Yasukuni

I went to Yasukuni Shrine and the nearby museum yesterday. The shrine is the place that the Japanese foreign ministers go to that causes much controversy. The shrine is said to be home to all the spirits of the 'noble souls' who have given their lives for Japan in recent history, which numbers around 2.5 million according to their website. All the names are on a big list kept by the priests. Part of the controversy is that some of the folks convicted of war crimes are on the list.

The museum there is quite interesting. Even though it claims that "the truth of modern Japanese history is now restored," it has some interesting twists (and omissions) on the history we know. (Maybe our museums are like that too.) For instance, the Japanese claim that they were conquering Asia to keep the peace there and to keep westerners out.

There was a train engine on display that was used on the Thailand-Burma Railway during the war. Of course, it fails to mention the quarter million people (forced laborers and POWs) who built it and the over 100,000 of those who died because of it.

Photographs in the museum were not allowed. :(

Here's the shrine:



There was a memorial outside the museum of Radhabinod Pal. He was one of the judges of the war crimes tribunal and gave a dissenting opinion. He believed that the atrocities happened, he just felt that the tribunal was unfair. More can be read here.

I also took the tour of the Imerial Palace grounds, but it was less than interesting. We couldn't even see the actual palace building...just the buildings in front of it. But here are some (not that great) pictures anyway.



It looked like a storm was coming the whole time...they passed out umbrellas to everyone just in case it rained.



--David