Japan's emperor Akihito said on Saturday that he felt "profound remorse" over World War II -- a conflict that Tokyo fought in the name of his father Hirohito -- on the 70th anniversary of the war's end.

Some Japanese media, including Jiji Press news agency and the Mainichi newspaper, said it was the first time the 81-year-old used those words at an annual memorial on the day Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945.