Takaichi skips controversial shrine on 81st anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender

Before taking office last October, Takaichi visited Yasukuni several times but has refrained from going to the shrine since becoming PM

Eighty-one years have passed since Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII.

Yasukuni is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, including convicted war criminals involved in Imperial Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of Asia in the 1930s and 1940s.

Takaichi mourned the victims of major devastation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa, as well as those who perished in overseas battlefronts, and thanked them for their sacrifice as the “foundation of Japan’s peace and prosperity today.” She did not mention Japanese atrocities in Asia or apologize.