Japan Press Weekly

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2013 August 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

Abe cabinet members visit Yasukuni Shrine

On August 15, marking the 68th anniversary of the end of World War II, three members of the Abe Cabinet visited the war-glorifying Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

They are Internal Affairs Minister Shindo Yoshitaka, National Public Safety Commission Chairman Furuya Keiji, and Administrative Reform Minister Inada Tomomi.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo sent a ritual offering to the shrine through a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker without actually visiting the shrine.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo made the following comment on the same day: Yasukuni Shrine is a special institution whose raison d'etre is to propagate Japan’s past war of aggression as a “just war to defend the homeland and liberate Asia”. The acts in support of the shrine by the prime minister and the three cabinet members are intended to underline their approval of the war of aggression and thus should never be tolerated.