Politics & Government

Minister, LDP Official Pay Visit to Yasukuni

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Koichi Hagiuda visited Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday.

Jiji Press

11:26 JST, August 16, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi and Liberal Democratic Party policy leader Koichi Hagiuda visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday, the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not visit the Shinto shrine this year again. But he made a tamagushi ritual offering at his own expense as president of the ruling LDP through an agent.

It was the fourth consecutive year that any of Japan’s Cabinet ministers visited the shrine on the anniversary of the war.

Takaichi told reporters that she made the tamagushi offering at her own expense. “I have paid my sincere respects to all those who sacrificed themselves for national policy,” she also said.

Hagiuda said he prayed for the souls of those who lost their lives in the war.

About 70 lawmakers of a suprapartisan group also visited the shrine. Ahead of them, former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi of the LDP paid his visit.