Japan Press Weekly

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2026 April 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

PM Takaichi and 3 Cabinet ministers make offerings at Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae on April 21 offered a sacred tree called “masakaki” to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in the name of the prime minister on the occasion of the shrine’s annual spring festival.

Along with PM Takaichi, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ueno Ken’ichiro, National Public Safety Commission Chair Akama Jiro, and Minister in Charge of Japan’s Growth Strategy Kiuchi Minoru also offered “masakaki” trees, respectively, to the shrine. Kiuchi worshipped at the shrine on the following day.

Making an offering by the prime minister to a certain religious facility violates the constitutional principle of the separation of state and religion. Furthermore, politicians’ act of paying a visit and offering ritual objects to Yasukuni Shrine, which functions to glorify Japan’s past war of aggression as a “war for self-existence and self-defense” and a “war for Asian liberation”, indicates that they share the same historical view with the shrine.

Amid deteriorating relations with China triggered by her “Taiwan contingency” remark, PM Takaichi, without showing measures to properly address this issue, went ahead with the offering of a “masakaki” tree to Yasukuni which played a part in mobilizing the people for the past war of aggression. This poses a risk of straining relations between Japan and East Asian countries.

Takaichi, when she served as Economic Security Minister and as Internal Affairs Minister, always paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine for its annual spring and autumn events as well as on August 15, the anniversary of the end of WWII. During last year’s autumn festival, she, as Liberal Democratic Party president, made a cash offering to the war-glorifying shrine.

Past related articles:
> JCP Koike criticizes PM Takaichi’s ‘Taiwan contingency is survival-threatening situation’ remark [November 8 & 11, 2025]
> Takaichi, as LDP leader, makes cash offering at controversial Yasukuni Shrine [October 18, 2025]