TOKYO (Reuters) - When Japanese soldiers and civilians leapt to their deaths from cliffs on Saipan in 1944 rather than surrender to U.S. forces, they were acting in accord with a nationalist ideology that worshipped the emperor as a god.
This month, Japan's Emperor Akihito, the son of wartime emperor Hirohito, will go to Saipan to mourn those who died in the conflict and pray for peace at a time when the nation's ties with its Asian neighbours are still tormented by the war.
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