Prime Minister Takaichi will not visit Yasukuni Shrine for Masakaki autumn festival

On the 17th, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dedicated a sacred masakaki tree in the name of ``Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi'' in conjunction with the annual autumn festival that began at Yasukuni Shrine in Kudankita, Tokyo. It seems that people will not be able to visit the shrine during the annual festival until the 19th. Among the members of the Takaichi Cabinet, Minoru Jouchi, Minister in charge of Growth Strategy, visited the shrine.

On the 17th, the prime minister attended a memorial ceremony for members of the Self-Defense Forces who died in the line of duty, held at the Ministry of Defense near Yasukuni Shrine. Asked whether he had worshiped from a distance at Yasukuni Shrine, those close to the prime minister explained, ``We will refrain from giving an answer.'' On August 15, the day the war ended, the Prime Minister visited Yasukuni Shrine from a distance from the parking lot of the Nippon Budokan, where he was attending the National War Memorial Ceremony.

The prime minister has continued to visit the shrine during regular festivals, including while he was a cabinet minister, but he has not visited the shrine since the autumn festival last October, just before he took office. He is giving consideration to diplomatic relations with China, where relations have cooled following his comments on the Taiwan crisis, and South Korea, where relations continue to improve.

Mr. Jonai paid the Tamakushi fee with his own money. After visiting the shrine, he told reporters, ``I offered my sincere condolences and respect to the spirits of the heroes who sacrificed their precious lives for their homeland.''