Suga Offers Tribute at Yasukuni Shrine Ceremony for 'Class A War Criminals' (Comprehensive)

Yasukuni Shrine Also Follows Abe... Gesture of Sincerity to Right-Wing Forces in Japan

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga offered a tribute at the autumn grand festival of Yasukuni Shrine on the 17th, where Class A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined together. This showed that Prime Minister Suga, who positioned himself as the successor to the Abe Cabinet, intends to follow the same line regarding the Yasukuni Shrine issue.

NHK reported that on this day, Prime Minister Suga offered a 'masakaki' (a type of evergreen tree, specifically a species of Aucuba) at the autumn grand festival (Chukei Yetae) of Yasukuni Shrine, where the spirits of 14 war criminals are enshrined together. The festival continues for two days until the 18th.

This is interpreted as meaning that Prime Minister Suga, by sending a tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine festival for the first time since his inauguration, intends to faithfully inherit the Abe Cabinet and also aims at his support base within Japan.

During the 7 years and 8 months of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s second term, Suga served as Chief Cabinet Secretary and neither visited Yasukuni Shrine nor sent tributes. Instead of visiting directly, he sent tributes to avoid diplomatic friction with neighboring countries, while domestically showing goodwill to the right-wing forces in Japan demanding the Prime Minister’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine.

Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, stated at a press conference the day before, "Whether to offer a masakaki or to visit the shrine is a matter for Prime Minister Suga to appropriately decide."

NHK quoted officials saying, "While Suga did not offer a masakaki during his time as Chief Cabinet Secretary, this time he followed the example set by former Prime Minister Abe, who offered it in accordance with the Yetae festival."

Former Prime Minister Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, the year after his second term began, but during his tenure, conscious of South Korea and China, he replaced visits with offerings at the spring and autumn grand festivals and on August 15, the day marking Japan’s defeat (End of War Memorial Day). Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine three days after his retirement, on the 19th of last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.