Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi skipped the Yasukuni Shrine on the 81st anniversary of WWII's end, sending an offering instead as cabinet members visited and China and South Korea protested.
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stayed away from Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday as the country marked the 81st anniversary of its surrender in World War II, sending a ritual offering in her place while several cabinet members paid their respects in person. The decision, her first on the Aug. 15 anniversary since taking office in October, was widely seen as an effort to protect Japan's already strained relations with China and South Korea. It did not stop Beijing and Seoul from registering fresh protests.
At a national memorial ceremony at Nippon Budokan Hall, Takaichi mourned victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Battle of Okinawa, and Japanese soldiers who died on overseas battlefronts. She thanked them for their sacrifice as the "foundation of Japan's peace and prosperity today." Notably, she did not mention Japan's wartime conduct in Asia or express remorse for it, and she offered no apology.
Rather than appear at the shrine in person, Takaichi sent a tamagushi ritual offering paid for out of her own pocket in her capacity as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. She was seen at the Budokan turning toward the shrine across the road, bowing twice, clapping twice, and bowing once in what observers described as an apparent act of Shinto worship from a distance.
Before becoming prime minister, Takaichi visited Yasukuni regularly, including on past Aug. 15 anniversaries and seasonal festivals. She has not set foot there since taking office, though she has sent offerings twice for the shrine's biannual festivals, including this spring.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the shrine on Saturday, becoming the first sitting defense minister to do so on the surrender anniversary since Minoru Kihara in 2024. Kihara now serves as chief cabinet secretary in Takaichi's government.
Three other cabinet members joined him: Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Minoru Kiuchi, Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda, and Hitoshi Kikawada, the minister in charge of issues related to Okinawa and the Northern Territories. In a rare joint appearance, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council head Haruko Arimura, and Election Strategy Committee chief Yasutoshi Nishimura also visited together, a move widely read as an effort to make up for the prime minister's absence and reassure her right-wing base.
Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war dead alongside 14 Class-A war criminals convicted after World War II, making it a recurring flashpoint in relations with China and South Korea, both of which endured Japan's wartime occupation and aggression. Visits by Japanese leaders reliably draw sharp rebukes from Beijing and Seoul.
Takaichi's decision to stay away appeared calculated to keep ties with Seoul on an even keel and smooth the path to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China in November. Her absence also drew attention because she had long been one of the shrine's most prominent conservative visitors, and some speculated she might follow the example of her mentor, the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who visited in 2013.
Beijing said it "deplores" and strongly protested the shrine visits, while South Korea expressed regret and lodged its own protest. Both governments regularly characterize the shrine as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism, and the cabinet-level visits keep the issue simmering even with the prime minister staying away.
The last sitting prime minister to visit Yasukuni on the Aug. 15 anniversary was Junichiro Koizumi, Shinjiro Koizumi's father, in 2006.
The political calculation now shifts to the autumn festival in October and the November APEC summit, where Takaichi will face direct pressure from Beijing. Domestically, her decision could test support among the conservative activists who make up a key part of her base, many of whom expected her to follow through on past pledges to pray at the shrine on Aug. 15.
For now, the split screen -- a prime minister who sent an offering from a distance while her defense minister and party brass prayed in person -- captures the balancing act at the heart of Takaichi's premiership.
Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi skipped the Yasukuni Shrine on the 81st anniversary of WWII's end, sending an offering instead as cabinet members visited and China and South Korea protested.
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