4 senior LDP officials visit Yasukuni Shrine, raising questions about PM Takaichi's next move

Kobayashi Takayuki, policy research council chairman of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visited Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday, completing a sweep in which all four of the party's top officials have now paid their respects at the controversial Tokyo shrine. The bloc visit by senior LDP leaders has been described as unusual even within Japan.

The visits have also prompted speculation that they are laying the groundwork for Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae — who has held off on visiting the shrine out of concern over backlash from neighboring countries — to make her own visit in the future.

According to Kyodo News, Kobayashi visited Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday morning and made a personal monetary offering for a "tamagushi," a ritual branch presented at Shinto ceremonies.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, he said his grandfather had died in battle and that he had come "as a member of a bereaved family."

Asked about Prime Minister Takaichi's decision on Saturday to forgo a direct visit to the shrine and instead bow toward it from several hundred meters away — a practice known as "yohai" — Kobayashi said it was "something for each prime minister to judge appropriately at the time."

He shrugged off protests from South Korea and China over Saturday's visits by Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro and other cabinet members, saying it was "a matter of each person's conscience."

Kobayashi has consistently visited Yasukuni Shrine on Japan's defeat anniversary and during the shrine's spring and autumn festivals.

Kobayashi had been occupied with flood response efforts in Chiba Prefecture on Saturday, Japan's defeat anniversary, and completed his visit a day later — bringing the total of senior LDP officials who have visited the shrine this cycle to all four.

Secretary-General Suzuki Shunichi, General Council chairwoman Arimura Haruko and election strategy committee chairman Nishimura Yasutoshi had visited Yasukuni together on Saturday.

While LDP officials have previously visited Yasukuni in a personal capacity or as members of a cross-party lawmakers' group dedicated to shrine visits, analysts say it is unusual even in Japan for the party's top leadership to visit as a bloc.