Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 12 - 18 [POLITICS]

PM Abe again makes offerings to Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo offered a ceremonial tree called “Masakaki” to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on October 17. The shrine is notorious for glorifying Japan’s war of aggression.

On that day, the shrine’s annual autumn festival opened. Abe dedicated the ritual implement under the title of “Prime Minister”.

Before and during World War II, Yasukuni Shrine worked as a psychological prop to make Japanese people support the aggressive war. After the war, along with its attached military museum “Yushukan”, the shrine has served as a propaganda organ to praise Japan’s war as a “righteous war” for “Asian liberation from Western rule”. The religious facility also enshrines class-A war criminals, including Tojo Hideki, Japan’s prime minister at the onset of the Asia-Pacific War (1941-45).

PM Abe’s act is tantamount to declaring that he has the same historical view as this war shrine.

Since returning to power in December 2012, PM Abe has annually offered a “Masakaki” tree for the shrine’s spring and autumn festivals and paid fees for a ritual sprig called “Tamagushi” on August 15, the anniversary of the end of WWII. He visited the shrine in December 2013, drawing harsh criticism from inside and outside the country.