Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, indicated Thursday that she had recently visited war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, a move that may rile China, South Korea and possibly the United States.
She posted two undated but recent photos of the visit on Facebook. In one, she stands in front of the shrine's main structure, and in the other she poses with the Yushukan war museum in the background. Exhibits at the Yushukan, a facility adjacent to the shrine, are often criticized for glorifying Japan's wars in the 1930s and 40s.
"I paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine for the first time in a long time. And I also entered Yushukan," she wrote in a comment attached to the photos. Yushukan displays many mementos of dead Japanese soldiers, and other war-related items.