August 16, 2026

On the anniversary of the end of WWII, cabinet ministers and senior LDP officials visited Yasukuni Shrine, an ideological symbol of Japanese militarism that glorifies and glosses over Japan’s past war of aggression.

The following cabinet ministers worshiped at the shrine: Koizumi Shinjiro (Defense Minister), Kikawada Hitoshi (Minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs), Kiuchi Minoru (Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy), and Onoda Kimi (Minister for Economic Security).

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae refrained from visiting the shrine in person. She, however, made an offering at her own expense in her capacity as LDP president through LDP Secretary-General Suzuki Shun’ichi and worshiped from a distance facing in the direction of the shrine.

Suzuki visited the shrine alongside Arimura Haruko (chair of the LDP General Affairs Committee) and Nishimura Yasutoshi (chair of the LDP Election Strategy Committee). LDP Acting Secretary-General Hagiuda Koichi as well as Kamiya Sohei (leader of the “Sanseito” party) and Hyakuta Naoki (leader of the Japan Conservative Party) also visited the controversial shrine.

Eighty-nine members of a cross-party parliamentary group also paid a group visit on the same day. This group included nine representatives from the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party, three from the Democratic Party for the People, eight from the Sanseito, one from Team Mirai, and two independents.