HONOLULU — Hiroshi Tajima and Mai Fukuda report: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid flowers for American soldiers, including those killed in Japan’s 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, at a cemetery in Hawaii on Monday, the day before his scheduled visit to the harbor with U.S. President Barack Obama.

After arriving on the island of Oahu in the morning, Abe visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in which remains of about 50,000 officers and soldiers — including those who lost their lives during the attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy — are buried.

The prime minister offered flowers and a moment of silence, before signing his name in a visitors’ book.

At the facility, Abe also laid flowers at the grave of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who had worked hard to promote the U.S.-Japan relationship until his death in December 2012.

The prime minister then visited a Japanese cemetery in Honolulu’s Makiki district, which houses a memorial for Japanese emigrants to Hawaii and soldiers killed at Pearl Harbor.

Abe showed his determination not to fight a war again by praying for both Japanese and American war dead.

In making these visits, the prime minister was accompanied by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, among others.

In the afternoon, Abe offered flowers at the monument for Fusata Iida, a member of the Japanese forces who…(read more)