Yasukuni Jinja on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The Yasukuni shrine (Yasukuni Jinja, 靖国神社 "peaceful nation shrine"), located in the Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, is probably one of the well-known shrine in Japan. Not for its architecture or its design, but for the controversies in which it is involved.
Yasukuni Jinja has a long history. It was built more than 120 years ago in the 1869 by order of the Meiji Emperor to commemorate the victims of Boshin War. It was one of the principal shrines associated with State Shinto. Originally named Tokkyo Shokonsha (東京招魂社), the shrine was renamed Yasukuni Jinja in 1879. The shrine has performed Shinto rites to house the kami (spirits) of all Japanese and former colonial soldiers (Korean and Taiwanese) killed in conflict since then [wikipedia].
Class-A war criminals from World War II were added to the list of the enshrined at the shrine in 1978, causing chronical polemics and ambiguities. Yasukuni is probably the temple of Hiro Hito nostalgics but the reasons for a visit may differ: nationalists, politics and old people in wheelchair does not visit necessarily Yasakuni Jinja for the same reasons...
The photos were taken on August 14th and 15th, on the 60th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in world war two. Image files are available under the reference #001-000138 and a photostory is available here.
