Despite criticism from South Korea and China over Yasukuni offerings, Japan's Takaichi makes an additional offering payment

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[Financial News Tokyo = Correspondent Seo Hye-jin] Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent an additional offering payment from her own funds on the 22nd, following her offering to Yasukuni Shrine on the 21st.
According to NHK, Takaichi made the private offering payment, known as "tamagushi," through Haruko Arimura, the General Affairs Chairman, who visited Yasukuni Shrine that morning.
After paying her respects, Arimura told reporters that she had visited the shrine with Takaichi's feelings in mind. She added, "I am sure she will always have the intention to visit someday."
On the first day of Yasukuni Shrine's Spring Grand Festival, Takaichi skipped a personal visit the previous day and instead made an offering under the name "Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi," presenting a ritual tree called a "masakaki."
South Korea and China immediately criticized Takaichi's offering, but she made another payment the following day.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a spokesperson's statement the previous day, "The government expresses deep disappointment and regret that responsible Japanese leaders have once again offered tributes or repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies Japan's past wars of aggression and enshrines war criminals."
Guo Zhaokun, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, also said at a briefing the same day, "Yasukuni Shrine is a spiritual tool and symbol of the aggressive wars launched by Japanese militarism abroad, and in effect a shrine for war criminals." He added, "We firmly oppose and strongly condemn Japan's negative moves related to Yasukuni Shrine."
Meanwhile, on the second day of the Spring Grand Festival, Minoru Kiuchi, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, visited Yasukuni Shrine in person. It was the first confirmed cabinet minister visit since the launch of the Takaichi Cabinet in October.
\r\nThe previous day, cabinet ministers including Kenichiro Ueno, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Jiro Akama, Minister of State for Disaster Management, only made offerings and did not visit the shrine.
After his visit, Kiuchi told reporters that he had offered his gratitude and respect to the spirits of those who gave their precious lives for the nation.
Jun Tsushima, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office, and Noriko Horiuchi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, also visited the shrine.
\r\nAbout 120 members of the bipartisan lawmaker group, the Association of Diet Members for Visiting Yasukuni Shrine Together, which has made annual visits, also paid a group visit.
Yasukuni Shrine honors about 2.466 million people who died in Japan's civil wars around the Meiji Restoration and in the many wars waged by Imperial Japan.
Nearly 90 percent of them, or about 2.133 million, are linked to the Pacific War. In particular, Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed under the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trials), are enshrined there.
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sjmary@fnnews.com Seo Hye-jin Reporter