Japanese minister to visit controversial Yasukuni Shrine

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Japanese minister to visit controversial Yasukuni Shrine

People visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the first day of the spring festival in Tokyo on April 21, 2022. KAZUHIRO NOGI AFP TOKYO-Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura was appointed as the first member of prime minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet to visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine for war dead in Tokyo, according to the Kyodo news agency.

According to Kyodo, I resolved to do my utmost for the peace and development of Japan while thinking of the late prime minister Shinzo Abe.

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Nishimura belongs to the party faction that was led by Abe, who was gunned down at a campaign rally last month. On Wednesday, Kishida tapped Nishimura to head the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In China and South Korea, Yasukuni is seen as a symbol of Japanese former military aggression because it honors some 2.5 million war dead 14 Japanese World War Two leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as war criminals.

Abe visited shortly after taking office, but refrained for the rest of his tenure.