TOKYO, October 17. /TASS/. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shinto shrine, which is considered a symbol of militarism in China and several other Asian countries, according to Kyodo news agency.
Takaichi, as Kyodo notes, refrained from making a personal visit to the shrine not to create diplomatic problems with South Korea and China, which react sharply to such pilgrimages. Before becoming prime minister, Takaichi regularly visited this shrine twice a year, including as a minister. The last time the head of the Japanese government personally made a pilgrimage to Yasukuni was in December 2013, when Shinzo Abe held that position.
The current offering was made on the occasion of the traditional autumn festival celebrated at the shrine. Takaichi’s previous offering on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the announcement of Tokyo’s surrender in World War II, which was marked on August 15 of this year, was made not as the head of the government, but as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
This Shinto shrine, located in the center of Tokyo, houses lists of names of the Japanese people who died on the battlefield since the second half of the 19th century. The list also includes war criminals who were executed after Tokyo’s surrender in World War II by order of the International Military Tribunal. Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese officials provoke protests and are perceived in China, South Korea, and other Asian countries as a justification of Japanese aggression.