Japanese Prime Minister visits Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with President Obama

On December 26, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Hawaii to prepare to visit the Pearl Harbor Memorial with US President Barack Obama there.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves goodbye as he leaves Haneda Airport in Tokyo for Hawaii on December 26, 2016 - Photo: AFP

According to AFP news agency, before Mr. Abe, many Japanese leaders had also visited Pearl Harbor, however, Mr. Shizo Abe was the first to visit the US Arizona Memorial, where 1,177 American soldiers died.

The December 27 visit comes 75 years after the Japanese military's December 1941 attack on the US Pacific fleet base, officially drawing the US into World War II.

Mr. Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor also comes about seven months after President Barack Obama and Mr. Shinzo Abe visited the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which was destroyed by the United States with an atomic bomb in 1945.

Before leaving Japan, Mr Abe said he would visit the Pearl Harbor memorial because "we cannot repeat the horrors of war again".

"Together with President Obama, I would like to express to the world this commitment to the future and the value of peace," Mr. Abe said.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army suddenly attacked the US naval base in Hawaii, sinking many US warships and killing 2,400 people.

Previously, America was still hesitant about whether to join the war that had already happened and thrown Europe into chaos, but the Japanese army's attack made them more decisive.

The Hawaii Veterans Memorial attracts about two million visitors, both tourists and veterans, each year.

According to Tuoi Tre