Yasukuni Sanctuary in Tokyo is a source of friction with neighboring countries, including China, by bonds to Japan’s militaristic past
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent a flower crown to the Yasukuni Sanctuary in Tokyo, a source of friction with neighboring countries, including China, by bonds to Japan’s militaristic past.
Like other occasions, a ‘Masakaki’ tree was sent in the name of the leader of the government, a gesture that the nipponic prime ministers have repeated for years on the occasion of spring and autumn festivals and that China and South Korea see bad eyes.
Yasukuni paid tribute to those who fell through Japan between the late nineteenth and 1945. There are more than 2.4 million people, including 14 imperial army politicians and officers convicted as class A criminals after World War II.
No Japanese head of Japanese government visits the sanctuary since Shinzo Abe moved there to make the offering in December 2013, raising criticism at the country and abroad.
China and South Korea, countries that have suffered war aggression from Japan, have been expressing disapproval of official honors at Yasukuni Sanctuary, due to wounds open by colonialism.
Shigero Ishiba is also expected to refrain from visiting the temple, especially after recent attempts to establish narrower bonds with Seoul.
Japan and China celebrated the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations in 2022. Relations that are not at the best level, namely due to the territorial dispute over the Tokyo -managed Senkaku islands, but claimed by Beijing, who baptized them from Diaoyu.
Although prime ministers avoid visiting Yasukuni, it is not uncommon for groups of deputies to do so at this time of year, including important ministers and figures of Japanese politics.
