[Introduction by John Nelson: Few institutions in Japan are as contested, controversial, and complex as Yasukuni Shrine. According to a recent editorial (June 6, 2005) in the Asahi Shimbun and published in Japan Focus, “Yasukuni Shrine… in the past served the purpose of providing a site to publicly manifest both grief and admiration for those who perished in conflict. In this sense, it functioned to enhance the will to fight and mobilize the populace for war.”
As the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War draws closer, on June 11 to 15, 2005, the Yomiuri Shimbun published a four-part series that served both to educate its 10.3 million daily readers about the Shinto shrine and subtly advance an editorial policy consistent with the paper’s conservative vision.
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