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A Study of the Japanese Public and Political Elites’ Attitudes toward the Prime Minister’s Controversial Visits to the Yasukuni Shrine

Kiyoung Chang 1

1서울대학교 국제문제연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study deals with the Japanese public and political elites’ attitudes toward their Prime Minister’s (PM) controversial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. It particularly examines the impact of the changing security environment in East Asia on the Japanese public and political elites’ support for PM’s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. While visits by Japanese PM to the Yasukuni Shrine may stir strong anti-Japanese sentiments in East Asia by touching on sensitive issues of wartime memory, many Japanese conservatives understand that the Japanese PM may visit the Yasukuni to honor the nation’s war dead. Japan has been labeled “abnormal” because the Japanese constitution prevents the country from using force abroad and increasing its military capabilities. My empirical analysis suggests that political elites and citizens who call for the normalization of their country with regard to the military buildup are more likely to support PM’s controversial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. This result implies that given expected concerns and warnings by neighboring countries, the Japanese PM may strategically visit the Yasukuni to send costly signals of his resolve to the domestic citizens and political elites.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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