Defense Minister Koizumi Among Four Ministers to Visit Yasukuni Shrine

Aug 15, 2026 | News On Japan

TOKYO - Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and three other Cabinet ministers visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II, while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi refrained from going in person and instead offered prayers from the Nippon Budokan.

Koizumi visited the shrine in Kudan-kita, Tokyo, marking the first confirmed visit by a serving defense minister since Minoru Kihara went there on August 15, 2024.

Hitoshi Kikawada, minister responsible for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, Minoru Kiuchi, minister for economic and fiscal policy, and Kimi Onoda, minister for economic security, also visited the shrine.

Three senior Liberal Democratic Party officials, including Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, visited Yasukuni together.

Takaichi was expected to refrain from visiting the shrine herself. Instead, she made a private monetary offering for a tamagushi ritual offering in her capacity as LDP president, with Suzuki acting on her behalf.

The prime minister attended the national memorial ceremony for the war dead at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

While in the Budokan parking area, Takaichi faced in the direction of Yasukuni Shrine and performed the Shinto ritual of bowing twice, clapping twice and bowing once, offering prayers to the shrine from a distance.

Source: Kyodo

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