Mr Ishiba, Go to Yasukuni and Bow Before Our Dead Heroes

このページを日本語で読む

The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. Recently, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he would like to examine the origins of that conflict.

Specifically, the Prime Minister plans to set up a panel of experts to study the question in the near future. Then, based on the content of their report, he will express his views on history and the war at a press conference. Meanwhile, responding to concerns within the Liberal Democratic Party, the Prime Minister has decided not to issue a speech on the day marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.

There is an action that we very strongly urge Prime Minister Ishiba to take. He should visit Yasukuni Shrine to pray on occasions such as the upcoming spring festival (April 21-23). Likewise, the Prime Minister should visit again for the autumn festival (October 17-19) and the August 15 anniversary of the end of the Pacific War.

Rather than speeches, it is far more important for the Prime Minister to mourn and honor the war dead with the respect they deserve. That holds just as true when compared to convening expert meetings or expounding his personal opinions at press conferences.

Greatest Tragedy in Japan's History

Japan lost a total of 3.1 million compatriots during the war, including army and navy personnel and civilians. It was the greatest tragedy in Japanese history. If Ishiba wishes to reflect on the war, appropriately, he should visit Yasukuni Shrine.

In Tokyo's Kudanshita district, Yasukuni Shrine has been the central site for commemorating war dead since the Meiji Restoration. It enshrines the spirits of over 2.46 million heroes who sacrificed their lives to safeguard the nation of Japan, including fatalities during the Boshin War (1868-69), the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). Furthermore, the Chinreisha spirit-pacifying shrine within the precincts of Yasukuni enshrines ordinary citizens who died in air raids and other war-related incidents.

*People observe a moment of silence at Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of the war, at noon on August 15, 2024. (© Sankei by Yoshinori Saito)*

Every nation commemorates its war dead according to its own traditions. That is the generally accepted form to express respect towards those who sacrificed their lives for their country.

In the past, it was self-evident that the spirits of Japan's heroes who sacrificed their precious lives to protect the nation should be enshrined at Yasukuni. Visits to the shrine by our political leaders to worship are part of the covenant binding the Japanese state and its war dead.

Exercising the Freedom to Express Respect

Of course, the most important expression of that covenant would be a visit by the reigning Emperor. However, since the late Showa period, due to interference in our domestic affairs by China and South Korea, even visits by prime ministers have become a political issue. As a result, many prime ministers have stopped visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. And, although imperial envoys have continued to visit the shrine, no emperor has visited Yasukuni since November 1975.

In September 2024, before he became prime minister, Mr Ishiba indicated that he would not visit the shrine unless the circumstances were right for the Emperor to do so. Such a distorted way of thinking is difficult to fathom. Isn't it the prime minister's duty to make repeated visits to the shrine and thus help create an environment conducive to a visit by the emperor?

Ishiba is president, of course, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Its campaign platform for 2025 states, "We will continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine."

In October, Prime Minister Ishiba made a ritual offering of a branch from a sacred sakaki tree to Yasukuni Shrine during its annual autumn festival. If his attitude of respect for the nation’s war dead is genuine, then now, in this 80th year after the war's end, he should not be pandering to China, South Korea, or callous leftist forces.

Go to Yasukuni, Mr Prime Minister, and bow your head before the spirits of our dead heroes.