A non-partisan group of Japanese lawmakers has visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for its annual spring festival.
The shrine honors Japan's war dead. Those remembered include leaders convicted of war crimes after World War Two.
The group visits Yasukuni Shrine every year during its spring and fall festivals and on August 15, the day Japan commemorates the end of World War Two.
About 90 Diet legislators paid their respects at the shrine's main hall on Tuesday morning. They included the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party's General Council Chairperson Moriyama Hiroshi, other LDP members, and Japan Innovation Party legislators.
The attendees from Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's Cabinet were State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Iwata Kazuchika and Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Fukazawa Yoichi.
Aisawa Ichiro, a senior member of the group and former LDP Diet affairs chief, told reporters that Japan will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war next year.
He said he worshipped while bearing in mind the significance of passing down the tragedy of war and the preciousness of peace to future generations.