Justin Bieber Apologizes After Praying at Japanese Shrine
Justin Bieber is apologizing after mistaking a Japanese war shrine for a place to pray in the country.
Bieber, the 20-year-old Canadian singer, took to Twitter to share images of himself at the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo which houses 2.5 million war dead, according to ABC News reports. The shrine also holds Japan's 14 convicted war criminals, and defends Japan's wartime aggression.
ABC News reports that places like China and South Korea see Yasukuni as a place that does properly symbolize the struggles associated with the country's war history. Qin Gang,
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, even spoke out about Bieber's visit to the shrine.
"I hope this Canadian singer, after his visit, can have some knowledge of the Japanese militaristic history of external aggression and their militaristic thinking," he said, according to ABC.
Bieber later took to his Twitter page to apologize, stating he had no idea about what the shrine symbolized.
"I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer," Bieber wrote. "To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry."
Bieber is a Christian, and he recently took to Instagram to share a quote inspired from the scripture, Romans 5:8.
"I loved you at your darkest Romans 5:8," the quote shared by Bieber reads in which he captioned, "Thankful for God's everlasting love."
The actual scripture states, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)."
Over the course of the year, the singer was previously accused of assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto, arrested for a DUI and questionable driving in Miami, accused of egging his neighbor's home and pictured performing questionable acts with strippers. Aside from his legal woes, Bieber has been linked to numerous women and accused of lewd acts like urinating in a mop bucket earlier this year.
However, sources close to the singer reportedly spoke to E! about Bieber being a good kid who is realizing the error of his ways and changing his inner circle.
