Canadian pop star Justin Bieber took to Instagram to apologize for his recent visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

According to the singer’s personal Twitter and Instagram accounts, Bieber stopped by the notorious shrine sometime on April 22, where he paid respects to Japan’s fallen soldiers during World War II.

“Thank you for the blessings,” Bieber posted along with a photo of himself at the shrine. The post, which offended his Korean and Chinese fans, garnered more than 666,000 likes and thousands of retweets before it was deleted.

“While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine,” wrote Bieber. “I was misled to think the shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan.”

By Park So-eun (spark@heraldcorp.com)