A cross-party group of around 90 Japanese lawmakers visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday for its fall festival, a move expected to irritate some Asian neighbors who view it as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
The group, mainly composed of conservative lawmakers, has routinely visited the Shinto shrine on the occasion of its biannual festivals in the spring and fall as well as the anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15.
The lawmakers last visited the shrine at the time of its spring festival this year, but they refrained from offering prayers there on the war anniversary this summer amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.