Yasukuni Shrine is probably the most beautiful shrine that I've seen in Tokyo. It has a koi pond, sumo stadium, and wide plain. This shrine, however, is also extremely sketchy for a white boy like myself to be around. That's because this shrine is to the ones who have sacrificed themselves for their country.
In a shrine, the one(s) of whom it's dedicated to (in this case the war dead[since the 1870's]) are not just remembered, but worshiped as gods. In most of the war movies I've seen, soldiers would say to others, "See you at Yasukuni". I'll bet that's one thing that actually happened. Mainly, the ones who come to visit, remember the ones who've perished in battle via WW2 as if they were people who mainly were just people who were plainly misguided; as well as a sign of respect.
There are protests that say how wrong that is, and that they shouldn't be remembered like that because of all the killing they've done. The right wing nationalists (uyoku dantai) come to protest this, because they feel that the ones who are remembered by means of the shrine died honorably in the heat of battle for the Emperor; because to them the war isn't over (scoff). The uyoku dantai are extremely racist; they cruise around in their vans yelling messages of hate... and that's all. They aren't like skinheads or the KKK or anything else. Whimps. More on that story some other time.
This is what goes down every August 15th at the shrine:
The first 4 minutes at least.
I walked in the front gate and bowed to show respect to the ones remembered by this shrine.
In the front, there was a statue of Vice Minister of War, Omura Masujiro.
In the practice of praying for Shintoism, you pray for the utmost desire of your choosing. I chose to pray for Japan, in health, and in Spirit. Stop the hate altogether. The ritual for doing this is you bow once, throw a coin into the bin (forgot what it was called) in front of you, bow twice, ring the bell (most major shrines don't have these) clap twice, then pray. When done, bow again, and once more lightly. (FEEL FREE TO SHOOT ME DOWN IF THATS WRONG XD)
When I threw the coin, it missed! I'll bet anything that that's a sign for something... don't know what.
To the right of the main shrine stands a museum called Yushukan commemorating those who've died in battle. I would have gladly gone in, but I was too late, they were closing down for the day. Oh well, next time. I did however spot something of great interest in the main hall... a replica of a Mitsubishi ZERO.
Brief history lesson: Mitsubishi ZEROs were the main fighter plane used in WWII.
To the left of the museum stood a commemoration for Dr. Radha Binod Pal, who supposedly accused the fallen ones of WWII not guilty because he felt America provoked the war.
I took one of the pamphlets that was on the right, I'll put up what it says later... it's in English by the way.
I couldn't figure out if this shrine was for or against the war. But, to the left of this shrine was a path to a koi pond which put my mind at total ease.
(Not my photo by the way) Some of these koi were monsters! Reminded me of fishing for them in Nagoya. Each time I watch them swim, I feel as if there's always going to be a better tomorrow.
After the koi pond I got somee green tea from the vending machine (yes there's vending machines), and left.
Everywhere I go, I see people wearing shirts that say "WAR IS OVER"(not a typo that's what they actually say). Each time I see one, it makes me feel happy, because well the war IS in fact over, last time I checked. It's good to know that we should stop the hate. The 40's were a messed up time indeed.
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