Japan minister goes to Yasukuni hours after China talks

Just hours after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat down for his first substantial talks with China's Xi Jinping, one of his cabinet ministers visited the Yasukuni shrine on Thursday, a symbol for Beijing of Tokyo's attitude to its wartime past.

A shrine official said National Public Safety Commission chief Eriko Yamatani paid homage at the site early Thursday, the day after her nationalist boss sat down with the Chinese president on the sidelines of a regional summit in Jakarta.

"I offered my sincere appreciation for the people who fought and sacrificed their precious lives for the sake of the country," Jiji Press quoted Yamatani as saying after her pilgrimage.

"I pledged efforts for building a peaceful country," said the minister, known for her strident nationalistic views.

More than 100 Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine on Wednesday to coincide with its spring festival, even as officials were making final arrangements for the Xi-Abe meet.

Abe had asked his ministers not to go to the shrine before the talks happened, according to Jiji Press.

Xi and Abe met for about 30 minutes, their first substantial meeting since both men came to the helm of nations that are bitterly at odds over history and territorial disputes.

Abe later told reporters that they had a "very meaningful summit meeting" and bilateral relations were improving.

But in a speech earlier Wednesday, he had soft-pedalled on the subject of Japan's World War II rampage through Asia, expressing "deep remorse" but not the "heartfelt apology" former prime ministers have proffered.

"I hope the Japanese side can take seriously the concerns of its Asian neighbours," CCTV News reported Xi as saying.

The Yasukuni shrine honours those who fought and died for Japan, but also includes a number of senior military and political figures convicted of the most serious war crimes.

Yamatani was one of three conservative female ministers who visited the shrine during its autumn festival last year.

Abe, who has not visited since December 2013, sent a symbolic offering of a small tree on Tuesday, sparking anger from Beijing and Seoul.