Justin Bieber Apologizes For Yasukuni War Shrine Visit And We Should Accept It

Justin Bieber walks into another yet cultural storm after posting holiday snaps of his visit to Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine, which includes 14 war criminals among its war-dead listings. The Chinese and South Koreans are outraged.

Justin Bieber has apologized after sparking Chinese and South Korean anger after a visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 2.5 million war-dead — including more than 1,000 war criminals, 14 of which are “Class A” convicted war criminals who committed atrocities during World War II.

Here we go again.

The embattled singer who is vacationing in Tokyo, Japan, with his mom Pattie Mallette and pals before an expected rescheduled DUI trial, unwittingly set off a storm of Chinese and South Korean protest after swinging by the controversial Yasukuni Shrine this week.

The 20-year-old posted two Instagram photos after his Shrine visit — which were tweeted then later deleted on both social network sites — after angry commenters piled on at his Instagram page.

Bieber’s subsequent apology, which ran alongside a TIME magazine report titled, “Justin Bieber Drops By Controversial Shrine Honoring War Criminals In Tokyo,” reads:

“While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer.

To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan.”

It comes across as an honest apology, and after Bieber’s visit to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam last April during which he wrote in a guestbook that he hoped Frank would have been a “Belieber,” we all know cultural awareness isn’t his strong suit.

Whether the Canadian’s mea culpa will soothe the Chinese and South Koreans remains to be seen.

Bieber’s first Instagram showed a back shot of the singer and an unidentified male standing outside the front of the Yasakuni Shrine, with a caption: “Thank you for your blessings,” and included a link to the image below.

TIME notes the now deleted Instagram post attracted over 660,000 “Likes” and thousands of retweets before the photograph was suddenly pulled from his page.

(Photo via Instagram, Bieber and another in front of the Yasukuni Shrine. It has now been deleted.)

Among some of the furious comments logged at Bieber’s Instagram page, one ranted:

“Maybe you are a giant in Japan and thats the reason why you like Japan. Anyway, please dont come to China forever, we really dont like stupid people,” while another poster urged:

“You hurt your Chinese fans Bieber!!!!! Please delete this picture…… There are something about the politics between china and Japan. I still believe you are a good boy Bieber. So If you don’t wanna lose your Chinese fans. Please!!!!!!!”

Another commenter demanded, “Say sorry to [the] Chinese.”

Over at SouthChinaMorningPost.com a slew of comments revealed similar raging, while at Mail Online one dissenting poster [Rachel] purportedly living in Tokyo wrote:

I live in Tokyo and pass by Yasukini shrine often. It’s very possible to go to the shrine and not know it’s a war shrine. It’s a big grounds, and lots of temples within the grounds. I first visited without knowing the history. Does Bieber speak Japanese, or read Kanji? No, probably not.

Even if he did know it was a war shrine, what is the difference between it and any other memorial commemorating the dead solider who fought in a war? This isn’t a controversial shrine at all, it’s simply an Jingu- a shrine. I’m sure Abe thinks his small apology is a step forward. The Japanese aren’t a demonstrative bunch. Give them time. And why is China so upset? It is the role model for dignified humanity? People are getting all twisted up when nobody is fault free.

The other photo Bieber posted then deleted, showed him standing next to a Shinto priest and was captioned, “Good morning.”

(Photo: Instagram.)

Bieber isn’t the first to run into controversy over Yasukuni. The singer’s visit comes just one day after 150 Japanese lawmakers and one cabinet minister infuriated China by visiting the polarizing Tokyo shrine on Tuesday, although Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering instead.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang has now waded into the controversy. Asked if Bieber had offended Chinese people, he replied:

“I don’t know the political stance of this Canadian singer, but China’s view on Japanese leaders visiting the Yasukuni Shrine is clear and consistent.”

“I hope this singer can learn more about the history of Japanese militarism, and the wrongful historical and militaristic views promoted by the shrine after the visit,” Qin added.

So, the takeaway?

Lets be real here, Bieber is a just-out-of-teens youngster who didn’t get a thorough schooling while demolishing pop charts growing up. And now that he’s a superstar everything he does is tracked and criticized within an inch of his life.

To Bieber, the Yasukuni Shrine likely looked like an interesting place that made him curious. And for better or worse, the singer is now getting a late cultural education more times than not from being roasted every time he goes somewhere of note.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if he stopped trying to learn and discover because he’s so afraid of what others might say? It’s probably safe to assume Bieber doesn’t condone the acts of war criminals, so how about we keep his latest unwitting, cultural faux pax in perspective and — for once — be kind?