Day of the dove

And may there continue to be peace.

Strange place to choose for this. will Korea and China not see this as a provocation?

Pool people, the Gov't never think of them, not now, not in the WWII.

Yasukuni Shrine raises about 300 of these white doves in their pigeon house (loft).

it is a provocation. How many of these people would be here if it were not for the controversy with korea and china?

They are all looking pretty old, Bob. Most likely, they had a brother or father die in uniform away from home. And they probably have been visiting Yasukuni since before Korea and China knew or cared about it.

Some of these elders are probably the survivors from the last world war.

The association of doves with peace is a western idea. In Japan the dove is a symbol of Hachiman, commonly known as the God of War.

@susano, dove symbolism aside, you could argue that the setup of modern postwar Japan is "a western idea." There is nothing in Japan's constitution about Hachiman or warrior doves. But there is the enduring ban on wars of aggression in Article 9 that hopefully PM Abe will be too busy with the economy to find a way to amend.

Great picture, JT.

That's a wonderful photo...

Yup, let's not try to take over the world again; shall we ?

"Minutes later the PRC it's tributary states of North and South Korea send paid prostesters to Japans embassies."

Might think it's a joke, but sadly it's not.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/15/china-summons-japanese-ambassador-to-register-protest-over-shrine-visits/

Japan has been at peace with it's neighbor for 68 years, but it's neighbors have not and have been trying to extort as much money as they can all those years.

Article 9's departure will end all that nonsense.

@Taj, I agree with you. Old widows,and relatives were visiting there. , having new symbol of peace is better tthan symbol of 2600 years ago, ]