LDP President Takaichi to Not Visit Yasukuni Shrine During Autumn Festival

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:21 JST, October 8, 2025

Newly elected Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi is leaning toward refraining from visiting Yasukuni Shrine in Kudan-kita, Tokyo, during its autumn festival from Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, according to LDP sources.

She judged that visiting would provoke backlash from China and South Korea and should be avoided to prevent it from becoming a diplomatic issue.

Takaichi has previously visited Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the war’s end and during its spring and autumn festivals, even while serving as a cabinet minister. However, opposition to her visiting as party president emerged within the LDP and from its ruling coalition partner Komeito, who cited the significant impact such a visit would have. With U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled to visit Japan later this month, not visiting also appears to be keeping in mind the United States, which has been reluctant about such visits.

In the previous 2024 party leadership race, she had expressed her intention to continue visiting Yasukuni Shrine even as prime minister, but now she has simply said she will “make an appropriate decision.”