Amid heightened attention on Japan's wartime past, 47 Diet members visited contentious Yasukuni Shrine together Monday, the 60th anniversary of the nation's surrender.
Health minister Hidehisa Otsuji and Environment Minister Yuriko Koike made separate visits to the Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward in the afternoon.
At least four other Diet members visited separately, including Shinzo Abe, deputy secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party and a possible future prime minister. Yasukuni, which honors the nation's war dead as well as 14 Class-A war criminals, is an acute source of tension, especially with other parts of Asia subjected to Japan's wartime attacks.