More than a diplomatic issue

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering of a tree to Yasukuni Shrine, and one of his aides, Seiichi Eto, along with more than 90 members of a cross-party group of lawmakers, visited the shrine for its annual spring festival on Friday.

To offer gratitude and reverence in person to those who died for state policies has long been cited by some Japanese politicians as a long-standing tradition. Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi, who was one of those who visited the shrine, defended the action by saying, "The way we commemorate [the dead] shouldn't turn into a diplomatic issue," according to Japanese reports.

But their homage-paying to the shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including 14 World War II Class-A war criminals, constitutes a repeated challenge to international justice, as the shrine has long been a symbol of Japanese militarism.