TOKYO, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression, on Saturday, while several cabinet ministers and senior politicians paid visits to the controversial shrine, triggering strong criticism from peace advocates in Japan.
On the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II, Takaichi made a "tamagushi" ritual offering to the war-linked shrine in her capacity as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Meanwhile, Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization Hitoshi Kikawada, Minister of State for Economic Security Kimi Onoda, and Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Minoru Kiuchi visited the shrine.
According to Japanese media reports, Koizumi became the first incumbent defense minister to visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15 since then Defense Minister Minoru Kihara did so in 2024. It also marked the seventh consecutive year that serving cabinet members have visited the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender.
Senior executives of the LDP -- Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council Chairperson Haruko Arimura, and Election Strategy Committee Chairperson Yasutoshi Nishimura -- visited the shrine together on Saturday. Japanese media described the joint visit by multiple senior party leaders as an unusual occurrence.
The actions were met with strong opposition from Japanese peace activists and scholars.
Atsushi Kouketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University, told Xinhua that Yasukuni Shrine is "a shrine of aggression" and a breeding ground for militarist ideology. He said Takaichi, who has visited the shrine on multiple occasions in the past, sent a dangerous political signal by making the ritual offering as LDP president, signaling the ruling establishment's endorsement of the ideological roots of Japan's past wars of aggression.
This reflects a further rightward shift in Japanese politics that warrants a high level of vigilance, Kouketsu said.
The Aichi Prefectural Peace Committee stated that the visits by Koizumi and other politicians to Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies Japan's wars of aggression, desecrate the memory of those who died in the war. The committee urged Japanese political leaders to face up to Japan's responsibility for its wartime aggression.
Yasukuni Shrine, located in central Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, honors 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals from World War II. For a long time, visits and ritual offerings made by Japanese officials to the controversial shrine have consistently sparked criticism and opposition both at home and abroad, hurting the feelings of the people of China, South Korea, and other countries and regions brutalized by Japan during the war. ■