Edition
JUSTIN Bieber apologized yesterday to those he offended by visiting a Japanese war shrine, saying he thought it was a beautiful site and only a place of prayer.
The Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo enshrines 2.5 million war dead, including Japan’s 14 Class A war criminals, and operates a war museum that defends Japan’s wartime aggression. It is a flashpoint between Japan and its neighbors that see the shrine a symbol of Japan’s past militarism and consider Japanese officials’ visits there as a lack of understanding or remorse over wartime history.
Two images posted on Bieber’s Instagram account were met with outrage from Chinese officials and on the social media. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the pop star should remember China’s position on Yasukuni.
“I hope this Canadian singer, after his visit, can have some knowledge of the Japanese militaristic history of external aggression and their militaristic thinking,” he said.
The two photos, which were subsequently removed, showed Bieber praying outdoors at the shrine and standing beside a Shinto priest.
In a new Instagram post yesterday evening, Bieber said he asked his driver to stop when he saw the “beautiful shrine.”
“I was mislead (sic) to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry,” the post said.
Bieber, 20, gained stardom with his debut album at age 15 but has had a string of recent legal troubles and criticism for perceived cultural insensitivity. Last year he wrote in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House museum that he hoped the Jewish teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp “would have been a Belieber” — or a fan of his — if history were different.
And he apologized after appearing to drag two Argentine flags off stage with his feet and a microphone stand during a concert there last year.
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