Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made ritual offerings to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

He dedicated a "masakaki" tree to the shrine, as it begins to celebrate the spring festival. While Abe himself opted to abstain from visiting the place in person, his special advisor, Seiichi Eto, made the trip on his behalf.

The controversial war shrine honors the souls of some 2.5 million war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals as adjudicated by the war crimes tribunal.