Wanderlust: In Japan: Getting to the Yasukuni Shrine and "The Book of Souls"

I heard about Prime Minister Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan a little over a year ago. The news stories I read had headlines that were fluffed with words like "controversy" and "Nationalistic." The articles mentioned China's outrage as well as last year's Anti-Japanese protests. The protests in China were flared because it was the anniversary of what is known in China as "The Rape of Nanjing" (Nanjing (南京) - or "South Capital" - was China's capital after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, and before Chairman Mao's Long March from 1933-1935). The Nanjing Massacre was part of the Invasion of Manchuria chapter.

The Yasukuni Shrine

During this time, Japan was abandoning its Samurai System, and the Bushido code was made into more of a social code rather than a militaristic one. The Japanese were in the process of revamping their military and decided that they liked the military structure and tactics of the Germans best. They tested their skills and new-found military tactics on China when they invaded Manchuria and Nanjing. The League of Nations did not have the power to stop the invasion.

To this day, what happened in Nanjing lingers as a bitter memory between Sino-Japanese Relations. China wants an apology (or at the very least acknowledgement that the brutal event actually happened on their soil). Meanwhile, Japan is too proud to recognize the actions of past military leaders as well as these costly events during their mission to modernize, to westernize, and to be respected on an international level.

This all ties together, I promise...

The reason why PM Abe's visit to this particular shrine has received so much attention is because it is the Shinto Shrine that houses the souls of military soldiers that served the Emperor from 1867-1951. There are over 2,000,000 people that are listed in The Book of Souls, over 1,000 of which were convicted of war crimes. Fourteen of the names were convicted of committing 'crimes against peace' and were charged as Class A War Criminals.

A sign posed at the shrine's entrance
(Written in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese)

So, this time in Tokyo, I wanted to make a point to going to the Yasukuni Shrine. What can I say?: My curiosity simply got the better of me. After spending a year in Chengdu, China and peeling back the many, many layers of China's complex and beautiful and tragic history, I am deeply interested in this era of Asian history. What is more, I wonder how it has affected the world's present international relations. After witnessing the Anti-Japanese Protests of 2012, I realized that threads of the Nanjing tragedy fuel nationalistic pride and political actions between the two nations (for example, the Disputed Islands in the South China Sea, China's Air Zone, The Chinese Balloonist that was rescued by the Japanese Navy near the shores of the Disputed Islands).

What struck me most about it was not the shrine itself, actually. What struck me was its context. I decided to walk there since I felt like exploring and possibly getting lost. On the walk, I passed by the Imperial Palace, the National Diet Building, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Cabinet Office. I also passed by a handful of Embassies and Museums.

Odd, no?: Such a politically central and modernizing location for such a controversial shrine.