Justin Bieber has apologised to those he offended by visiting Japan's Yasukuni war shrine this week, saying he was misled to see it as only a place of prayer.

The Shinto shrine in Tokyo honours 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals. China and South Korea in particular see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan's past militarism and see visits to it as a lack of understanding or remorse over wartime history.

Two photos removed from Instagram showed pop star Bieber praying outdoors at the shrine and standing beside a Shinto priest. The images outraged China as well as many Instagram and Twitter users.

In a new Instagram post, Bieber wrote that he asked his driver to stop at the shrine but was misled on its purpose.