Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is under growing pressure from nationalist conservatives to make a high-profile visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, a symbolic move that analysts warn could embolden the country’s far-right and strain relations with neighbours.
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While Takaichi has long championed visits to the shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead including 14 convicted Class A war criminals, she has so far held off as leader – opting instead to send a ritual offering during the autumn festival.
But her ascent to the top of the country’s politics has raised expectations among right-wing figures that she may now take bolder ideological steps, with Yasukuni seen as a crucial litmus test.
“A prime minister’s visit to Yasukuni is a declaration of intent to confront injustice,” said Toshio Tamogami, a former air force chief known for his hardline views. In a social media post last Friday, he urged Takaichi to pay her respects at the shrine in person to “bring closure” to the issue and warned that failing to do so would show weakness in the face of foreign pressure.
Tamogami, who was dismissed in 2008 after publishing an essay justifying Japan’s wartime aggression, claimed Takaichi had skipped visiting during the festival to avoid upsetting “pro-China factions” in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ahead of last month’s leadership vote. Now that she was in power, he argued there was no excuse.
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“A prime minister’s visit to Yasukuni is a declaration of intent to confront injustice. Until she does this, she will face various criticisms,” he said. “If strong pressure is applied, she will be judged both domestically and internationally as someone who will yield to any unreasonable demand.”