Japan PM sends monetary offering to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi contributed a monetary gift to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, a senior ruling party official disclosed on Monday. The shrine is notorious for honoring war criminals alongside countless war casualties. A coalition of lawmakers from various parties also paid a visit to the site for its autumn celebration.

Takaichi, as the head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, funded the offering herself. She additionally presented a "masakaki" ritual offering consisting of evergreen twigs on Saturday. Takaichi, often regarded as a conservative, is anticipated to abstain from attending the shrine's three-day autumn festival which wraps up on Monday.

She personally presented the "tamagushi" offering as a symbolic gift from party President Takaichi, according to Hiroshi Kajiyama, head of the party's General Council. On the same day, a cross-party coalition of lawmakers visited the shrine. The site memorializes both war dead and convicted war criminals. Such visits typically occur during seasonal festivals and on August 15, the day marking Japan's surrender in World War II.

Past visits by Japanese leaders have drawn severe backlash from China and South Korea, as both nations were victims of Japan's imperialist expansion during the war. Japan controlled large swathes of China by the war's end and South Korea was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. The anniversary arrives at a time when Sino-Japanese relations are strained following Takaichi's remarks a year ago implying Japan might respond to an attack on Taiwan with its Self-Defense Forces to support the United States.

China perceives Taiwan as a breakaway province destined for reunification with China, by force if necessary.