Eighty-one years ago today, Japan declared unconditional surrender, but to this day, the ruling party leadership in Japan still refuses to repent.
According to Yomiuri Shimbun, on August 15, Japanese Prime Minister Yukie Akamine offered "agatsumete" at the Yasukuni Shrine.
On the same day, Japanese Defense Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine. According to the Japan Economic News, Abe had visited the Yasukuni Shrine multiple times as Environment Minister and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister. This is the first time a Defense Minister has visited the shrine since 2024, when then-Defense Minister Tomomi Kato visited it.
On the 15th, Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine. Japanese media reported on this.
Japanese Liberal Party Secretary-General Suzuki Toshio, General Secretary Yomura Yoshiko, and Election Strategy Committee Chairman Nishimura Yasunori visited the Yasukuni Shrine together. This was the first time that senior members of the Japanese Liberal Party have visited the shrine collectively.
According to reports, the ‘four-wheeled team’ of the Liberal Party—the party secretary-general, the general affairs chairman, the political organization chairman, and the election committee chairman—conducted a group visit. However, due to the rare heavy rainstorm in their own constituency, Chiba Prefecture, the political organization chairman, Kobayashi Tsubaki, returned to her hometown to handle the disaster situation.
On the 15th, senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party visited the Yasukuni Shrine collectively.
Observer Network's Japanese political observers analyzed that the LDP's decision to organize a 'collective visit by the leadership' was not simply a personal act by a few leaders who shared similar interests. In reality, the 'collective visit by the leadership' was merely a scaled-down version of the 'visit by Governor Takashi Murakami'. By creating this problem, the LDP aimed to deceive the public and gain favor from domestic far-right voters while distracting attention abroad.
The four people who attended the collective prayer today are actually stand-in replacements for Mr. Takahashi himself.
This not only reflects the collective will of the senior members of the Liberal Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Koga, but also represents an act of provocation. It attempts to create a new precedent and gradually test the limits of tolerance. Such actions must never be allowed.
According to Kyodo News, Suzuki Toshio told reporters that, as the President of the Liberal Democratic Party, Koichi was paying for the ritual offerings himself.
Since the Liberal Democratic Party regained control of Japan's government, it has become a " Tradition " that the Prime Minister, as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, offers prayers to the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th. Even Ishihara, who has a very clear view on "reflecting on war," cannot escape this tradition during his tenure.
The actions are the same, but the underlying logic behind them is very different.
In 2015, Koike Hayako, then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Japan, visited the Yasukuni Shrine. People's Network
Observers' Network Japanese political observer said that the Liberal Democratic Party is a "big, floppy tent" party, with a strong conservative right wing with a significant presence concerning visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Therefore, no matter who leads the Liberal Democratic Party as president, regardless of his individual perspective on historical issues, in order to maintain internal unity and appease hardliners, he must make some statement on August 15th. For them, this is more of a political expediency.
But for the Kashirais, things are different. For a long time, the Kashirais have been pioneers in advocating for the visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. During her two runs for the position of Party Leader, she made “supporting the visit” one of her key personal campaign points, even claiming that she would continue to visit the shrine even if she became Prime Minister.
But what is reality? As Shigeharu Hashimoto, the former governor of Osaka Prefecture, once criticized: “Just think for a moment, and you’ll realize that it’s simply impossible for the Japanese prime minister to visit such places right now.” The Liberal Democratic Party, the New Party, and other conservative parties are all skilled at talking but not doing anything.
There were also many netizens on Japanese social networks who supported Takahashi, but they expressed a lot of complaints: "Claims like ‘even being prime minister, one still visits shrines’ are completely false. It’s pure fraud.” “Takahashi is really disappointing.”
For Gao, she had a 'thief's heart', but lacked the 'thief's courage'. She couldn't pay respects, so she had to settle for something less, just like everyone else, by offering 'jade offerings'.
Chairperson of Public Affairs, Chairman of General Affairs, Chairman of Government Investigation and Election Strategy Committee are the "four horse-drawn carriage" that drives the smooth operation of the Liberal Party.
The Japan political observer from Observer Network said that the Liberal Democratic Party's decision to organize a 'collective pilgrimage by the leadership' is not just a personal act by a few leaders who share similar interests. In fact, the 'collective pilgrimage by the leadership' is actually a scaled-down version of the 'Komeito pilgrimage'. The Liberal Democratic Party created this problem in order to deceive the public and win over domestic far-right voters while keeping foreign attention distracted.
On one hand, due to the international situation, no one in the Gao government dared to bear the severe consequences of the 'current prime minister's visit'. On the other hand, the Gao government has repeatedly broken its promises and was unable to provide an explanation to its staunch far-right supporters within the country.
Currently, due to issues such as the modification of the 'Royal Model', intermediate voters have lost their trust in the Koga government significantly. Additionally, the internal divisions within the Liberal Party have become more severe due to the push for a reduction in consumption taxes. If the far-right voters abandon the Koga government at this time, it would only add to the already difficult situation.
Relying solely on the offering of 'jade strands' certainly cannot satisfy the far-right voters. That's why the Liberal Democratic Party leadership came up with this new plan, hoping to replace the current Prime Minister with a 'four-wheeled chariot', to demonstrate their emphasis on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine.
This plan was able to be implemented smoothly because, after taking office, Koga formed a core leadership of the Liberal Party that was extremely conservative in its beliefs.
The 73-year-old Chief Secretary Suzuki Shunichi is a senior politician, having been elected to parliament 12 times and served as a cabinet minister several times. He has a strong background; his father was a former prime minister, Suzuki Yuken, and Masayoshi Matsui is his brother-in-law. In the early years, he also visited the Yasukuni Shrine multiple times. Although he doesn’t have the same overt hawkish stance as some younger politicians, he is still a traditional conservative politician.
The 55-year-old president of the affairs committee, Arimura Yoshiko, is known for her conservative views that oppose the establishment of female imperial families and the use of selective spousal surnames. During the election, she also received support from organizations such as the Shinto Politics Alliance, which is related to the shrine headquarters.
She shares a highly similar political stance with Gao. She has been participating in activities since Gao established the policy study group two years ago. During both of Gao’s attempts to be selected as the KDP president, she was listed as one of Gao’s recommended candidates.
Traditionally, positions such as the Chief Executive Officer and the President of the General Assembly are held by representatives in Congress. However, Makimura was the first person to hold this position as a senator. This has led to speculation among the public that this was an act of rewarding close allies by the mayor.
Regarding the issue of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, Imori is an "inveterate offender." In 2014, she became the first "female active minister" to enter the cabinet. During her tenure, she, along with then-General Secretary of State Koichi Masui and others, visited the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th and during the regular spring and autumn ceremonies.
After being elected, Gao visited the shrine again in October last year and again in April this year.
As for Kenzo Takakoshi, the president of the Political Investigation Council, who is 51 years old, there seems to be no better description for him than “a young hawk”. In both presidential elections of the Liberal Democratic Party, Takakoshi was a candidate whose hard-line stance was second only to that of Yukio Takashima. He considers himself the foremost expert on “economic security” in Japan and advocates for the establishment of the Anti-Spy Act. His policy views are highly consistent with those of Yukio Takashima.
In the second round of voting during last year's president election, Xiaobin's camp chose to cast their votes for Gao Shi, thus securing Gao Shi as president.
Kobayashi described his grandfather as a Japanese army member who killed in China. He is also a frequent visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine.
The 63-year-old election strategy chairman, Yasumori Yasuteru, is actually a well-known figure. Back in the day, among Trump's "world-famous paintings," Yasumori served as the backdrop behind Abe. Yasumori was originally part of Abe's faction and held the position of Deputy Chief of Cabinet Staff at that time. He has visited the Yasukuni Shrine on multiple occasions. A characteristic of his past actions was that he would not visit on August 15th, but several days prior. For this reason, he became the first cabinet minister to visit the shrine in both the Kishida-Fukuda cabinets.
On the 14th, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party told the Mainichi Shimbun that under the assumption that Kei City would not pay respects, “it would be great if this move could take into account the feelings of the conservative supporters to the greatest extent possible.”
Whether conservative voters in Japan will accept this scheme is not currently discussed, but the international community will surely not be fooled by the tricks used by the Liberal Democratic Party.
81 years have passed, but now Japanese right-wing forces continue to distort history and expand military forces. The total amount of the defense budget requested by the Japanese Defense Ministry for the fiscal year 2027 is approximately 8.9 trillion yen, setting a new record.
Regarding this, Chen Xi, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, stated that 81 years ago, under the heavy strikes from China and the international anti-fascist forces, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. Back then, Japanese militarism dragged entire Asia into a world of blood and fire. Atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre, the Bataan Death March, and the Thai-Myanmar Death Railway brought immense suffering to the people of Asia and the world, and the Japanese people suffered greatly as a result. However, after losing the war, Japan failed to truly learn from history’s lessons. For a long time, it allowed right-wing forces to distort and deny the crimes of aggression. Japan tried every means to circumvent the principles of a “peaceful constitution” and “defense only for defensive purposes,” attempting to challenge the post-war international order and becoming a force that threatens regional peace and stability. Recently, Japan has used so-called “external threats” as an excuse to significantly increase its defense budget, develop aggressive military forces, and expand its military industry. Japan’s “new militarism” is clearly showing its true nature; troubles are inevitable if not prevented.
Chen Xi emphasized that the truth of history must not be forgotten, and justice and peace must not be violated. We urge the Japanese side to reflect deeply, admit their mistakes and atone for them, strictly abide by the post-war international order, and stop any dangerous actions towards 're-militarization'. Straying once more would only lead to even more painful failures and complete reckoning.
