Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed "profound grief" over the loss of life in World War II, but said that future generations should not be "predestined" to apologise for Tokyo's wartime record.
However, the Japanese leader said future generations of Japanese should not have to keep apologising for the mistakes of the past.
Marking the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Mr Abe also said he upheld past official apologies including a landmark 1995 statement by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama, but the conservative leader offered no new apology of his own.
The legacy of the war still effects relations with China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan's occupation and colonial rule before Tokyo's defeat in 1945.
Both countries had made clear they wanted Abe to stick to the 1995 "deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology" for Japanese "colonial rule and aggression".
"Upon the innocent people did our country inflict immeasurable damage and suffering," Mr Abe said in a statement.
"When I squarely contemplate this obvious fact, even now, I find myself speechless and my heart is rent with the utmost grief."
The remarks by Mr Abe, who is seen by critics as a revisionist who wants to play down the dark side of Japan's wartime past, will be analysed not only in China and South Korea but also by the United States, which wants to see regional tension ease.
China has responded to Mr Abe's speech by calling on Japan to make a "sincere apology" for its WWII aggression.
China's foreign ministry made the demand in a statement posted on its website, Beijing's first official reaction to Mr Abe's remarks.
