A museum on the shrine's grounds has been criticised as depicting the war as one fought by Japan to liberate Asia from Western imperialism, while ignoring atrocities by Japanese troops. The names of thousands of men from Taiwan and Korea killed while serving with imperial forces are also recorded at Yasukuni. Some relatives want their names removed.
Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japanese soldiers fought the war, visited Yasukuni eight times between the conflict's end and Historians say he stopped due to displeasure over the enshrined convicted wartime leaders. His son, Akihito, who became emperor in and abdicated in , never visited, nor has current Emperor Naruhito. Many Japanese premiers visited Yasukuni after the war, but refrained from saying it was in an official capacity. Yasuhiro Nakasone made an official visit in on the 40th anniversary of the war's end, drawing harsh criticism from China.
Within the shrine, the souls of the dead are worshipped rather than just remembered. According to Japan's national Shinto religion, humans are transformed into kami or deities when they die, and as such, are worshipped by their descendants. Surrounded by war banners and military regalia, the Yasukuni kami are venerated by hundreds of thousands of visitors at the shrine each year.
Compared with most Shinto shrines, which were founded hundreds of years ago, the dedication of the Yasukuni shrine was a relatively recent affair. Analysts say that because the main wars it commemorates are those with China and the US, it appears to the political left to symbolise foreign invasions. Asian nations fought for their independence, and achieved triumph". Throughout the museum, numerous war-related items are exhibited to show the mightiness of Japan's military power and praise its soldiers for the "noble contributions" to the imperialist cause while shedding crocodile's tears about the cruelty of warfare.
These remarks are utterly shameless. The only explanation is that the Japanese government does not find itself guilty at all. Evidence is that outside the museum stands the statue of Justice Radhabinod Pal from India, the only justice in the Tokyo Trial that asserted the accused Japanese militants not guilty.
Pal is remembered by the Japanese government for bringing them "peace and justice", and more importantly, a chance to whitewash their crimes. Owing to the irresponsible attitude of the Japanese government, such denial of history has mislead some people. And further to the right, is the Yushukan. The Yushukan's old original structure has had a modern annex built onto it, housing the Yushukan War Memorial Museum. Outside the Yushukan War Memorial Museum are various statues paying tribute to every horse, every dog and other creatures that served in Japan's military in its various wars.
Other monuments pay tribute to Chief Justice Pal from India, who found all the defendants of the Tokyo War Trials not guilty, and to the wives and children of service personnel who served in the IJA overseas.
Listen to a shamisen player at Yasukuni Shrine. The Yushukan War Memorial Museum , on the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine, is a modern military museum dedicated to Japan's armed forces since the start of the Meiji Period, when a national military, based on the western model, began to fight in wars on the Asian continent. The version of Japanese military history presented at the Yushukan and in its video theater may not match that of nationals from other nations.
The Japanese military in Asia in World War II are depicted as liberators of the continent from Western imperialism and welcomed by the native inhabitants. Little or nothing is said of the events that occurred in Nanking in the 's, the treatment of Allied Prisoners of War POWs and any Chinese nationals thought to be Communist sympathizers in Japan's occupied territories, or indeed the activities of the top-secret Unit , which carried out vivisections and experiments in germ warfare on the Chinese mainland.
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