Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Friday, becoming the first sitting defense minister to pay respects at the site on the war memorial day since 2024. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi did not visit in person but offered a ritual fee in her capacity as Liberal Democratic Party president through her private funds, apparently considering the diplomatic implications. She instead attended the government's national memorial service for war dead at the Nippon Budokan and laid flowers at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery.
Three senior LDP officials — Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council Chairwoman Haruko Arimura, and Election Campaign Committee Chairman Yasutoshi Nishimura — visited the shrine together, with Suzuki telling reporters they attended as representatives of the party leadership. Koizumi has previously visited the shrine on August 15 while serving in other cabinet posts.
The shrine, which honors roughly 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals, remains a flashpoint with neighboring countries. No sitting prime minister has visited on the war memorial day since Junichiro Koizumi in 2006.