Japan PM heckled at WWII memorial

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was heckled at a World War II memorial event by protesters angry about Tokyo’s further shift away from its decades-long pacifist stance, television footage showed.

Close US ally Japan in April loosened rules on lethal arms exports and Takaichi, long seen as a security hawk who last year riled China with comments about Taiwan, has said she wants to revise the constitution.

A small but vocal number of demonstrators shouted slogans throughout Takaichi’s speech on Tuesday at an event commemorating the 81st anniversary of the end of the savage 1945 Battle of Okinawa in which some 200,000 Japanese died.