Japanese Lawmakers' Group Visits Yasukuni Shrine
A non-partisan group of Japanese lawmakers has visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for the annual spring festival that started on Thursday.
The group usually visits the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15, the day Japan commemorates the end of World War Two.
Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war dead. Those remembered include leaders convicted of war crimes after World War Two.
One-hundred-and-three members of both chambers of the Diet paid their respects at the shrine on Friday. They included lawmakers from the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin.
The group included six state ministers and a parliamentary vice minister from the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
The group's head, former Upper House vice president Otsuji Hidehisa, told reporters that the lawmakers prayed for world peace, which is facing a crisis now.
Otsuji referred to Prime Minister Kishida, who sent a ritual offering to the shrine on the previous day to mark the start of the festival. Sources say he will not visit the shrine during the two-day festival. Otsuji said he wishes Kishida would make a visit, but he is grateful for the offering.
In December last year, the group visited the shrine for the first time in two years, following a suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.