Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber ran into another political storm after posting holiday photos of his visit to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine Wednesday with the caption "Thank you for your blessings." This behavior outraged many Chinese and South Koreans, including his fans.

Bieber's visit came a day after a group of Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine, which honors 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals and is seen as representing Japanese militarism in China and South Korea.

He soon removed the two offending photos from his Instagram account and apologized, saying he was misled that the shrine was just "a place of prayer" and that he loved both China and Japan.

However, Chinese Net users including his fans, are apparently not buying it.

It seems Bieber did not know he would make international headlines by visiting the shrine as he was not aware that it has been a source of tension between Japan and its neighbors China and South Korea. It is not even the first time that he walked into controversy due to his political insensitivity.

Last year when Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, a former residence of the teenage Holocaust victim who wrote The Diary of a Young Girl during World War II, he left a message in the guestbook of the site that read, "Hopefully she would have been a belieber" - a term used to describe his devoted fans.

It provoked fierce criticism from social media that asked Bieber to show respect for Anne Frank and WWII history.

Politics is no small matter and in recent years we have seen a number of cases in which domestic singers or international stars actively participate in politics and voice their opinions. Their personal charm tends to have an influence on the political beliefs of their loyal fans.

These big shots, living in a completely market-oriented entertainment industry, could better deliver their values than an entire international campaign by a country.

Because any behavior by stars, especially international stars, can easily be interpreted through a political dimension, they need to think carefully about how and what to say about politics.

But since they don't always have a political background, their views can be superficial or even misleading, and trigger disturbances.

In the latest Bieber case, it is his political ignorance that has led to the online outrage. He had better cultivate a sense of politics if he wants to get away from politics.