Bieber apologises to China and Japan
Justin Bieber has apologised to those he offended by visiting Japan’s Yasukuni war shrine this week, saying he was misled to see it as only a place of prayer.
The Shinto shrine in Tokyo honours 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals.
China and South Korea in particular see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism and see visits to it as a lack of understanding or remorse over wartime history.
Two photos removed from Instagram showed Bieber praying outdoors at the shrine and standing beside a Shinto priest.
The images outraged China as well as many Instagram and Twitter users.
In a new Instagram post, Bieber wrote that he asked his driver to stop at the shrine but was misled on its purpose.
While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead to… http://t.co/0p5iqgPVV0
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) April 23, 2014
