No sitting Japanese prime minister has visited the Yasukuni Shrine since Shinzo Abe in December 2013, drawing an expression of disappointment from then-US president Barack Obama.
The last premier to visit on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender was Koizumi’s father, Junichiro Koizumi, in 2006.
Former economic security ministers Sanae Takaichi and Takayuki Kobayashi also went to the shrine, local media reported. The two ran in last year’s LDP leadership election.
Ishiba on Friday sent an offering to the shrine, according to local media. One he made in October provoked criticism from South Korea, a Japanese colony for 35 years, and China, whose territories were occupied by Japanese forces in World War 2.
There was no immediate response from China’s foreign ministry when asked about the visit by Koizumi and other legislators.
The anniversary comes ahead of an expected meeting with South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, who will visit Japan on August 23 and 24 to discuss regional security and trilateral ties with the US. On August 15, his country celebrates its liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
While relations between Tokyo and Seoul have often been strained, the two countries are deepening security co-operation to counter China’s growing influence and the threat posed to them by nuclear-armed North Korea. As many as 88 national and local legislators from Japan’s far-right Sanseito Party also visited Yasukuni, local media reported. The “Japanese First” party wants to curb immigration, which it said is a threat to Japanese culture.
In July’s upper house election, it won 13 new seats, drawing support away from Ishiba’s LDP.
Reuters
AloJapan.com