"However, Takaichi opted on Friday to send an offering, and reports said she was likely to refrain from visiting in order not to antagonise the country's neighbours whom Imperial Japan had occupied and committed atrocities against in the first half of the 20th century. Past visits by top leaders to Yasukuni, which honours convicted war criminals, have angered China and South Korea."
"Takaichi's decision not to visit the shrine came as Japan's former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologising for atrocities Japan committed in Asia over the course of World War II, died aged 101. Murayama, in office from 1994 to 1996, issued the 1995 Murayama statement on the 50th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender. Murayama died on Friday at a hospital in his hometown, Oita, in southwestern Japan,"
Sanae Takaichi opted not to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and instead sent an offering ahead of a possible appointment as prime minister. She is a 64-year-old arch-conservative from the right of the Liberal Democratic Party who has previously visited the shrine, including as a government minister. The choice aimed to avoid antagonising neighbours that suffered Imperial Japan's occupation and wartime atrocities; past visits have angered China and South Korea. The shrine honours convicted war criminals and the last prime ministerial visit was in 2013 by Shinzo Abe. Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, known for the 1995 apology for wartime atrocities, died aged 101.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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