All Four Top Executives of Japan's LDP Visit Yasukuni Shrine

Kobayashi Takayuki, Chairperson of the Policy Research Council of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), visited Yasukuni Shrine today (August 16).

With this, all four top executives holding key party positions have completed visits to the shrine.

Kyodo News reported that Council Chairperson Kobayashi visited Yasukuni Shrine this morning and paid for ritual offerings known as "tamagushi" out of his own pocket.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, he mentioned that his grandfather was killed in action, stating, "I visited as one of the bereaved family members."

Regarding Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi not directly visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the previous day—Japan's war-defeat anniversary—but instead performing "yohai" (bowing toward the shrine from hundreds of meters away), he said, "It is a matter for the prime minister to judge appropriately each time."

Dismissing protests from South Korea and China regarding the visits by cabinet members such as Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro the previous day, he brushed it off by saying, "It is a matter of individual conscience."

Council Chairperson Kobayashi has consistently visited Yasukuni Shrine on Japan's war-defeat anniversaries and shrine festivals.

Having been deployed to handle the typhoon response in Chiba Prefecture on the war-defeat anniversary the previous day, Council Chairperson Kobayashi completed his visit a day late, resulting in all four key LDP executives visiting Yasukuni Shrine this time.

Secretary-General Suzuki Shunichi, General Council Chairperson Arimura Haruko, and Election Strategy Committee Chairperson Nishimura Yasutoshi visited the shrine in a group yesterday.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.