Second offering follows Saturday tribute

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae delivers a policy speech in parliament in Tokyo on Oct. 5. [Reuters]
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae delivers a policy speech in parliament in Tokyo on Oct. 5. [Reuters]

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made an additional monetary offering to Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, brushing aside expressions of regret from South Korea and other countries over her earlier tribute.

According to Kyodo News and other outlets, Takaichi offered the "tamagushiryo" — a monetary offering — out of her own pocket through Liberal Democratic Party General Council Chairman Kajiyama Hiroshi, timed to coincide with the shrine's autumn festival rites.

Earlier, on Saturday, Takaichi had offered a "masakaki" — a sacred evergreen branch — in her official capacity as prime minister. South Korea's government expressed regret over the offering, while China's government condemned it as "a provocation against the postwar international order."

Takaichi has decided against visiting the shrine in person during the autumn festival period.

During the spring festival at Yasukuni in April, Takaichi similarly refrained from a personal visit while making both a masakaki offering and a tamagushiryo in succession. On Aug. 15 — Liberation Day in South Korea and the anniversary of Japan's World War II defeat — she made a monetary offering out of her own pocket and performed a "yohai," a distant bow toward the shrine in lieu of an in-person visit.

When asked whether Takaichi had also performed a yohai on Saturday, her aides told Kyodo they would "refrain from answering."

Among cabinet members, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kiuchi Minoru visited Yasukuni on Saturday, as did Policy Research Council Chairman Kobayashi Takayuki. On Monday, a cross-party lawmakers' group known as the "Association of Parliamentarians Who All Together Visit Yasukuni Shrine" was scheduled to pay its respects at the shrine.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com