At one time, Toshiaki Nambu was just an ordinary employee at Dentsu Inc., the nation's top advertising agency, working with such clients as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
But this fall, he became the chief priest at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, famous for the enshrinement of convicted war criminals along with the nation's war dead.
Despite having no prior experience in religious work, he now heads the 135-year-old shrine, which often finds itself at the center of political and diplomatic controversies.