Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社 or 靖國神社 Yasukuni Jinja?) is a Shinto shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Emperor Meiji to commemorate individuals who had died in service of the Empire of Japan during the Meiji Restoration.[1] The shrine’s purpose has been expanded over the years; the deities enshrined at the Honden shrine within Yasukuni currently include more than 2,466,000 individuals who died in conflicts spanning from the Boshin War of 1868 to the end of World War II,[2] and the adjacentChinreisha “spirit-pacifying” shrine commemorates all of the dead from all wars fought worldwide throughout history.[3] The shrine also includes a war museum, Yushukan, which contains various artifacts and documents concerning Japanese war casualties and military activity from the start of the Meiji Restoration to the end of World War II.

Controversies and political tension have arisen due to the enshrinement at Yasukuni of over 1,000 war criminals, including 14 “Class A” war criminals, from World War II and the shrine’s historical revisionism, and intensified following visits by senior government officials such as prime ministers Yasuhiro Nakasone, Ryutaro Hashimoto, Junichiro Koizumi, and Shinzo Abe.[4]