Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Pearl Harbor with US President Barack Obama, he has said.
No serving Japanese prime minister has ever visited the US Naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by Japan in 1941, propelling the United States into World War II.
"This will be a visit to console the souls of the victims," Mr Abe told reporters
"We must never repeat the tragedy of the war. I would like to send this commitment. At the same time, I would like to send a message of reconciliation between Japan and the US."
Mr Abe said he would visit Hawaii with Mr Obama on 26 and 27 December to pray for the war dead at Pearl Harbor and hold their last summit meeting before Mr Obama's presidency ends.
Earlier this year, Mr Obama became the first sitting American president to visit the memorial to victims of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of the war.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, a surprise blitz on 7 December 1941 by Japanese torpedo planes, bombers and fighter planes.
The attack killed more than 2,300 people, nearly half of them on the battleship USS Arizona. More than 1,100 were injured.
It fired p resolve in the US to enter the war, with president Franklin D Roosevelt saying the day would "live in infamy".
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