Japan Press Weekly

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2025 December 24 - 2026 January 6 [POLITICS]

PM Takaichi’s visit to Ise-jingu Shrine may cause people in neighboring countries to develop distrust of Japan

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae on January 5 visited Ise-jingu Shrine in Mie’s Ise City, following the visit by leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People on the previous day.

The act of visiting Ise-jingu Shrine by politicians, including the prime minister, not only runs counter to the postwar Constitution stipulating the separation of politics and religion but also may promote distrust of Japan among people in neighboring countries which experienced Japan’s past colonial rule and wartime atrocities.

During the prewar and wartime period, Ise-jingu, as a shrine dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami (Sun Goddess), the ancestral god of the Imperial Family, stood at the pinnacle of the state Shinto system which was used to sacralize the Emperor and instill in the minds of the general public the belief that “Japan is a Divine Land”.

In postwar Japan, successive Ise-jingu priests have served as advisors to and representatives of Japan’s largest pro-constitutional revisionist, rightist group Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference) which glorifies Japan’s past war of aggression as a “just war for Asian liberation”.