Remembrance

August 15th marks the end of the war in the Pacific and the surrender of Japan to the allied forces. An event that is celebrated at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan every year.
Yasukuni is perhaps Japan`s most contoversial shrine. Built to commemorate the souls or kami of Japan`s war dead the enshrinement of 14 class A war criminals in 1978 created tensions with Japan`s neighbours who suffered badly at the hands of the Imperial military forces in World War II, especially China and Korea.
Due to the seperation of religion and state after the Second World War the shrine is a privately funded religious institution and unapologetically celebrates the military power of Japan in the thirties and forties. This has made it a Mecca for right wing nationalists and revisionist politicians many of whom gather at the shrine on August 15th to celebrate past glories.
Though nominally a call for continued peace the celebrations usually attract angry patriots and the paramilitary Uyoki Dantai nationalists in their black sound trucks who challange the riot police to be let through the road blocks. Peace activists also use the day to protest the perceived rolling back of the pacifist constitution and violent demonstrations can occur as the two side struggle to be heard.

Return to gallery here