Baku, August 15, AZERTAC

Three Cabinet ministers visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine on Thursday, the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II, while Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent a ritual offering, according to Kyodo news.

The move comes a day after Kishida surprised many by announcing he would not run in his ruling party's leadership race next month to take responsibility for a party slush funds scandal, ending his three-year term as prime minister.

Kishida, seen as a dovish moderate within the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has refrained from visiting Yasukuni, which is viewed as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, in person since becoming premier in 2021, sending offerings instead on the war anniversary.

The visits to the Tokyo shrine by the three ministers -- Sanae Takaichi, the economic security minister known for her hawkish views on security issues, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and economic revitalization minister Yoshitaka Shindo -- triggered harsh criticism from Asian neighbors.

Yasukuni Shrine honors around 2.4 million of Japan's war dead, but it also enshrines wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by a post-World War II international tribunal.

It was the fifth consecutive year that one or more Cabinet members visited the shrine on the war anniversary.

Takaichi, considered a potential candidate in the LDP leadership race, visited Yasukuni in an apparent attempt to secure conservative support within the party.

Kihara became the first sitting defense minister to visit Yasukuni on the war anniversary since 2021, when Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, paid tribute.

"I offered my condolences to those who lost their precious lives and expressed my respect to them," Kihara told reporters after visiting the shrine.

Other lawmakers visiting the shrine on Thursday include former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, both of whom may also join the race.

Around 70 cross-party lawmakers, including former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katunobu Kato, also paid a visit on the anniversary.