Koizumi visits Yasukuni on surrender anniversary; Takaichi skips
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday's 81st anniversary of Japan's surrender, telling reporters he "reaffirmed our determination to continue fulfilling our responsibility to uphold Japan's postwar path as a peaceful nation."
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi did not enter the shrine but stepped out of her car in a nearby car park about 200 metres away, bowed twice, clapped twice, and bowed again toward it — while sending a ritual offering as previous PMs have done.
- Takaichi notably did not mention Japan's wartime atrocities or express remorse in her public remarks, according to the AP — an omission that sits alongside her stated goal of building an environment of "understanding from our allies and neighbouring countries."
- China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "strongly condemned" Takaichi's offering and Koizumi's visit and said it had lodged "strong protests" with Tokyo, while South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed "deep regret" and called the actions "anachronistic."
- Yasukuni Shrine enshrines roughly 2.5 million people who died fighting for Japan, including 14 Class A war criminals secretly added in 1978 — the act that ignited the shrine's modern controversy.
- Shinzo Abe was the last sitting prime minister to visit, in December 2013, a trip that drew "disappointment" from the Obama administration, making Koizumi's Saturday visit a rare breach of that de facto post-Abe moratorium by a serving cabinet minister.
- Japan's wartime record in Asia includes the 1937–1945 Second Sino-Japanese War, in which historians estimate 15–20 million Chinese were killed, and the 1910–1945 colonisation of Korea involving forced labour and the sexual enslavement of "comfort women."
Why it matters: Koizumi's visit breaks the de facto post-Abe moratorium by a serving Japanese cabinet minister on Yasukuni visits, and Takaichi's carefully staged tribute — without any mention of wartime atrocities or remorse — is unlikely to satisfy Beijing and Seoul, who already issued formal condemnations on Saturday and could escalate diplomatic pressure as Japan tries to position Takaichi as a regionally engaged leader.
Ask SkimNews
