Japanese Emperor Akihito headed for the site of one of World War Two?s most decisive battles yesterday to pay tribute to those who died in a conflict that still haunts Tokyo?s ties with Asian neighours, 60 years after its end. The journey to the US territory of Saipan ? the first by Akihito outside Japan to mourn war dead ? coincides with a chill in Tokyo?s ties with China and South Korea, where many feel Japan has not owned up to its wartime atrocities.

?Sixty-one years ago today, a fierce battle was still being fought on this island. Our hearts ache when we think of those people who fought at a place where there was no food, no water, and no medical treatment for the wounded,? Akihito said in remarks before he and Empress Michiko left Tokyo. Akihito attends annual ceremonies to mark the Aug. 15 anniversary of the war?s end, and in 1995 he went to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Japan?s southern island of Okinawa to mourn war dead.

?This time, on soil beyond our shores, we will once again mourn and pay tribute to all those who lost their lives in the war and we will remember the difficult path the bereaved families had to follow, and we wish to pray for world peace,? he said. Japanese veterans and families of war dead ? key support groups for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi?s ruling party ? are pleased that Akihito, 71, son of the late Emperor Hirohito in whose name their comrades fought and died, is making the journey. ?Those who fought then were soldiers of the emperor, and they and we who remain are happy that he is coming to comfort their souls,? said Seiichi Oike, 87, who was one of only about 2,000 Japanese who survived the bloody 24-day Battle of Saipan in 1944.

B-29 bombers

Saipan, controlled by Japan after World War One and considered vital to Japan?s homeland defence, was the site of fierce fighting from June 15 to July 9, 1944. US forces wanted the island as a base from which its new B-29 bombers could strike Tokyo, about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) to the north.

Some 43,000 Japanese soldiers and 12,000 Japanese civilians died in more than three weeks of intense battle, according to Japanese figures, many committing suicide rather than surrender in shame. More than 5,000 Americans died in the battles for Saipan and nearby Tinian and the naval Battle of the Philippine Sea, along with some 900 native islanders, including infants and elderly.

Some natives of the island, where older people recall the days of Japanese rule when they were taught to revere Hirohito as a god, welcomed the royal visit. Others were less enthusiastic. ?I think I?m indifferent,? said Margarita Wonenberg, a native of Saipan whose father worked for his keep ? but no pay ? in sugarcane fields when the island was under Japan?s control.

?I think they?re coming for their own purpose.? Japanese officials have stressed that Akihito, 71, and Michiko, 70, will mourn all those who lost their lives in the Pacific conflict, whatever their nationality. But it remains to be seen whether that message will get across.

In a sign that history still rankles, Korean residents of Saipan had asked that the emperor visit a memorial on the island to their compatriots who lost their lives in the war. ?I don?t think that Japan has been really, from what I understand, accurate in their depiction of the war,? said Wonenberg?s husband, Barry, a 15-year resident of Saipan who teaches at the local Northern Marianas College. ?I think that?s what angers a lot of people ? this notion that they pasteurise it for their own people,? he said. The royal couple will visit memorials dedicated to American and local war dead as well as Japanese. Among the sites are two rocky heights, now known as Banzai Cliff and Suicide Cliff.

Following the ritual suicide of the Japanese commander, Lt. Gen. Yoshitsugu Saito, and a doomed assault by his remaining troops, Japanese soldiers and civilians fled to the two cliffs, where many, women and children included, leapt to their deaths. Japanese before the war had been taught a nationalist ideology that made it a virtue to die for the sake of an emperor worshipped as a living god.