Tuesday's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine by Katsunobu Kato, who holds the portfolio for dealing with Japan's aging population and declining birth rate, comes on the heels of Sunday's visit by two other members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet. More than 70 lawmakers also visited the shrine Tuesday, while Abe sent a tree there Saturday as a ritual offering.
Hidehisa Otsuji, head of a group of parliamentarians campaigning for official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, declined to comment on Abe’s decision not to visit personally.
"Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe has made offerings so I believe he could also sometimes pay a personal visit to the shrine. However, it was the prime minister's decision [not to pay a visit personally] so I cannot comment further on this,” said Otsuji.
Yasukuni Shrine contains the names of over two million dead Japanese soldiers, as well as several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes. The visits anger Beijing and Seoul, whose countries suffered under Japan's early 20th century brutal military aggression.
Abe is scheduled to hold trilateral talks with his Chinese and South Korea counterparts early next month.
voanews.com
20/10/15
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Abe's cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni shrine. Abe himself sent a ritual offering
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Some 70 Japanese lawmakers visited the notorious war-linked Yasukuni shrine Tuesday, following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ritual offering and two ministers' visits...
ReplyDeleteThe lawmakers from a right-wing group pay homage to the controversial shrine every year during its festivals and anniversaries of the end of World War II on Aug. 15.
The Yasukuni, which enshrines 14 Japanese convicted class-A war criminals during WWII, is considered by victimized countries from Japan's wartime aggression as a symbol of the country's past militarism.
Abe made offerings to the shrine on Saturday under the name of prime minister and two of his cabinet ministers -- Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki and Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi -- worshiped the shrine on Sunday.
Constant visits to the shrine by Japanese ministers and lawmakers have become a major obstacle for Japan to mend ties with its two closest neighbors of China and South Korea, as both of the countries suffered most from Japan's wartime atrocities.
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2015-10/20/content_36841986.htm