By Sara Smyth PUBLISHED: 13:02 EST, 1 August 2013 | UPDATED: 13:54 EST, 1 August 2013 U-turn: Taro Aso has retreated his controversial remarks just days after they were made. He said his comments were 'misinterpreted' Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso has retracted comments he made this week suggesting Japan should follow the Nazi example of how to change the country's constitution. Aso drew outrage for saying Japan should learn from how the Nazi party stealthily changed Germany's constitution before World War II before anyone realized it. He suggested that Japanese politicians should avoid controversy by making quiet visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine.
@highlight
Taro Aso, 72, said the country's constitution should be changed in the same way the Nazis did in Germany
@highlight
He made the controversial comments in a speech in Tokyo with an ultra-conservative group
@highlight
Has said his statements were 'misinterpreted' in an 'unfortunate and regrettable' way
'It is very unfortunate and regrettable that my comment regarding the @placeholder regime was misinterpreted,' Aso told reporters.