Japanese PM Takaichi sends ritual offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday sent a ritual offering to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine as its three-day autumn festival began, local media reported.

Takaichi sent a potted plant offering known as "masakaki" to the notorious shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression, under her title as prime minister, Kyodo News reported.

Takaichi, a conservative politician who regularly visited the controversial shrine before becoming prime minister, is unlikely to visit it during the current festival, the report said, citing a source close to her.

While serving as a minister, Takaichi visited the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. However, she has refrained from doing so since becoming prime minister on October 21 last year.

According to Kyodo News, Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Minoru Kiuchi visited the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday morning, becoming the first member of Takaichi's cabinet reported to have visited the shrine during the autumn festival.

Kiuchi offered "masakaki," a ritual offering of evergreen branches, at the shrine, while House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori and House of Councillors President Masakazu Sekiguchi also sent offerings, Kyodo News reported.

Yasukuni Shrine, located in central Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, honors 14 convicted Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II. It has long been a source of diplomatic friction between Japan and its neighbors.

For a long time, visits and ritual offerings by Japanese officials to the shrine have consistently sparked criticism and opposition both at home and abroad, hurting the feelings of people in China, South Korea and other countries and regions victimized by Japan's wartime aggression.