Yazukuni Shrine
August 15th, 1945 is the day Korea was liberated from 36 years of Japanese colonial rule since its occupation in 1910. While Korea is celebrating and commemorating the day it became recognized as the only independent state of the Korean peninsula, Japan, one of the key nations that started the Second World War is celebrating the same date as a Memorial Day.
On the afternoon of Korea’s Independence Day, thousands of Japanese people gathered at the Yazukuni Shrine. This temple is a place where Japanese political leaders came to honor and commemorate those that fought and died in the Second World War. However, many nations around the world including Korea, China and even the United States have expressed disappointment that Japan is honoring military “heroes” that have been known to have massacred civilians and have created incidences that involved serious violation of basic human rights.
Today in the area surrounding the Yazukuni Shrine, many members from Japan’s extreme rightist groups held booths that promoted the view that Japan’s invasion of Asia during World War II was not a war crime, and that Japan was also a major victim of the war. There were members of rightist NGOS that were gathering peoples’ signatures in order to promote this idea, and also deny that the Japanese military had forced Korean and Chinese men and women into forced labor or sexual slavery.
There were many young Japanese citizens who were even demonstrating before the shrine and holding up pickets that showed messages such as “Japan is not a war criminal”. Some were even singing along old World War II war songs and greeting worshippers who were entering the temple.
The worshippers who showed up today to pay their respects at the shrine had to wait at least half an hour in line for their turn in hot and humid Asian summer. The worship and moment silence does not even last 5 seconds. However, barely any of the people who showed up expressed any form of complaint. A college student who had paid his respects at the shrine expressed that though he was not sure if what the Japanese military did in WWII was morally right, but at the same time he asserted that it was all for their country and that Japan had suffered just as much as their foes.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is receiving a great deal of criticism particularly from Koreans for his uplifting of those who brought upon Korea’s its darkest age. Many are also critical of his political policies that involve trying to amend Japan’s constitution so it could hold an official military that has the right to carry out preemptive attacks on Japanese enemies. Even now, the Japanese Naval and Air Self Defense Forces are among the top 10 military powers in the world, imposing a great threat to Korea and China.
Geun-Hye Park, the president of South Korea expressed in a statement during a commemoration ceremony that she hopes Japan will eventually admit its past wrongdoings so that Japan and Korea could develop a healthier and more effective diplomatic relationship.
