Takaichi Sends Offering to Yasukuni Shrine, Skips Visit as Autumn Festival Opens
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on October 17, the first day of the shrine's three-day autumn festival, Kyodo News and NHK reported. The offering, a masakaki presented in the name of the prime minister, was not accompanied by a personal visit, and a source close to Takaichi said she was unlikely to visit during the festival, which runs through October 19.
Yasukuni honors about 2.466 million war dead, including Class-A war criminals convicted by the Tokyo tribunal, which is why offerings and visits by Japanese leaders routinely draw attention in neighboring countries. Before becoming Liberal Democratic Party leader, Takaichi regularly visited the shrine at its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15; since becoming prime minister she has not visited, instead sending offerings and bowing from a distance.
Separately on Saturday, Japan's weather agency explained that a strong seismic-intensity warning issued on Friday, which predicted the maximum intensity of 7 across a wide area from Hokkaido to the Tokai region, resulted from a failure of a system safeguard; the warning was canceled eight minutes after issuance after causing widespread transport disruption. (GSM, based on Kyodo News reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 东京靖国神社中门鸟居。 Photo by Kakidai, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
