Two Cabinet ministers visited Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine on Monday, the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not attend, but instead sent a ritual offering to the war-linked shrine seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

The visits by hawkish economic security minister Sanae Takaichi and reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba, both handpicked for their posts by Kishida last week, marked the third straight year that Cabinet members have visited the Shinto shrine on Aug. 15. Yasukuni honors convicted war criminals along with Japan's more than 2.4 million war dead.

Kishida, who leads the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, sent the offering as the party's president. He has not visited the shrine — often a source of diplomatic friction — since becoming prime minister last October but has also sent ritual offerings for its autumn and spring festivals.