Another graffiti incident at Yasukuni Shrine

For the second time this year, graffiti was discovered on a stone pillar near the entrance to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda district. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a report was filed by an employee at around 3:50 a.m. on Monday. Someone had daubed the pillar with words such as “die,” “militarism” and “toilet” using a black marker. A similar incident occurred at the same location about two and a half months ago, when a video was shared online showing a Chinese man apparently urinating on the pillar before writing “toilet.”” In Red paint.

Chinese man arrested for previous graffiti incident at Yasukuni Shrine

In July, 29-year-old Chinese national Jiang Zhuojun was arrested “for vandalism and disrespect of a place of worship.” He is believed to have purchased the red spray paint and played other roles in the destruction of the pillar. Arrest warrants were also issued for 36-year-old Dong Guangming and 25-year-old Xu Laiyu. Both were put on wanted lists. According to the police department's Public Security Bureau, Dong was allegedly responsible for the spray paint, while Xu filmed the act. Both men left Japan shortly after the incident, flying from Haneda Airport to Shanghai.

Japan's most controversial shrine

Founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869, Yasukuni Shrine is considered a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression in other Asian countries. It contains 2.4 million names of people killed in the war, including 1,066 convicted war criminals, 14 of whom were charged with Class A crimes. Last week, several senior politicians visited Yasukuni Shrine to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II. Both China and South Korea lodged protests, with the latter urgent “Japan’s responsible leadership must face up to history and show through its actions genuine reflection and sincere remorse for the past.”

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