Ever since I learned that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited Yasukuni Shrine at the end of last month I have been trying to guess what his motives for such an act could have been.
One motive could perhaps have been to ensure that members of the families of servicemen enshrined there would vote for Abe and his party at the next election. But no election is scheduled for some time to come and it is getting on for 70 years since the Pacific War ended.
Another motive might have been to appease the right-wing nationalists in the LDP and allied parties. But it hardly seems likely that these misguided extremists can pose a real threat to Abe's hold on power. If Abenomics is successful he should be politically unassailable. So why bother about old "has-been" anachronistic politicians such as former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara?