Japanese minister visits war-linked shrine

Japan’s disaster reconstruction minister Masahiro Imamura on Wednesday offered prayers at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s Class-A war criminals.

The minister visited the Tokyo shrine at around 1:00 p.m. along with ordinary visitors. The visit came just after Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama visited Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to commemorate the war dead. The Reconstruction Agency, which is headed by the minister, is in charge of the Japanese government’s trade with foreign countries. Imamura told reporters that the timing of the events was just a “coincidence,” adding that his shrine visit had nothing to do with Abe’s schedule.

However, Japan’s Kyodo News reported that there could be questions raised over the shrine visit by a member of Japan’s cabinet immediately after Abe’s Pearl Harbor visit. Imamura, who joined the cabinet in August, is a member of a group of Japanese lawmaker visiting the Yasukuni Shrine every year.

Won-Jae Jang peacechaos@donga.com