GI Korea Uncovers the Yasukuni-jinja Shrine

If I had to pick out one thing that sticks out overwhelmingly between Japan and Korea it would be the controversy surrounding the Yasukuni-jinja Shrine in Tokyo. Being in Japan has given me the opportunity to examine what all the fuss over the shrine is about. What is it about this place that causes so much hostility between Japan and it’s neighbors? Would I see hordes of brainwashed Japanese chanting anti-Korea slogans and preparing for the invasion of Dokto? I would soon find out.

When I reached the actual shrine I did not find any big banners of General Tojo and other war criminals that the media would lead you to believe that this shrine is all about. In fact the shrine was actually pretty simplistic and underwhelming. It is mostly just a place for old Japanese men to hang out, bow at the shrine, and then sit down on a bench under a tree and smoke a pipe.

Finding this place pretty boring I started walking down a path to the right of the shrine towards a large building. As I approached the large building, I discovered a statue honoring kamikaze pilots during World War II.

From the statue I headed inside the large building which ended up being a museum chronicling Japanese military history. The museum chronicled Japanese military history from feudal times all the way to the present SDF mission in Iraq.

The museum also had a gift store that sold loads of books, gifts, and accessories related to the SDF and the Japanese Imperial Army. You could even buy the old Japanese Army hats that appeared to be popular with the old folks that mostly populated the place.

The museum interestingly enough does not allow photographs, but I was able to take a few quick pictures of a few items in the museum during my tour.

The museum was actually quite interesting to read about the early feudal samurai history of Japan. Additionally the special exhibit they had honoring the Japanese victory over Russia during the Russo-Japanese War was also interesting to see.

However, the interpretation of Japanese history that has longed plagued relations between Korea and Japan began to jump out at me. The exhibit for the Russo-Japanese War claimed that the Japanese Army liberated the Korean peninsula from foreign rule and were greeted by an enthusiastic Korean populace as liberators. The exhibit also maintained that the Japanese brought much industry and modernization to the peninsula. This is true to an extent, but there was no mention of the brutal occupation and the anti-Japanese resistance by the Koreans against it.

Next was the World War II exhibit which I figured would also be quite provocative to see; I wasn’t disappointed. According to the Japanese history presented here, World War II is known as the Asia Co-prosperity War where the Japanese single handedly liberated one Asian country after another from foreign colonial occupation and the Asian people were all happy to be liberated. No mention of the atrocities committed by the invading Japanese troops.

Additionally the museum blames the US for Pearl Harbor. Since the US implemented a trade embargo on the Japanese, the militarists felt that an attack by the Americans against Japan would only naturally come next. The museum even alleges that the United States had a plan to attack Japan in the works and would have been executed if Japan hadn’t pre-empted the American attack by conducting the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

One theme I have picked up on at the museum is that every attack the Japanese conducted was only executed because of foreign colonizers threatening Japan and it’s neighbors. Japan never wanted to colonize any country, they just wanted to liberate Asians from foreigners.

The museum continued on with many more outrageous claims and made it seem like the Japanese won every battle of World War II, but some how the Americans continued to move closer and closer to Japan without winning a battle if you are to believe the museum’s history. The Japanese interpretation of history is extremely ridiculous and completely devoid of reality.

The museum tour concludes into an area that houses pictures and names of the Japanese war dead over the centuries. I actually tried to find General Tojo among the faces but I couldn’t spot him. All the pictures were of the same size and no one stood out more than the other.

All in all Yasukuni is definitely over hyped by nationalist causes in each Northeast Asian country involved in the shrine controversy. Am I offended by the ridiculously false lies taught as history at the shrine? Yes, I am but not enough to set myself on fire or chop my fingers off.

Despite the underwhelming nature of the shrine; I recommend it to anyone with a few days to spend in Tokyo. The history and artifacts in the shrine are interesting to see despite the skewed history. Japan is not the first country to skew history in the region. Korea and China are not innocent themselves of reinterpreting history.

I never did find the Japanese nationalists worshiping the banner of General Tojo and plotting the invasion of Dokto at the Yasukuni Shrine. What I did find was also troubling and that is skewed history, but fortunately it appears that mostly only grandpas nostalgic for the old days are the only ones reading it.