Takaichi, a longtime visitor to the shrine, appears to have decided against an in-person visit to avoid renewed friction with South Korea and China.
Takaichi paid from her own pocket for a ritual offering known as a tamagushi in her capacity as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to Kyodo News and other Japanese media. She did not visit the shrine herself.
Before taking office, Takaichi regularly visited Yasukuni on Aug. 15 and during its major spring and autumn festivals. But She skipped the shrine's spring festival last April.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni at around 7 a.m. Saturday, leaving without answering reporters' questions, Japanese media reported. Hitoshi Kikawada, minister of state for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, also visited and made an offering.
Koizumi's appearance was particularly sensitive because of his defense portfolio. He became the first sitting Japanese defense minister to visit Yasukuni on Aug. 15 since Minoru Kihara, now chief Cabinet secretary, did so in 2024. Koizumi also visited the shrine on the surrender anniversary last year when he was agriculture minister.
The visits mean at least one serving Cabinet minister has gone to Yasukuni on Aug. 15 for seven consecutive years since 2020. The streak reached six years in 2025.
Senior LDP leaders also made an unusually coordinated appearance.
LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council Chair Haruko Arimura and Election Strategy Committee Chair Yasutoshi Nishimura visited the shrine together Saturday. Japanese media described a joint visit by several of the party's top executives as unusual.
A cross-party group known as the Association of Diet Members for Worshipping at Yasukuni Shrine, as well as members of the LDP's conservative caucus, were also expected to visit Saturday.
Yasukuni honors more than 2.4 million people who died in wars involving Japan since the late 19th century. Among those enshrined are 14 Class-A war criminals convicted after World War II, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Their inclusion has made the shrine a recurring source of diplomatic friction with South Korea and China, where visits by Japanese political leaders are viewed as symbols of insufficient reckoning with Japan's wartime aggression and colonial rule.
No sitting Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni since Shinzo Abe in December 2013.
Aug. 15 carries sharply different historical meanings across the region. In South Korea it is Liberation Day, marking the end of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Japan observes the date as the day to commemorate the war dead and pray for peace, marking Emperor Hirohito's announcement in 1945 that Japan would accept the Allied terms of surrender.
Takaichi was scheduled to lay flowers at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo before attending Japan's annual National Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead at the Nippon Budokan later Saturday.
The Japanese government said the ceremony, attended by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako as well as representatives of bereaved families, would honor approximately 3.1 million people who died in the war.
In a statement Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the ceremony was intended to offer prayers for the dead and renew Japan's pledge for lasting peace. The government called on people across the country to observe a moment of silence at noon.
AJP Takeaways:
- Takaichi chose distance, not disassociation: The prime minister skipped Yasukuni but sent a privately funded ritual offering as LDP president.
- Cabinet and party conservatives remained visible: Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, another minister and three senior LDP executives visited the shrine on Aug. 15.
- History remains a diplomatic fault line: The visits came on the same date Japan commemorates its war dead and South Korea celebrates liberation from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule.
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