Japan Press Weekly

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2014 August 13 - 19 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Abe Cabinet members visit war-glorifying shrine

In defiance of severe criticism at home and abroad, three members of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s Cabinet and a number of Japanese lawmakers visited Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The three Cabinet members are Internal Affairs Minister Shindo Yoshitaka, Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission Furuya Keiji, and State Minister in Charge of Administrative Reform Inada Tomomi. The war shrine was also visited by a total of 194 legislators of conservative political parties, such as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

The number of Dietmembers who paid a visit to the facility on August 15 came to 125 in 2012. Last year, the first anniversary of the end of the war after the Abe government came into office, the number sharply increased to 200.

During the Second World War, Yasukuni Shrine was used as a psychological prop to mobilize the general public for Japan’s war of aggression. After the war ended, it secretly enshrined Class-A war criminals and has openly claimed that Japan fought a just war.

On the same day, PM Abe sent his aide to the shrine to offer a branch of a ceremonial tree, just as he did last year.

The foreign ministries of China and South Korea issued statements condemning these acts by Abe and his Cabinet ministers.

Past related article:
> Abe cabinet members visit Yasukuni Shrine [August 16, 2013]