Japanese PM Sends Ritual Gift to Yasukuni Shrine Amid Spring Festival
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi offered a traditional masakaki evergreen branch to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, coinciding with the start of its three-day spring festival. The site remains a flashpoint for China and South Korea, who see it as emblematic of Japan’s past military aggression.
A source familiar with Takaichi’s plans indicated she won’t attend the festival in person this year. This follows strained relations with China after her November parliamentary comments suggesting Japan could view a Taiwan crisis as an existential threat, potentially justifying Self-Defense Forces action alongside the U.S.
Yasukuni honors millions of war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined in 1978—such as former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, executed in 1948 for war crimes. Visits by Japanese officials have historically sparked diplomatic tensions with neighbors, given Japan’s pre-WWII invasion of China and its 1910–1945 colonization of Korea.
Takaichi, a hawkish conservative and protégé of the late Shinzo Abe (the last sitting PM to visit Yasukuni, in December 2013), adhered to precedent by sending the offering in her official capacity. Other figures followed suit, including House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori and House of Councillors President Masakazu Sekiguchi.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, the government’s lead spokesperson, described the gesture as private during a press briefing, declining official comment.
Before becoming PM in October, Takaichi frequently visited Yasukuni for its spring and autumn festivals, as well as on August 15—marking Japan’s WWII surrender anniversary. Last October, shortly after her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership win on October 4 but before taking office on October 21, she skipped the autumn event and donated personally instead.
Beijing has ramped up pressure on Tokyo since Takaichi’s November 7 remarks. Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, claims independence, but China views it as a breakaway province to reclaim, even militarily if needed.
Post-LDP victory, Takaichi pledged to handle shrine visits “appropriately” as PM, insisting they shouldn’t become diplomatic disputes.
On Tuesday, senior members of the LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), toured the shrine. “We owe our peaceful Japan to the heroes enshrined here—politicians must pray for them,” said JIP co-leader Fumitake Fujita to reporters.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is set to visit on Wednesday.