Takaichi Makes Offering at Yasukuni Shrine, Unlikely to Pay Her Respects in Person

[Financial News] Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent an offering to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined. However, she is reportedly not expected to pay her respects in person during the Autumn Grand Festival, which runs through the 19th.
According to foreign media reports on the 17th, Takaichi presented a potted-plant offering called “masakaki” in the name of “Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi” for the Autumn Grand Festival, which began that day at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
However, Takaichi is expected not to visit the shrine in person during this festival period.
Takaichi had paid her respects at Yasukuni Shrine for the spring and autumn Grand Festivals and on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s defeat, among other occasions, until she became president of the Liberal Democratic Party in October last year. However, she did not visit for the autumn festival last year after becoming party president, or for the spring festival this year after becoming prime minister.
On August 15 as well, instead of visiting in person, she paid the offering fee, known as “tamagushiryo,” out of her own pocket in her capacity as LDP president. At the time, she performed “yohai,” bowing toward the shrine from afar.
Yasukuni Shrine enshrines the spirits of about 2,466,000 people who died in Japan’s civil wars and wars of aggression, among other conflicts. About 2,133,000 of them were connected to the Pacific War; they include Class-A war criminals such as former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who were executed by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE).
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