On April 21, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba made an offering at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined.
According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Ishiba dedicated an offering known as "masakaki" under the name "Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba" to mark the start of the shrine's annual spring festival, which began on this day. Last October, during the autumn festival at Yasukuni Shrine, he also made an offering without visiting the shrine in person.
Prime Minister Ishiba is not expected to visit Yasukuni Shrine during the current festival, which runs through April 23. Kyodo News reported that this decision appears to have been made in consideration of opposition from China and South Korea, and noted that attention is focused on how other cabinet members will respond.
The last time a sitting Japanese prime minister visited Yasukuni Shrine was in 2013, when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the visit.
Yasukuni Shrine commemorates the spirits of approximately 2,466,000 people who died in civil wars around the Meiji Restoration and in numerous wars waged by Imperial Japan. Among those enshrined are Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trials). This has been a source of diplomatic friction with Asian countries, including South Korea.
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