Photo/Illutration Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo’s Kudan district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A Jan. 9 visit by Ground Self-Defense Force personnel to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo raises serious doubt about the organization’s commitment to its founding principles.

Lt. Gen. Hiroki Kobayashi, the second-in-command of the Ground Staff Office, was among the group members.

The visit breached the principle of separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution. It also begged the question of whether the SDF, which came into being under the pacifist Constitution, is losing sight of its origins, which are rooted in the nation’s soul-searching over a “dark chapter” in its history: its war of aggression and colonial rule.

It emerged that dozens of GSDF officers and civilian officials from the GSDF’s aircraft accident investigation commission, which Kobayashi heads, visited the shrine as part of an officially planned event to “pray for the safety of aircraft.”

The participants took time off from their duties, wore civilian clothes and paid for ritual offerings from their own pockets. There is no disputing that this was an organized visit that took place during working hours as an extension of official duties. Some of the participants, including Kobayashi, even used an official vehicle to return to work quickly because of the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion for all Japanese citizens, so there is nothing wrong with SDF personnel visiting shrines or temples as citizens.

However, the Defense Ministry itself, through a notice citing the principle of separation of the church and state released in the name of the administrative vice defense minister, bans SDF personnel from visiting religious facilities in units and forcing subordinates to participate in such visits.

In a natural response to the revelation, the Defense Ministry mounted an investigation to determine if its rules had been breached. The ministry needs to clarify whether this was an annual event and whether pressure was applied on people to participate.

Yasukuni Shrine was the core facility of state-sponsored Shinto that became the spiritual pillar of Japan’s militarism in the leadup to and during World War II. It also enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

The Asahi Shimbun has strongly criticized visits to the shrine by political leaders such as the prime minister and Cabinet ministers on grounds they indicate neglect of historical lessons from the war that can lead to justification of the nation’s wartime past.

It is hard not to have the same concerns about organized visits to the institution by senior SDF officers and units. The SDF was created under a democratic system after the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were dissolved at the end of the war.

It is said out the SDF preserves some military traditions from the imperial era in terms of human relations and culture. But the basic principles and roles of the SDF were redefined after the war and all prewar traditions scrapped, rightly so.

In 2015, the GSDF Chemical School, located in the city of Saitama, was found to have forced its members to visit Yasukuni Shrine as part of their “spiritual education.” In this case, the relevant personnel were disciplined for violating the directive.

The latest revelation offers an opportunity for the SDF as a whole, not just the GSDF, to thoroughly review its relationship with the Shinto shrine.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 13

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