TOKYO — Trying to calm a virulent nationalist debate with Japan's neighbors, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated his country's "feelings of deep remorse" for the suffering it inflicted during its imperial era, telling an audience of foreign leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday that Japan remains committed to acting peacefully with a "heartfelt apology always engraved in mind."
Koizumi repeated the official policy of regret for his country's militarist past on the eve of a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, which Japanese officials hoped would calm tensions between the two Asian powers.
Clashing territorial claims and conflicting views over shared history have picked at emotional scabs in the region in recent weeks, leading to violent anti-Japan demonstrations in China and sharp exchanges with East Asian leaders.
The downward spiral of relations between two of the world's main economic pistons has alarmed other capitals, and Koizumi's apology was widely regarded in Japan as a move also to ease the jitters of foreign leaders and financial markets.
His language stuck closely to the declaration by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. That apology is regarded in Tokyo as the strict diplomatic template for expressing Japanese regret.
Such apologies from Japan are infrequent, and Koizumi's decision to issue one Friday at a gathering of Asian and African leaders was an attempt to stanch further damage to his country's international image.
A dispute over the degree of Japan's remorse for its past has arisen at a time when Tokyo is aspiring to play a more assertive global role. But Japan has seen its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council stumble because of suggestions that the country is unwilling to adequately atone for its 20th century wartime atrocities.
Using an international forum for emphasis, Koizumi stated that "in the past, Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.
"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility," he said.
Whether a repetition of the long-standing apology can mollify Japan's neighbors remains uncertain. As Koizumi spoke in Jakarta, more than 80 members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party made an official visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The memorial honors 2.6 million Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted Class A war criminals executed by an allied tribunal after World War II.
