Yasukuni Shrine

STRAFFINRUN

Yasukuni shrine in Chiyoda ward, Tokyo is a magnet for reftist activitists that don’t rike it’s enshrinement of 14 Class A war criminals from Imperial Japan’s miritary.  My buddy and I took a trip there last Golden Week to check it out for ourselves.  It certainly had a different vibe than the other Shinto shrines I’ve visited.  I get why people object to the 14 people, out of 2.4 million that are enshrined there, whose souls are floating around.  The problem arises when you realize that according to Shinto, once a person is put on the list at a shrine, they are there forever.  You can’t just go in and delete them like a bad tweet.  Feel free to debate that and I’ll just show you the pics.

“Honden” or Main Hall. This is where you go to ? for the souls of those lost in the war.

Sit. Good boy!

Lion Dogs guard the entrance.

Wooden door with the Chrysanthemum seal towers over us.

The Mitsubishi Type 0 Carrier-Based Fighter Model 52. A formidable foe.

Gimme that gorgeous profile.

Specs.

The pilot seat looks a tad uncomfy.

Type 99 20mm machine gun carried by the Zerosen.

105mm Howitzer.

One is always bigger than the other.

Kamikaze pilot. As a sayonara for their fatal mission they’d tell their fellow pilots, “We’ll meet again at Yasukuni.”

Gift shop. Imperial Japan cookies.

Or maybe some hard candy or curry?

These are “Kamon” or family crests. Love these.

Miniature katana with real blades.

A peaceful *wink* walk around the perimeter.