While worshiping ghosts, expanding martial arts, Takashi is

Last week, the Japanese government officially revised the "Three Principles for the Transfer of Defense Equipment", allowing the export of "lethal weapons" to foreign countries in principle. Kyodo News stated that this is a significant turning point in Japan's security policy.

 

On the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Hayao Takashi offered sacrifices to Yasukuni Shrine under the name of "Prime Minister of the Cabinet". In the eyes of analysts, these two actions are actually a set of "combination punches", and right-wing forces in Japan are attempting to deeply link historical revisionism with re militarization, forming a dangerous closed loop.

 

Japanese politicians openly worship ghosts

 

Triggering strong dissatisfaction among international public opinion

 

On April 21st, the Yasukuni Shrine located in Chiyoda ku, Tokyo held a three-day spring festival.

 

Japanese Prime Minister Hayao Takashi, in the name of "Prime Minister of the Cabinet," offered a sacrifice called "Makoto" to Yasukuni Shrine.

 

 

 

Japanese historian Masataka Mori: Yasukuni Shrine is essentially a core symbol of the spirit of past aggressive wars.

 

 

 

The Yasukuni Shrine enshrines 14 Class A war criminals of World War II, including Japan's top war criminal Hideki Tojo, the conspirator Kenji Tsuchihara, the mastermind behind the Nanjing Massacre, Iwane Matsui, and the mastermind behind suppressing the Korean people's resistance against Japan, Akira Koizumi.

 

 

 

Japanese historian Mori Masataka: Worshiping or offering sacrifices there is, in a sense, equivalent to expressing affirmation of these war criminals.

 

 

 

At around 11:00 am on April 22nd, a man in his 60s attempted to hang a banner near the "Shinmon" of Yasukuni Shrine and was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The banner read in Japanese, "Stop worshiping Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines war criminals.

 

According to reports, the man's surname is Park and he is a South Korean citizen who entered Japan on April 20th. During the interrogation, he stated that he simply did what he wanted to do.

 

 

 

On the morning of the incident, Japanese Minister of Economy, Finance and Policy, Minoru Castle, also visited Yasukuni Shrine. This is the first time since the establishment of the Takashi Hayao government in October last year that a Japanese cabinet member has "worshipped ghosts".

 

 

 

On the same day, 126 members of parliament collectively "worshipped ghosts". They come from the cross party parliamentary organization 'Let's Visit Yasukuni Shrine Together', with a larger scale of visits than in previous years.

 

On the same day, Takashi Hayao, as the "President of the Liberal Democratic Party", offered "jade skewers" to Yasukuni Shrine through the General Affairs Director of the Liberal Democratic Party, Tomoko Arimura.

 

 

 

I brought the CEO's jade skewers for worship, and she must have had the idea of coming to worship one day ago.

 

——The President of the Liberal Democratic Party General Affairs Office, Masako Muramura

 

The "ghost worship" behavior of Japanese politicians has sparked strong international dissatisfaction.

 

 

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun: China firmly opposes and strongly condemns Japan's negative actions regarding the Yasukuni Shrine, and has made solemn representations and strong protests to Japan.

 

 

 

The South Korean government urges the Japanese high-level to face history squarely and demonstrate their humble repentance and sincere reflection on the history of aggression through practical actions.

 

——South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

The Japanese right-wing is now turning political provocations and historical offenses into a 'low-intensity' approach

 

 

 

On December 26, 2013, Takashi Hayao's political mentor and then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine, which sparked strong international dissatisfaction. The South Korean government condemned Abe's move as "disgusting".

 

 

 

The US Embassy in Tokyo issued a statement expressing disappointment with the Japanese government's actions to escalate tensions with neighboring countries.

 

At that time, the Sino Japanese relationship, which was at a low point due to the Diaoyu Islands dispute, was further exacerbated. The total trade volume between China and Japan decreased by 5.1% year-on-year, and the impact on the Japanese economy continued for several years thereafter.

 

Since then, Japanese Prime Ministers, including Abe, have never publicly visited Yasukuni Shrine again.

 

 

 

However, according to the Japanese media Post Seven, during Takashi Hayao's tenure as Cabinet Minister, he almost never missed the so-called "Spring and Autumn Festival" at Yasukuni Shrine and the August 15th visit, openly raising flags to summon the souls of militarism.

 

Analysts point out that Takashi, who is now the Prime Minister, has chosen to "worship rather than personally worship" not because her historical perspective has changed, but because today's right-wing in Japan has learned how to "downplay" political provocations and historical offenses, while catering to conservative forces in the country and trying to avoid escalating the situation to the level that triggered a diplomatic storm in 2013.