News Yasukuni Shrine selects ex-admiral as chief priest

The controversial Yasukuni Shrine has recently appointed a former military commander as its chief priest, a step which may ignite controversy. The shrine, which other Asian nations view as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression, named Umio Otsuka, a former Maritime Self Defense Force (SDF) commander and one-time ambassador to Djibouti, to this position. Notably, this marks the first time since 1978 that an ex-military official has assumed the role of chief priest. In the past, another retired military officer, Nagayoshi Matsudaira, enshrined 14 prominent convicted war criminals alongside the 2.5 million war dead honoured at the shrine, including World War Two-era prime minister Hideki Tojo. Otsuka, aged 63, expressed his honour in serving the shrine for peace, where the spirits of those who sacrificed their lives for the country are commemorated and respected.

Yasukuni means "peaceful country" in Japanese. Visits to the shrine by senior Japanese political figures have drawn criticism from countries such as South Korea, which was under Tokyo's colonial rule for 35 years, and China, which Japan invaded. Conservatives assert that Yasukuni, which was established in 1869 as Japan emerged from more than 250 years of isolation, is meant to commemorate all the nation's war dead and is not a shrine dedicated to those blamed for waging war on Japan's neighbours.

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