Japanese Emperor Akihito has voiced concern about fading memories of the nation's wartime conduct among younger generations but denied there was any risk of a return to past militarism.

"I repeatedly feel pain in my heart about the fact that many people, including the Japanese, lost their lives during the war," the emperor told a news conference with Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace.

"We should never forget about this history and I think each of our citizens should cooperate and make an effort to form a society with no fighting," Akihito told Japanese and foreign journalists.

However, "sixty years have past since the end of war and the number of those with no experience of it is increasing," he said. "That is my deep concern."

The emperor made the remarks ahead of a visit to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, which all suffered from Japan's wartime aggression.

Other Asian nations are worried about signs of rising Japanese nationalism and have strongly protested Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a war shrine which honours 2.5 million war dead including 14 top war criminals.

The emperor, however, denied there was any risk of Japan returning to past militarism.

"The situation today is totally different from before the war. There was an abnormal situation. I believe Japan will head down the path of the future, pledging that such things should never occur again."

Patriotism in schools

Japan has gradually become less cautious about outright displays of patriotism that had been shunned since World War II, during which Emperor Hirohito, father of Akihito, was revered as a demigod.

Japan's government in April approved new legislation to revise education laws to promote patriotism in schools, a taboo since World War II.

In 1999, the government established "Kimigayo," which honours the emperor, as the national anthem and officially made the rising-sun flag an emblem of the state.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party also plans to revise its pacifist post-World War II constitution to allow Japan to possess a military in name for the first time since its 1945 defeat.