Visits to War heroes shrine Yasukuni by Japan leaders stirs emotions from neighboring countries

by Keita Nakamura
September 26, 2024

Some candidates in Japan's upcoming ruling party leadership election have suggested they would visit the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo if they win and become prime minister, stirring concerns it may reignite diplomatic friction with China and South Korea.

Among three leading candidates in polls by major Japanese media outlets, economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, known as a security hawk, has voiced her intention to continue visiting Yasukuni on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has also visited Yasukuni every year on Aug. 15, though he did not clarifying his stance on future visits during the campaign for Friday's Liberal Democratic Party election, which has a record nine candidates.

Combined photo shows (from L) Shinjiro Koizumi, Sanae Takaichi and Shigeru Ishiba. (Kyodo)

People offer silent prayers at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2024, the 79th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. (Kyodo

Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has remained silent on whether he would visit the shrine if he becomes premier.

As past visits by Japanese prime ministers have drawn a harsh backlash from Asian neighbors, which see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, a repeat by the next leader could further strain Japan's ties with China and reverse its recently improving relationship with South Korea, experts say.

Madoka Fukuda, a Hosei University professor with expertise in diplomacy, said it is "impossible that China would not protest an incumbent Japanese prime minister's visit to Yasukuni," adding the extent of the negative effects depends on when and how it occurs.

Even now, tensions remain over several issues, such as the recent stabbing death of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in China and their conflicting claims over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan.

Regarding ties with South Korea, Kohtaro Ito, a senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based think tank Canon Institute for Global Studies, said a Japanese premier's visit to Yasukuni could "make a great impact," citing the case by Koizumi's father Junichiro in August 2001.

File photo taken on Jan. 1, 2004, shows then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (C), dressed in a traditional Japanese hakama robe, visiting Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo. (Kyodo

While Tokyo and Seoul had maintained a "trust relationship" to promote cooperation until then, bilateral ties "began to deteriorate" after Junichiro Koizumi made first of the six visits during his 2001-2006 tenure as Japan's leader, said Ito, an expert in diplomacy.

If the next prime minister visits Yasukuni, the move could rekindle strong opposition from South Korea, in turn worsening relations between Tokyo and Seoul even under President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has made efforts to repair ties with Japan, he added.

Political pundits say, however, it is uncertain whether whoever wins the LDP election would actually visit Yasukuni as prime minister, since some candidates might be raising the idea as part of a campaign strategy to gain support from conservative voters.

Takaichi, a conservative lawmaker, has expressed her belief in "showing respect for those who sacrificed their lives for national policies."

Koizumi said only that he would "make a proper decision" although he believes it is "natural to express gratitude" toward the war dead. He has not traveled to mainland China since becoming a lawmaker in 2009, he added.

Ishiba has argued that it is "our duty" to facilitate the Japanese emperor's visit to the shrine, saying he personally does not intend to go to a place where the emperor has shied away from.

File photo taken in December 2013 shows then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo. (Kyodo

The last visit by an incumbent Japanese premier was in December 2013 by the late Shinzo Abe. He angered China and South Korea, and the United States, Tokyo's key security ally, criticized Abe, saying his actions "exacerbate tensions with Japan's neighbors."

The controversial shrine is a source of diplomatic friction as Japan's wartime leaders, some of whom were convicted as war criminals by an international tribunal after World War II, are among the more than 2.4 million war dead honored there.

Yasukuni added 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo, to the enshrined deities in 1978, stirring controversy at home and abroad. Tojo was executed by hanging for crimes against peace.

In China and South Korea, memories of Japan's wartime actions run deep. Japan invaded a vast swath of China before the end of World War II and ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Various wartime issues between Japan and the two nations remain unresolved.

Yoon, who took office in May 2022 with a pledge to take a future-oriented approach toward Japan, has been improving Tokyo-Seoul relations that had sunk to their lowest point in decades under the left-leaning government of his predecessor, Moon Jae In.

The LDP presidential election comes after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided not to seek reelection to take responsibility for a slush fund scandal that was revealed late last year.