Japanese PM makes monetary offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday sent a monetary offering known as "tamagushi" to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on the last day of its three-day autumn festival, Kyodo News reported.

Takaichi made the offering to the shrine in Tokyo through senior officials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

On the same day, land minister Tatsunori Ibayashi visited the notorious shrine, which honors 14 convicted Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II, as did LDP election chief Yasutoshi Nishimura and a cross-party lawmakers' group.

Earlier on Saturday, 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, as the shrine's three-day autumn festival began, Kyodo News reported.

On Saturday, some Japanese cabinet members and lawmakers also visited the war-linked shrine.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Japan on Saturday condemned the Japanese politicians, saying no matter what excuses Japanese politicians offer, their actions cannot conceal their real intentions of whitewashing war criminals, covering up wartime atrocities, distorting historical facts and paving the way for accelerated remilitarization.

Meng Xiaoxu, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with China Media Group that Takaichi's repeated offerings to the war-linked shrine were eroding Japan’s postwar anti-war consensus and undermining the legitimacy of its "Peace Constitution," paving the way for the country's remilitarization.

Meng said Takaichi's underlying strategy was to consolidate support among right-wing voters at home and lay the groundwork for constitutional revision and increased defense spending, while adopting a relatively restrained form of offering to avoid triggering an immediate diplomatic crisis abroad.

Against the backdrop of Japan's recent acceleration of remilitarization, Meng said Takaichi was testing the limits of neighboring countries while steadily easing military constraints, seeking to gradually break away from Japan's postwar framework.

The Yasukuni Shrine has long been a source of diplomatic tension between Japan and neighboring countries. Visits and ritual offerings by Japanese officials at the shrine have repeatedly drawn domestic and international criticism, particularly from countries such as China and South Korea, whose people suffered greatly under Japan's wartime aggression.