By TAKERO YAMAZAKI/ Staff Writer
October 17, 2023 at 17:19 JST
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a ritual offering Oct. 17 to a Shinto shrine in Tokyo that Chinese and Koreans view as a symbol of Japanese wartime militarism, but did not go in person.
Kishida donated a “masakaki” sprig to Yasukuni Shrine in the capital’s Chiyoda Ward to mark the shrine’s three-day autumn festival that started the same day.
He did so in his official capacity.
The shrine is controversial because it honors convicted war criminals along with about 2.5 million war dead.
Two Cabinet members, Yoshitaka Shindo, minister in charge of economic revitalization, and Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of economic security, visited and prayed at the shrine the same day.
“I paid my deepest respects to the fallen who made great sacrifices for our country and their families,” Shindo said.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister of economy, trade and industry, also paid a visit to the site on Oct. 16.
Since becoming prime minister in October 2021, Kishida has donated masakaki ornaments to the shrine at its spring and autumn festivals.
In addition, Kishida sent a representative to the shrine to make a “tamagushi-ryo” cash offering using his own money on Aug. 15 last year and again this year. The date marks the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
Given the politically charged date, Kishida made the offering as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, not as prime minister.
No sitting prime minister has visited the shrine in person since Shinzo Abe did so in 2013.
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