Japan's defence minister visited a controversial war shrine in Tokyo Thursday, the day after she paid a highly symbolic visit to Pearl Harbor with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, media reports said.

Tomomi Inada, Abe's hawkish new defence minister, went to the Yasukuni shrine for the first time since taking the key cabinet post in August, according to national broadcaster NHK, the Asahi Shimbun and Jiji Press.

The defence ministry could not be reached for immediate comment.