At the Asian-African Summit in Bandung, Indonesia last week, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed "deep remorse" about the past war, but stopped short of offering apologies for Japan's aggression as some of his predecessors have done.

People in Japan are reading Abe's Bandung remarks carefully, as he is due to issue a statement in August to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The conservative Yomiuri Shimbun took the speech as Abe's first opportunity to unveil his own perceptions on history to an overseas audience, ahead of his formal statement in August.