Takaichi sends Yasukuni offering, no visit; Beijing, Seoul protest

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan sent a masakaki, a ritual offering of a sacred tree branch, to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, Oct. 17. She did not go in person. The shrine holds its autumn festival from Oct. 17 to 19 and honors about 2.466 million war dead, among them Hideki Tojo, a Class A war criminal, according to Seoul Economic Daily.

The offering bore the name "Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi." A source close to her said, according to Kyodo as cited by Nocut News, that she does not plan to visit the shrine, to avoid friction with South Korea and China. Minoru Kiuchi, the minister for economic and fiscal policy, did go that day and paid for an offering out of his own pocket. The speakers of both houses of the Diet also sent offerings, and a cross-party group of lawmakers is expected to visit on the 19th.

China's embassy in Japan answered with a condemnation. According to Xinhua, China's state news agency, which carries Beijing's official line, its spokesman called the shrine a "symbol of Japanese militarism" and urged Japan to break "completely" with that past. South Korea's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing "deep disappointment and regret" and asked Japanese leaders to look at their history "honestly," according to Seoul Economic Daily, which translated it from Korean.

For Japan and its neighbors, Yasukuni is where memories of the war hurt most. Takaichi visited regularly before she became president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in October 2025. Since then she has opted for offerings: at the 2025 autumn festival, at this year's spring festival and now. According to Nocut News, on Aug. 15 she paid for an offering in a personal capacity and bowed from afar. This time her aides declined to say whether she repeated the bow.

The festival ends on the 19th, the same day the lawmakers are expected to visit.