Two Cabinet Ministers Visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine
Two Japanese Cabinet ministers visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday, the day Japan marks the end of World War Two.
Economic Security Minister Takaichi Sanae and Reconstruction Minister Akiba Kenya paid visits to the shrine, which honors Japan's war dead and includes leaders convicted of war crimes in World War Two.
Takaichi later told reporters that she gave a private cash offering to the shrine in her capacity as minister of state. She said she extended her gratitude with a sense of respect for the souls of those who died for the country.
She added that she prayed for their families' health and that no more people will die in a war, citing the Ukraine crisis.
Akiba told reporters that he renewed his pledge that a tragic war should never happen again.
This is the third year in a row that incumbent Japanese Cabinet ministers have visited the shrine on August 15.
Hagiuda Koichi, the chairperson of the Policy Research Council of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also visited the shrine that day.
Meanwhile, a nonpartisan group of lawmakers of Japan's Diet decided not to visit the shrine on the day due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi visited the shrine on Saturday.