Overview

• At the Nippon Budokan service marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba used the word “regret” in his memorial address—a phrase absent from prime ministerial statements since 2012.
• According to Kyodo News, Ishiba quietly sent an offering to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where Agriculture Minister Shinchiro Koizumi and up to 60 far-right Sanseito Party politicians also paid respects.
• Yasukuni Shrine commemorates about 2.5 million war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals, and the recent offerings and visits have drawn renewed criticism from China and South Korea for appearing to downplay wartime aggression.
• Ishiba’s combination of toned-down language and shrine gestures reflects pressure from conservative factions within the ruling LDP after its losses in July’s upper house election.
• The prime minister will meet South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung later this month following these wartime memory gestures that coincide with deeper security cooperation.