For decades Japan and its closest neighbors have tussled over what lessons should be learnt from World War II.

South Korea and China, which still carry the scars of Japanese aggression, want to ensure the legacy of the war is respected.

They now accuse Japan of sanctioning school textbooks that critics say gloss over Japan's colonial and wartime atrocities.

They have also been deeply angered by Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi’s visit to a shrine honoring Japan’s war dead -- including its executed war criminals.

Meanwhile, street protests and lawsuits continue over the sufferings of Korean "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery during Japan's colonial rule.