Tokyo - Trying to calm a political storm in the run-up to elections, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori offered a partial apology yesterday for controversial remarks that had revived Japan's wartime past.
Mr Mori, who has a history of political gaffes, whipped up cross-party anger on Monday when he said Japan was a divine society with the emperor at its core - remarks that blurred Japan's post-war constitutional separation of state and religion.
Analysts said the row was unlikely to cloud the victory prospects of Mr Mori's dominant Liberal Democratic Party in a general election expected on June 25th, although Mr Mori's future could be in doubt.