Something that came up during a lesson brought a controversial subject in Japan to my attention today. We were talking about places you would go when you have free time, and one student, we’ll call him ‘J’, mentioned that he often visits Yasukuni shrine when he has free time. I noticed was this made most of the class go kind of silent although I didn’t really know why. Anyways, the name Yasukuni definitely rang a bell and during my lunch break I found out why.
Yasukuni shrine has been plastered all over japanese papers and television in recent weeks as its at the center of a mini-international crisis specifically between China and Korea and Japan. Yasukuni is a place where all fallen soldiers serving japan are enshrined. From what I gather, both Korea and China are upset at the ‘official’ visits taken there by past Japanese PMs. From what I gather, they are upset for a few reasons, including the fact that the shrine is home to a few Class A war criminals. Both countries seem to disagree with the official visits, they feel that Japan isn’t taking responsibility for their war crimes. The thing is, when ‘J’ mentioned Yasukuni the rest of the class got kind of silent, so I’m under the impression that the shrine has its own meaning among japanese people...does anyone know anything else? Is it a shinto thing?
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