TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan offered remorse for past atrocities on the anniversary Wednesday of its World War II surrender as top leaders steered clear of a shrine at the heart of friction with neighboring countries.

Sixty-two years after Japan capitulated in the deadliest conflict in history, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged that his country would not return to war and would contribute to world peace.
Japan ""caused tremendous damage and suffering to many countries, especially in Asian nations,"" the conservative leader said, using identical language to previous statements by Japanese leaders.
""Representing the people of Japan, I, with deep remorse, offer my condolences to the people victimized,"" Abe told an audience including Emperor Akihito.
Akihito's father Hirohito, who was revered as divine and had never spoken to the public before, went on the radio on August 15, 1945 to announce Japan had to ""bear the unbearable"" and surrender as its cities lay in ruins, two of them obliterated by US nuclear bombs.
Among the people at the ceremony were 101-year-old Koto Matsuoka, whose son, Kinpei, died three months before Japan's surrender serving in Myanmar, then known as Burma.
""War must not occur. It's good that we have peace now,"" she said from her wheelchair.