Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stayed away from Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, apparently seeking to avoid further strains in relations with China and South Korea as Japan marked the 81st anniversary of its World War II surrender.
Takaichi, however, did not mention her country’s wartime past in Asia or express remorse for it in a speech at the ceremony, and the defense minister and other political representatives visited the shrine. “Japan, since the end of the war, has consistently contributed to global peace and prosperity.
We will never let the tragedy of the war be repeated,” she said in her address at Nippon Budokan, located a short walk away from Yasukuni.
A nonpartisan group of dozens of lawmakers also prayed there. He did not disclose the amount. He is the son of a popular former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who enraged China with a visit to Yasukuni on Aug. China’s Foreign Ministry protested the visits, saying the Japanese politicians’ true intentions were to “change the verdict on the war criminals, cover up Japan’s war crimes, distort the historical facts and pave the way for accelerating militarization. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung struck a different tone in a speech Saturday marking the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
15, 2006.
The secretary general of Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, Shunichi Suzuki, said he prayed at Yasukuni on behalf of Takaichi and brought cash offerings that Takaichi made as party leader. “I renewed my war-renouncing resolve and will continue to fulfill Japan’s postwar responsibility as a peace-loving nation,” Koizumi, who has regularly visited the shrine, said on X after his visit Saturday. He stressed that his administration favors “pragmatic diplomacy.”
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, three other Cabinet ministers and three executives from Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party visited the shrine earlier Saturday.
