Japan's Shinzo Abe Departs For Visit To Pearl Harbour

Tokyo, Japan : Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed Monday for Hawaii where he will visit Pearl Harbour with US President Barack Obama as the two countries highlight decades of post-World War II reconciliation.

Abe's visit to the site, which was bombed by Japan in a surprise attack in December 1941 that drew the United States into World World II, was announced earlier this month.

It follows a journey Obama made with him in May to the city of Hiroshima where a US plane dropped the world's first atom bomb as the war drew to a close in 1945.

"I am visiting Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to commemorate victims as the prime minister of Japan, as the representative of the Japanese people," Abe told reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

"We must not repeat the horror of war ever again. Together with President Obama, I would like to express to the world this pledge for the future and the value of reconciliation."

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The two leaders hope that their joint visits will underscore the alliance between their two nations forged in the years following the war.(L to R) Shinzo Abe and Barack Obama together. (File Photo)

They will meet Tuesday in Honolulu for a summit before venturing together to Pearl Harbour to visit the wreck of the USS Arizona, where 1,177 sailors and Marines died. The ship's rusting remains are now a memorial.

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The two-hour attack killed 2,403 Americans in all, injured more than 1,100 others and sank or heavily damaged eight US battleships.

Officials have said that the purpose of Abe's visit is not to apologise but rather to pay homage to the victims and encourage historical reflection, as Obama did in Hiroshima.