Takayuki Kobayashi, a senior official of Japan\u2019s ruling Liberal\nDemocratic Party (LDP), visited Yasukuni Shrine, a shrine associated\nwith Japan\u2019s wartime history, on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Kobayashi\u2019s visit came a day after several other senior party members\nvisited the shrine, though Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi did not, to\nmark the 81st anniversary of the end of the Second World War.<\/p>\n
The politician, who serves as the LDP\u2019s policy chief, did not join\nother party executives who visited the controversial shrine on Saturday\n(15 August) because he had to deal with the aftermath of heavy rain that\nhit parts of Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, which is his\nconstituency.<\/p>\n
Kobayashi\u2019s visit on Sunday came after China and South Korea\ncondemned visits by several members of Takaichi\u2019s cabinet, including\nDefence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, as well as an offering made by the\nprime minister to the Shinto shrine.<\/p>\n
Yasukuni Shrine honours the war dead as well as 14 convicted war\ncriminals, while Asian countries such as China and Korea suffered the\nimpact of Japanese aggression during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited as a family member,\u201d Kobayashi told reporters. The LDP\nsenior official\u2019s grandfather died in the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI renewed my determination to always work to protect the lives of\nthe Japanese people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kobayashi is known for holding firm views on security issues. He\npreviously served as economic security minister before taking up his\ncurrent party executive position. Last year, he lost to Takaichi in the\nruling party\u2019s leadership election.<\/p>\n
Takaichi did not visit the shrine on Saturday, which marked the first\nwar anniversary since she became prime minister.<\/p>\n
However, upon arriving at Nippon Budokan Hall, just a few hundred\nmetres from Yasukuni Shrine, to attend the memorial ceremony, she bowed\ntwice, clapped twice, and then bowed once towards the shrine, a form of\nrespect in the Shinto tradition.<\/p>\n
At the commemoration, a total of four cabinet ministers visited the\nshrine, along with three senior officials of the ruling party:\nSecretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council Chair Haruko Arimura,\nand Election Strategy Chair Yasutoshi Nishimura.<\/p>\n
Yasukuni Shrine enshrined 14 wartime Japanese leaders as deities in\n1978. Most of them were convicted as Class-A war criminals. They include\nGeneral Hideki Tojo, Japan\u2019s wartime prime minister who was executed in\n1948 for crimes against peace.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/yasukuni-shrine-visited-again-by-japans-ruling-party-executive-1786874059", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }