Japan’s defense minister paid his respects Saturday at a shrine honoring the country’s war dead that has long dogged Tokyo’s relations with its Asian neighbors, but Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stayed away.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine took place 81 years after Japan’s surrender in World War II, an anniversary when crowds, including a small number in military-style uniform — and senior political figures — throng the site.
There had been some speculation that Takaichi, a regular visitor before becoming prime minister in October, might attend the shrine like then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, her mentor, had done in 2013.