Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Yasukuni War Shrine Thursday Dec 26,2013

 A Shinto Priest leads Shinzo Abe as he visits Yasakuni War Shrine in Tokyo on Dec 26,2013

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid an inflammatory visit to the Yasukuni War Shrine Thursday, angering China which accused Japan of whitewashing a history of warmongering and said it must "bear the consequences".

 A Shinto leads Shinzo Abe to the altar as he visits the Yasakuni War Shrine in Tokyo on Dec 26,2013

South Korea also blasted the "anachronistic" move and Tokyo's chief ally the United States declared itself "disappointed" with an act that will "exacerbate tensions with Japan's neighbours"

South Korea and China see it as a symbol of Tokyo's unrepentance for the horrors of last century and say it whitewashes the country's warmongering past.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo described his visit, which came days after he gave Japan's military its second consecutive annual budget bump, as a pledge against war and said it was not aimed at hurting feelings in China or South Korea.

Yasukuni Shrine is the believed repository of around 2.5 million souls of Japan's war dead, most of them common soldiers, but also including several high-level officials executed for war crimes after World War II.