Yasukuni Shrine

Yasukuni Shrine (Hepburn: Yasukuni Jinja, lit. 'Peaceful Country Shrine') is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, 1894–1895 and 1937–1945 respectively, and the First Indochina War of 1946–1954. The shrine's purpose has been expanded over the years to include those who died in the wars involving Japan spanning from the entire Meiji and Taishō periods, and the earlier part of the Shōwa period. The shrine lists the names, origins, birthdates and places of death of 2,466,532 people. Among those are 1,068 convicted war criminals from the Pacific War, fourteen of whom were convicted with Class A crimes at the Tokyo Trial. A memorial at the honden (main hall) building commemorates anyone who died on behalf of Japan and so includes Koreans and Taiwanese who served Japan at the time. The Chinreisha ("Spirit Pacifying Shrine") building is a shrine built to inter the souls of all the people who died during World War II, regardless of their nationality. The enshrinement of an extensive number of war criminals, as well as the shrine's historical association with State Shinto, has made the shrine highly controversial within East Asia, particularly amongst victims of Japanese imperialism. Emperor Hirohito, under

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