Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso made an offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for its spring festival, which began Tuesday, Kyodo News reported.

The report quoted a source "close to the prime minister" as saying that Aso presented a "masakaki" – an offering of branches of the "sakaki" evergreen tree, considered sacred in the Shinto religion – to the war-related shrine using the name "prime minister" and paying the cost out of his pocket.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors convicted World War II criminals and is seen a symbol of Japan's militarist past by China, South Korea and many other Asian countries.

Aso also made a similar offering to the shrine for its autumn festival last October, the source said. It is not yet known whether Aso actually visited the shrine to make the offerings.

The last time an incumbent Japanese prime minister made an offering to the shrine was in April 2007, when then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered a masakaki for the shrine's spring festival.

According to the shrine's website, this year's spring festival runs for three days until Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2009)