A cross-party group of around 70 Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday attended the spring festival at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, regarded as a symbol of the country's past militarism by its Asian neighbors.
Group member Ichiro Aisawa, a lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a press conference, "We should never forget the history of how the spirits of many fallen heroes laid the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Japan after the war."
Yasukuni, however, has long been a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea, as the shrine honors Japan's wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by a post-World War II international tribunal, along with about 2.4 million war dead.
On Tuesday, former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, who was narrowly defeated by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in last year's LDP presidential race, also visited the shrine. She has been labeled a "right-wing" nationalist by Chinese state-run media.
The group's visit came a day after Ishiba sent a ritual offering to the shrine to mark the festival. He is not expected to make an in-person appearance during the three-day event through Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The cross-party group usually visits the shrine for the spring and autumn festivals as well as the anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15, despite backlash from China and South Korea, where resentment of Japanese wartime militarism runs deep.
For last year's fall festival, the group did not organize a visit to Yasukuni as the event coincided with campaigning for the Oct. 27 general election, in which the ruling bloc led by Ishiba's LDP lost its majority in the House of Representatives.
Japan had invaded and occupied a wide area of China by the end of the war and ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
© KYODO
10 Comments
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Matt
They are all right-wing nationalists. Nothing more.
browny1
I guess that's one way of viewing it.
Not quite sure though that the millions of slain Japanese soldiers contributed to the prosperity of Japan post war - unless you believe that their deaths created the loss of the war, that then enabled the US to take over Japan, install it's own regime which pointed Japan in the opposite direction of the preceding decades.
A more dignifying tribute would be to say "We are so sorry for your needless deaths at the direction of the War Mongering political/military elite and now know we made a big mistake and have learnt to never sacrifice our youth in such an abhorrent manner again.
Rest in Peace.
itsonlyrocknroll
Take no lectures from the modern day 21 century genodical despot dictatorship government of China!
Shameless hypocrisy.
sakurasuki
By doing that, someone just expected that will solve all Japanese current problem such as stagnant economy, declining population, labor shortage. That's really make sense right?
Yrral
Wonder why they are third rate country in the world,the ,US do.not care really, because they they live at the mercy of America,who do. not care if they exist
OssanAmerica
Not all of them are nationalists. And not all nationalists are right-wing. I'm sure many go because they have to go along with the party.
Besides, nothing wrong with anyone being a nationalist. At least in Japan they don't cause trouble like in the U.S. and China.
obladi
If you tell them not to go, write articles about it every time they go, they will continue to go.
itsonlyrocknroll
Can one seriously be of the opinion that seventy so called “nationalists” can revive a revisionist momentary “Yasukuni Shrine” spasm of past imperialist militarism, that withered with the long forgotten “spirits of many fallen heroes”.
The current J youth, social media “zombified” smartphone generation frankly turned their backs, could give a "monkeys uncle" on such delusional meaningless gibberish.
garypen
"Nationalism does nothing but teach you to hate people you have never met and take pride in accomplishments you have no part in."
Doug StanhopeBertieWooster
Yasukuni, keeping the spirit of Imperial Japan alive!