Keiji Furuya, state minister in charge of the abduction issue, made a visit Sunday to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the first day of its three-day spring festival.
Furuya, who is also the security chief, is the second member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet, launched last December, known to have visited Yasukuni following Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo, who went to the Shinto facility Saturday on what he said was a private visit.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato also visited the shrine in the morning and told Kyodo News that he visited the shrine in a "private capacity."