Tokyo: New Japanese Prime Minister on Sunday sent a ritual offer to a controversial Yasukuni Temple that respected the death war and was seen by neighboring countries as a symbol of the Tokyo past militarism.
Fumio Kishida sent a “makeki” tree offered by his name as Prime Minister to celebrate the Biannual Temple festival held in spring and autumn, a temple spokesman for AFP.
Temple in the center of Tokyo respects 2.5 million dead wars, most of Japan, who have perished since the end of the 19th century.
But it also captured the senior military and political figures who were convicted of war crimes by the International Court.
Two Ministers of Kishida – Minister of Health and Labor Shigeyuki Goto and Kenji Wakamiya, the minister responsible for the 2025 world exhibition in Osaka – also offered sacred trees.
Earlier this year, three top ministers paid their respect at the temple on the commemoration of the Japanese World War.
But a Japanese Prime Minister has not yet appeared there since 2013, when Shinzo Abe triggers anger in Beijing and Seoul and get rare diplomatic reprimands from nearby United States.
The visit to the temple by government officials has angry countries suffering in the hands of the Japanese military during World War II, especially South Korea and China.
Kishida, who became the Japanese Prime Minister on October 4, did not plan to visit the temple during the autumn two-day festival which lasted until Monday, Kyodo News reported, quoting people who were not named close to him.