Japan’s defense chief visits shrine neighbors see as symbol of Japanese militarism

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese defense minister on Saturday prayed at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Japan’s Asian neighbors as a symbol of the country’s past militarism. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, despite repeated past pledges to visit on the day marking Japan’s surrender, has so far stayed away from the shrine to avoid exacerbating diplomatic tensions.

Visits by Japanese politicians to the shrine, which also commemorates World War II war criminals, have been criticized by China and South Korea. They see it as showing a lack of remorse over Japan’s wartime atrocities.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has regularly visited the controversial shrine to mark Japan’s anniversary of the end of the war on Aug. 15 and other occasions. But as a defense minister pushing to increase Japan’s military capability and weapons sales under Takaichi’s hawkish government, his visit Saturday is seen as more contentious.

The previous shrine visit by a defense minister was in 2024 by Minoru Kihara, the current chief secretary and top government spokesperson for Takaichi’s government.

Japan’s Defense Ministry prohibits group visits by service members of the Self-Defense Forces, on grounds of constitutional separation of religion and state. Koizumi said in October it is natural for anyone in any country to pay respect for those who sacrificed their lives for their nation.

Koizumi did not comment on the visit Saturday and walked past journalists at the shrine.

He is the son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who outraged China when he visited Yasukuni as a serving leader in 2006.

Three executives from Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party also prayed together Saturday at the shrine and brought offerings in a rare joint visit on the prime minister’s behalf that is seen as a move to make up for Takaichi’s absence and appeal to her right-wing supporters.

Party secretary-general Shunichi Suzuki told reporters he prayed while keeping in mind the prime minister’s thoughts for “the spirits of the war dead” and that he brought Takaichi’s cash offerings in her capacity as party leader.

For Takaichi, appealing to right-wing voters is key at a time when her support is seen as rapidly falling, presumably over delayed economic measures addressing rising prices as well as scandals that include alleged negative election campaign videos and unpopular revisions to Japan’s imperial family succession rules.

Takaichi has not visited the shrine since taking office but has sent ornaments twice for the shrine’s biannual festivals.

Tensions between Japan and China escalated in November when the Japanese leader said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan requiring the use of force. The comments enraged Beijing.

Attention this week was on whether Takaichi, who has repeatedly said she would pray at the shrine on Aug. 15 despite the controversy, would keep her pledge and show up at Yasukuni on Saturday, when Japan marks its surrender that ended the war 81 years ago.

Earlier this week, Kihara said Takaichi would make an appropriate decision, followed by Japanese media saying she would stay away from the shrine to keep Japan’s already difficult ties with Beijing from further worsening and maintain good ties with Seoul.

The focus will shift later Saturday to how Takaichi describes the wartime history in her first address as prime minister at a national ceremony marking the surrender.

Takaichi has repeatedly resisted acknowledging Japan’s wartime aggression and atrocities, and denied that coercion was used against Korean laborers and women held as sex slaves for Japanese troops. She was previously part of a campaign to remove references to wartime sexual slavery, euphemistically known as “comfort women,” from school textbooks.

She has said she is from the postwar generation who has no responsibility for Japan’s past actions and that she has no intention to apologize.

The country has faced revisionist pushbacks since the 2010s under nationalistic former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pushed to correct a “self-deprecating view” of Japan’s wartime history and regain national pride. Takaichi considers Abe a mentor.

Since 2013, Japanese prime ministers have stopped apologizing to Asian victims for wartime atrocities, under a precedent set by Abe. Last year, however, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed “remorse” over the war and called it a mistake, though he fell short of mentioning Japan’s aggression across Asia or apologizing.