Will Takaichi visit Yasukuni Shrine?

Will Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visit the notorious Yasukuni Shrine? If she does, Japan will bear the consequences.

Let's be clear: the Yasukuni Shrine is not an ordinary religious site. It is a political symbol of Japan's past brutal militarism. Fourteen convicted Class-A war criminals from WWII are enshrined there, including Hideki Tojo, a key architect of Japan's wartime aggression across Asia, and Iwane Matsui, responsible for the killing of 300,000 civilians during the Nanjing Massacre.

A Yasukuni Shrine visit would trigger strong backlash from the international community and further expose Japan's drift toward historical revisionism.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The world will not accept a return to Japanese militarism. If Takaichi chooses to go to the Yasukuni Shrine, the consequences will not be hers alone — they will be borne by Japan as a whole.