Kishida performs ritual sacrifices at the Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO (Jiji Press) – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida performed a ritual offering of “masakaki” trees at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Sunday as the war-related Shinto shrine’s three-day spring festival began.

During the festival, Kishida is unlikely to visit the shrine.

Among his Cabinet ministers, Economic Revitalization Minister Yoshitaka Shindo visited the shrine on Sunday.

Since taking office in October 2021, Kishida has performed masakaki offerings for the shrine’s spring and autumn festivals and “tamagushi” ritual offerings at the shrine on the August 15 anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.