Members of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), including a senior officer, visited Yasukuni Shrine in a group, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on February 26.
The report follows an earlier report about a group visit to a war-related Shinto shrine in Tokyo by members of the Ground Self-Defense Forces (SDF).
These actions not only violated the constitutional principle of separation of religion and politics, but also raised suspicions that the Self-Defense Forces had not broken with the Imperial Japanese Army as expected.
Officials should conduct an investigation to determine whether similar cases occurred in other SDF units.
It was revealed that MSDF Officer Candidate School graduates visited Yasukuni Shrine with Rear Admiral Yasushige Konno (then training squadron commander) and other officers in May last year ahead of a long-term deployment at sea.
An article in the Yasukuni Shrine newsletter featured a photograph of uniformed SDF members bowing on the floor of the shrine’s main building. The article also contained a statement that could be interpreted to mean that SDF members visit the temple annually before a training cruise.
Admiral Ryo Sakai, MSDF chief of staff, said at a news conference that many of the 165 graduates participated in the visit, but noted that it was a private visit that took place during a break in training and the event. “based on individual free will”.
Sakai said he did not believe the visit violated a 1974 administrative notice from the undersecretary of defense that prohibited military units from visiting religious institutions and required SDF members to participate in such visits.
The monetary donation was collected by free will and given collectively to the Yasukuni Shrine, Sakai added.
However, apparently, the group visit by SDF members in military uniform appears to be an organized event. It also appears that this visit represents an integral part of the training process for senior SDF officers.
The editors of the Asahi Shimbun wonder whether young SDF members can really decide for themselves whether they will participate in such a visit.
Sakai said there were no records because the visit was voluntary and he had no plans to investigate the matter since it did not raise any problems.
The Department of Defense must properly establish the facts without leaving the matter in the hands of the MSDF.
It was not until January this year that it was learned that members of the SDF Air Accident Investigation Commission, headed by the GSDF Deputy Chief of Staff, visited Yasukuni Shrine as a group.
Yasukuni Shrine was jointly administered by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and was a spiritual pillar of nationalism and militarism until the end of World War II. It also contains plaques with the names of 14 class A war criminals who were prosecuted at the International Military Tribunal in the Far East.
Of course, freedom of religious belief is guaranteed to members of the SDF. However, an organized visit to the sanctuary is another story.
Officials should take this opportunity to survey the entire SDF organization to see if remorse for the past is still fading within the SDF, which, according to the pacifist Constitution, must start anew.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara last month mentioned a possible review of the notice issued by the Undersecretary of Defense for Administration prohibiting SDF members from visiting religious institutions.
“The notice is 50 years old., he said in defense. — Since then, there have been several Supreme Court precedents on religious freedom and the principle of separation of religion and politics.”.
It is still unclear what change of direction Kihara had in mind. This would be out of the question if he planned to ease existing restrictions.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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