Yasukuni Shrine
The Yasukuni Shrine is most famous for it’s controversy. It’s not a particularly striking or beautiful shrine otherwise - the Meiji Shrine or Senso-ji in Asakusa are much more famous and popular.
It is a Shinto Shrine originally built by the Emperor Meiji in 1869 to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Boshin War. Since then, it’s dedication has grown to include all those who died fighting for the Emperor.
That includes about 1,000 people who were convicted of war crimes after World War II, 14 of which were Class A criminals. This is the controversial bit. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and a few other high level politicians visited the shrine on a few occassions to pay their respects to the war dead and both China and South Korea protested this, because it seems to show that Japan is proud of it’s militaristic and right-wing nationalistic past.
Both Emperors Hirohito and Akihito did not visit the shrine after it was revealed that the 14 Class A war criminals were interred there, which is ironic, given that the soldiers were fighting for the Emperor. Perhaps not as ironic as the meaning of the name Yasukuni though: Peaceful Nation.
It isn’t too far from the Imperial Palace and the historic Tokyo train station, so if you stop to see either, consider adding Yasukuni Shrine to your trip.
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