Yasukuni shrine

Introduction

Yasukuni Shrine is a controversial Japanese religious institution. It was founded in 1869 with the sole purpose of honoring the souls of all those who have died while rendering service to Japan. It mostly honors military men but also many civilians who died in the time of war. These civilians include employees of munitions factories that were bombed during war and merchant seamen. However, it does not contain entire populations that were killed during wars. The souls of the Japanese war dead, particularly military men, are believed to have become revered spirits. The shrine is a holy place for celebrating the efforts of such people in liberating their country.

The shrine remains controversial across the Asia Pacific. Every time a Japanese leader visits the shrine, a wave of protests sweeps across the region. This is largely because such a leader is often perceived by Japan’s neighbors to be paying reverence to those some of the people who have committed the most egregious crimes in history. For instance, Yasukuni Shrine is home to about 1000 World War II criminals who were convicted of war crimes by Allied war tribunals and executed. By paying homage to such people, Japanese leaders often seem to be creating the impression that those who have been inducted into the shrine are simply “victims” of tribunals established to handle issues relating to international war crimes. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed discussion of the Yasukuni Shrine and the controversies surrounding its existence.

The origin of the Yasukuni Shrine controversy

Prior to 1978, visits to the shrine by Japanese leaders never used to trigger opposition among neighboring countries. During this year, a secret ceremony was conducted, whereby Japanese authorities introduced a special category for people who were “victims” of various international war crimes tribunals. This development triggered uproar across the Asia Pacific simply because the crimes for which the Japanese military officers were convicted were extremely horrendous. Some of these crimes involved murders, improper treatment of prisoners of war, maiming, plundering of private and …