▲ Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on October 17.
According to Kyodo News and NHK, Prime Minister Takaichi sent a ritual offering known as a "masakaki" under the name "Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi" for the shrine's autumn festival, which began today.
Citing sources close to the prime minister, Kyodo News reported that Takaichi plans to refrain from visiting the shrine in person during the three-day autumn festival that runs through October 19.
Before taking office as Liberal Democratic Party leader in October of last year, Takaichi regularly visited the Yasukuni Shrine during the spring and autumn festivals, as well as on August 15, which marks both South Korea's Liberation Day and Japan's WWII surrender anniversary.
However, since assuming the party leadership in October of last year, she has not visited the shrine during the autumn festival that same month or the spring festival held this year after taking office as prime minister.
On August 15, she offered a "tamagushi" fee out of her own pocket in her capacity as LDP leader and performed "yobai," bowing toward the shrine from a distance instead of visiting in person.
The Yasukuni Shrine honors the spirits of some 2.466 million people who died in civil wars around the Meiji Restoration and numerous wars waged by Japanese imperialism.
Nearly 90 percent of them, or about 2.133 million souls, are linked to the Pacific War. Notably, Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo who was executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trials), are enshrined there.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.