85 lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine
A Shinto priest leads a group of lawmakers at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday. AFP
******************
TOKYO —Dozens of Japanese lawmakers visited a controversial war shrine on Tuesday, in an annual pilgrimage that has angered China and South Korea, who see it as a painful reminder of Tokyo’s warring past. A group of 85 politicians arrived at the leafy Yasukuni Shrine in downtown Tokyo during a four-day autumn festival. It was not immediately clear if any cabinet ministers were among the group.
The visit comes a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—who has been criticised for what some see as a revisionist take on the country’s wartime record—sent an offering to the shrine, but avoided a visit. Abe and other nationalists say Yasukuni is a place to remember fallen soldiers and compare it to Arlington National Cemetery in the United States.On Monday, speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying blasted Abe’s offering, urging Japan to “reflect on its aggressive history and take concrete actions to win back the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community”.
Abe visited in December 2013 to mark his first year in power, a pilgrimage that sparked fury in Beijing and Seoul and earned a diplomatic rebuke from close ally the United States, which said it was “disappointed” by the action. He has since refrained from going, sending ritual offerings instead.
**********
Schopenhauer Yasukuni shrine today is legally one of many religious organizations existing in Japan. It is a “private” religious group. I visited the shrine and found they justify the prewar Japanese militarism. It is OK if they think so since it is a private religious body. But it is not good the government members visit the shrine regularly as if Yasukuni has a special meaning to Japan. The War Dead Memorial Serivice on August 15 at Budokan is enough where the emperor and the prime minister attend.
GW ……here we go again, getting it wrong, why aren’t these suits going to Chidorigafuchi instead!!!
Strangerland Every nation has the right to honor their war dead.”
And every other nation has the right to protest a shrine that whitewashes said war. That’s a blade that cuts both ways.
Schopenhauer Yasukuni shrine today is legally one of many religious organizations existing in Japan. It is a “private” religious group. I visited the shrine and found they justify the prewar Japanese militarism. It is OK if they think so since it is a private religious body. But it is not good the government members visit the shrine regularly as if Yasukuni has a special meaning to Japan. The War Dead Memorial Serivice on August 15 at Budokan is enough where the emperor and the prime minister attend.
smithinjapanAly Rustom wrote: “When American politicians visit Arlington, they just go ahead and do it quietly. They don’t bring the cameras like these muppets do. Why not just visit the shrine quietly and privately?”
Exactly! These guys tell the media they are going, ask them to follow, go in suits and use transportation that is put aside for political purposes, go on the public’s dime, and sign in in their official capacity — then try to say it is a personal visit when it is anything but. THAT is a PART of the problem.
choiwaruoyaji This is good news because it gives foreign people the chance to hear about the scary extreme nationalist religious cult (Nippon Kaigi) that these people belong to.
MrBum Yeah, yeah, Yasukuni is a religious site. But it’s operated by an organization that has a distorted view of history and includes a museum that white washes it. Yasukuni is not just any Shinto shrine. Look up its history and who funds it. It’s a symbol of the ultra-nationalist (and revisionist) right in Japan and everyone knows it. Your average citizen can go wherever they want without complaint, but politicians represent their country. They still have the right to worship where they want, but there are consequences to their actions. In this case, their very public actions understandably upsets Japan’s neighbors and adds unnecessary tension to their relations.
Why Japan should deny its past! We have lessons to be given them knowing that we used atom bombs to annihilate armed populations! It is necessary to think!
Thank you for your comment, but you clearly have not followed other Green Shinto postings on the subject. It has never been suggested that Japan should deny its past, and to say that shows your own lack of understanding. There are places free of Yasukuni nationalism where Japan is very much able to acknowledge its past, such as the public cemetery of Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery. It is where the emperor goes to mourn the dead of WW2 (he boycotts Yasukuni!). Please think about that before showing your ignorance in such strident terms!