Second minister visits Yasukuni Shrine during its autumn festival

Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tatsunori Ibayashi on Monday became the second minister to visit war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo during its autumn festival this year, following growth strategy minister Minoru Kiuchi on Saturday.

Ibayashi visited the shrine as a member of a suprapartisan group led by Ichiro Aizawa of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

LDP General Council chair Hiroshi Kajiyama, LDP Election Strategy Committee chair Yasutoshi Nishimura, and Senate Budget Committee chair Haruko Arimura also visited the shrine separately.

Kajiyama made a ritual cash offering on behalf of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is also LDP president.

“I was entrusted to make the offering from the party president’s heart,” he told reporters, adding that the offering was made at her “personal expense.”

From the suprapartisan group, about 70 lawmakers — including members of the LDP, its Japan Innovation Party ally, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito — visited the shrine.

“We must renew our recognition that our mission lies in conveying the misery of war and the value of peace to future generations,” Aizawa said at a news conference.