PHOTO Justin Bieber offends millions by honoring Japanese war criminals

Apparently history wasn’t emphasized in Justin Bieber’s homeschooling curriculum.

The singer posted a picture to Instagram yesterday of him solemnly standing in front of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. He added, “Thank you for your blessings.”

Unfortunately for Justin, critics were very quick to note that the Yasukuni Shrine isn’t a place of prayer — it’s a controversial memorial for those killed in World War II. Specifically honored are 14 convicted war criminals from Japan. The Shanghaiist recently described the shrine as a “gigantic middle-finger to Asia.” It is considered particularly offensive to people of China and South Korea.

After the backlash, Justin took the photo down and added a screen-cap of a Time article about him deleting the picture.

He added, “While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead 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 [sic].”

The social media snafu comes one year after Justin was criticized for writing in the guest book at the Anne Frank House that “hopefully she would have been a Belieber.”