Japan Press Weekly

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2015 April 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

PM Abe again tries Asian nations’ patience

Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo again performed an offensive action that will inevitably provoke fierce criticisms from Asian nations as well as from the U.S. and Europe.

The prime minister on April 21 sent a ritual offering, a masakaki tree, to the war-glorifying Yasukuni Shrine on the occasion of its annual spring festival. In addition, on the previous day, on a BS news program, in regard to a new statement that he intends to issue in August marking the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, Abe showed his unwillingness to use certain words, such as “aggression” and “apology”, in the new statement, and said, “There is no need to release the new statement if it uses the same wording used in the past statements.”

It is obvious that the Yasukuni Shrine plays an important role as a propaganda organ for those who glorify Japan’s war of aggression. To visit or send offerings to the shrine is tantamount to endorsing the Yasukuni interpretation of Japan’s colonial history.


Past related articles:
> Abe claims it natural for national leader to visit Yasukuni Shrine [OcFebruary 18, 2015]
> PM Abe again sends offerings to war-glorifying shrine [October 18, 2014]