On August 15, marking South Korea's Liberation Day and Japan's war defeat anniversary, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi refrained from visiting Yasukuni Shrine and instead offered a ritual payment in her capacity as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

However, two cabinet ministers, including Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, visited Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals from World War II, on the war defeat anniversary for the seventh consecutive year as serving Japanese cabinet ministers.

Core executives of the ruling LDP also made an unusual group visit.

According to local media reports including Kyodo News, Prime Minister Takaichi offered money for a ritual offering called "tamagushi" out of her own pocket at Yasukuni Shrine that morning.

It was reported as an offering made in her capacity as LDP leader rather than prime minister.

Before taking office, she regularly visited Yasukuni every year on August 15, but for her first war defeat anniversary as prime minister, she was observed to have withheld a visit in consideration of backlash from neighboring countries such as South Korea and China.

Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the National War Dead Cemetery in Tokyo that morning to lay flowers.

Defense Minister Koizumi made a surprise visit to Yasukuni Shrine at around 7:00 a.m. that morning.

This marks the first time a serving defense minister has visited Yasukuni Shrine on Japan's war defeat anniversary in two years, following then-Defense Minister Minoru Kihara in 2024.

Defense Minister Koizumi also visited Yasukuni Shrine on the war defeat anniversary last year when he served as the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

In addition to Defense Minister Koizumi, Hitoshi Kikawada, the minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, also visited Yasukuni Shrine that morning and offered a ritual payment.

Furthermore, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, Chairperson of the General Council Haruko Arimura, and Chairperson of the Election Strategy Committee Yasutoshi Nishimura made a group visit to Yasukuni Shrine that morning, following Defense Minister Koizumi.

The group visit to Yasukuni by core LDP executives on the war defeat anniversary is regarded as unusual.

Lawmakers belonging to the bipartisan Japanese parliamentary group "A Group of Diet Members Visiting Yasukuni Shrine Together" and the LDP's "Group for Conservative Unity" are also scheduled to visit Yasukuni Shrine that morning.

Yasukuni Shrine is a facility commemorating some 2.466 million people who died in civil wars before and after the Meiji Restoration and numerous wars instigated by Japanese imperialism. It also enshrines Class-A war criminals of the Pacific War, such as former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo who were executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trial), making it a symbol of Japanese militarism.