Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Offers Tribute at Yasukuni Shrine... Lawmakers Visit as Group (Summary)

At Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Class A war criminals from the Pacific War, the "Spring Grand Festival," a spring ritual, was held, and politicians continued to visit, including Cabinet officials and members of the National Diet paying group visits.

According to NHK on the 21st, on the occasion of Yasukuni Shrine's Spring Grand Festival, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida offered a tribute called "Masakaki" in his name. However, he does not plan to visit the shrine in person to pay respects. Since taking office, Prime Minister Kishida has offered tributes to Yasukuni Shrine in October 2021, April, August, and October last year, but has never visited the shrine to pay respects.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At around 8 a.m. that day, 87 members of the "Group of Diet Members Visiting Yasukuni Shrine Together," composed of ruling and opposition party members including the Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, and Nippon Ishin no Kai, visited Yasukuni Shrine to pay respects. They visit the shrine annually during the spring and autumn Grand Festivals, as well as on August 15.

After the visit, Ichiro Aisawa, vice chairman of the group and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party's House of Representatives, held a press conference stating, "Among current Diet members, only a very few have experienced the suffering of war," and added, "We must once again be grateful for the fact that countless war dead are the foundation of Japan's peace and prosperity."

Cabinet officials from the Kishida administration also visited Yasukuni. NHK reported that Masaki Ogushi, Deputy Minister of Digital and Cabinet Office, and Shuji Miyamoto, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Finance, among others, paid respects.