BEIJING, – Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine remains a deeply sensitive political issue across Asia, representing for countries like China and South Korea an unresolved historical grievance. Any visit or offering by Japanese officials consistently draws swift and strong condemnation.
While no sitting prime minister has visited the shrine since 2013, when Shinzo Abe did so, the possibility of a visit by Sanae Takaichi, a newly elected lawmaker, has reignited regional tensions. Takaichi indicated on that she was working to “create an environment” conducive to paying respects at the shrine, according to reports.
China’s foreign ministry responded with a call for prudence and a decisive break from militarism. Spokesperson Lin Jian stated, “Amnesia of history means betrayal and denial of responsibility spells relapse,” signaling Beijing’s deep concern.
The controversy surrounding Yasukuni stems from its commemoration of not only those who died in service to Japan, but also convicted war criminals. Established in 1869 under Emperor Meiji, initially as Shokonsha, the shrine was intended to honor those who died in a civil war that paved the way for Japan’s modernization. It was later renamed Yasukuni, meaning “to preserve peace for the entire nation.”
Today, Yasukuni Shrine claims to enshrine 2.47 million “divinities” – individuals who it says “sacrificed their lives in the course of fulfilling their public duty to protect their motherland.” Of these, approximately 2.13 million died during World War II. However, the shrine also honors 1,066 individuals convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East following World War II, including 14 classified as Class-A war criminals – those deemed responsible for the most egregious acts of aggression.
These 14 individuals were surreptitiously enshrined in 1978, a fact concealed from the public until , when it was revealed by major newspapers. Including those convicted under Class B and C categories, Yasukuni commemorates over 1,000 war criminals in total, individuals held responsible for atrocities committed throughout the Pacific Theater.
Among the enshrined is Hideki Tojo, Japan’s prime minister during World War II, under whose leadership Japan launched its aggressive expansion across Asia and the Pacific. This expansion resulted in the deaths of millions. Iwane Matsui, another of the enshrined Class-A war criminals, ordered the Nanjing Massacre in . Over the following weeks, Japanese soldiers carried out the orders, resulting in the slaughter of over 300,000 civilians and disarmed soldiers, along with the rape of more than 20,000 women and widespread looting and destruction.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East documented over 100 large-scale massacres perpetrated by the Japanese military in Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand, many commanded by those now honored at Yasukuni. Akira Muto oversaw the Manila Massacre in the Philippines, where roughly 100,000 Filipino civilians were killed. Heitaro Kimura, known as the “Butcher of Burma,” presided over the construction of the Thai-Burma “Death Railway,” a project built using forced labor from Myanmar, Malaysia, and Australia, resulting in the deaths of approximately 100,000 people.
Yasukuni’s historical museum, Yushukan, presents a markedly different narrative. It portrays Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War as inspiring independence movements across Asia and frames Japan’s wartime expansion as a necessary response to threats to its national survival. Japanese militarists in Southeast Asia are depicted as liberators rather than occupiers, aiming to free the region from Western imperialism.
The museum downplays atrocities, referring to the Nanjing Massacre as an “incident” and offering a brief, sanitized account. It showcases the locomotive used in the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway, highlighting its “wartime importance” and “postwar benefits” while omitting the brutal conditions and immense loss of life associated with its construction.
Critics argue that this historical revisionism and the failure to acknowledge wartime culpability perpetuate regional tensions. Visits by Japanese politicians are seen as a spiritual endorsement of militarism and a profound insult to the victims of past aggression.
In , a ritual offering by then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and visits by several right-leaning lawmakers triggered strong protests from China and South Korea, both of which demanded that Japan address its historical issues and sever ties with militarism.
Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks, including a statement that Japan’s problem isn’t what it did in World War II but that it lost the war, and a suggestion that Japan might intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait, have further heightened concerns. She has also repeatedly denied well-documented Japanese war crimes, including the Nanjing Massacre and the forced conscription of “comfort women.”
Experts emphasize that, even 80 years after its defeat in World War II, Japan has failed to fully confront questions of “aggression” and “responsibility,” revealing a lack of remorse and a distorted understanding of its history. While Germany undertook extensive efforts to address its Nazi past, including prosecuting war criminals and implementing anti-fascist education, Japan continues to honor convicted war criminals and minimize its wartime atrocities.
The ongoing controversy surrounding Yasukuni Shrine underscores the enduring challenges in reconciling Japan’s past with its present and future role in the region.
