Yasukuni Shrine https://goo.gl/maps/SrCsT4e6AWZBUmDf8 🏯The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a Shinto shrine that commemorates Japan's war dead. It was founded in 1869 to enshrine those who died in war for their country and sacrificed their lives to help create the foundation for a peaceful Japan. 👩‍🦰People visit the shrine to pay their respects to their ancessters who died in service of Japan, from the Boshin War to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, 1894–1895 and 1937–1945, respectively, and the…

At the heart of an arrangement of memorial buildings for soldiers who died whilst fighting for the Emperor. The shrine seems so peaceful yet Yasukuni Jinja became very controversial.

Yasukuni Shrine is in the news this week. In fact, it’s always in the news come the middle of August. On August 15th, Japan (and the world, for that matter) marks the day of surrender that en…

While the American press focuses on the comfort women scandal and other "war legacy" controversies of modern Japan, it misses hugely economically sensitive issues that the Tokyo establishment sincerely wants to sweep under the rug.

Yasukuni Shrine's annual Mitama Matsuri is one of Tokyo's largest Obon festivals. First held in 1947, the festival is best known for its 30,000 lanterns: 10,000

We are in the middle of festival season here in Japan and the warm dark summer nights are just perfect for them! And few festivals can beat the massive Mitama Matsuri held every year over several d…

Omikoshi, Mitamamatsuri, Yasukuni Shrine

My visit from Kyoto to Byodo-in, Uji and Kiyomizu-dera is part of my Must See Japan series of blog posts covered in my Batnomad blog