Tomomi Inada, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, the anniversary of the restoration of sovereignty after World War II.
Japan regained its sovereignty on April 28, 1952, the day the San Francisco Peace Treaty went into effect. This ended the Allied Occupation, which began with Japan's defeat in 1945.
The lawmaker visited the Shinto shrine with other LDP members who belong to a group led by her, just as she did on the same anniversary last year.
The shrine honors Japanese wartime leaders who were convicted as war criminals in a postwar international tribunal, along with millions of war dead.
In China and South Korea it is regarded as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Many people there harbor bitter memories of Japanese aggression and colonization.