Beware as Japan revives militarist past

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief Koichi Hagiuda visited the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday to "renew my vow to work for lasting peace".

However, nothing could be further from the truth, given that among those who are honored at the shrine are 14 Class A Japanese war criminals who were officially held responsible for war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

By honoring them, Hagiuda was actually honoring war and its proponents than peace and its defenders. Sanae Takaichi, as minister in charge of economic security, and all those who accompanied them on this trip to the Yasukuni shrine represent the will of the Japanese government, which has never hidden its ambitions for re-militarizing and reviving the country's militarist past.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wasn't at the shrine himself but an official representing him made a cash offering on his behalf. His predecessor Shinzo Abe had done the same before, which shows that worshiping Class-A war criminals is routine for Japanese politicians.

The excuse certain Japanese politicians and media outlets offer for the ritual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, namely to honor "the war dead", is pale. China suffered over 35 million casualties because of the Japanese invasion during WWII, but hardly any senior Japanese politician visits the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression near Marco Polo Bridge. Okinawa suffered because of the Japanese Empire's plan of "sacrificing 100 million" at the end of WWII, but few Japanese politicians have gone there to apologize for the atrocities they heaped on the locals, while they have time to honor the place where 14 Class-A war criminals are worshipped.

Those who worship evil could be evil themselves too. It is time for those who suffered imperial Japan's invasion to stay alert of its pursuit of a militarist past and revival of the imperial dream.