Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

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This is a delayed entry about my visit to Yasukuni Shrine since I left for Mt. Fuji soon after.

When arriving to the shrine, I was told by my sister that I needed to wash my hands and then pour water into one hand to sip and rinse my mouth before entering the shrine. This was definitely a tradition I was not used to but was happy to do it.

The shrine is located within a larger memorial park that includes lanterns representing each person that died in any war/conflict since the 1850s. The Yasukuni Shrine itself is supposed to holdthe souls of these people. When seeing the shrine I wasn't sure if I could walk inside of it or what the protocol was. I figured out that the tradition was to walk up, throw 100 yen into the designated box, clap 2 times, bow, say some sort of prayer, and then bow again. I did my best to follow the tradition as you'll see in the photos.

After a visit to the shrine we visited the Yushukan Museum within the park which I wasn't aware was there. It ended up being Japan's oldest museum, a museum dedicated to Japan's military history.

My focus was seeing the section on WWII. It definitely covered every event or conflict leading up to the war and U.S. involvement. One of the first things I noticed was that the Japanese called it the Greater East Asian War. I also recognized a lot of dialogue suggesting that Japan had no choice but to invade the United States because of failed peace talks and certain embargoes that the U.S. put on Japan. Most people in the U.S. have the feeling that Japan attacked the U.S. in Pearl Harbor for no reason.

Another thing I noticed was how some of the dialogue seemed to avoid any hint of defeat. For example, the description of the Battle of Iwo Jima refers more to the amount casualties inflicted upon the U.S.

The museum included many artifacts including different weapons and aircraft. One of the most memorable was a small Kamikaze attack plane (pictured) that would be dropped from a larger plane and propelled by rocket power which lasted nine seconds; enough time to reach a U.S. carrier and do some damage.

Overall, it was a great experience. My next great experience was climbing Mt. Fuji. I'm too tired right now so I'll write about this AMAZING experience after I get caught up on some sleep.

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