Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, regarded by Japan’s neighbours as a symbol of the country’s past militarism, at the start of its three-day autumn festival.
Takaichi, known as a conservative who routinely visited the Shinto shrine before becoming prime minister a year ago, was unlikely to visit the shrine during the festival, a source close to her said, amid strained relations with China and relatively stable ties with South Korea.
The shrine honours Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by a post-World War II international tribunal, along with millions of war dead, and has long been a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea.
While serving as a minister, Takaichi had visited the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s 1945 surrender in the war, but she has refrained from doing so since becoming prime minister on October 21 last year.