Takaichi's Yasukuni tightrope: a tree for home, Shenzhen next

<p><em>Special Reporting from LSN News, adapted from today's Asia Unfiltered episode. <a href="https://youtu.be/Dgs0236IneI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the video on YouTube.</a></em></p>

<p>A potted evergreen. A prime minister who stayed away. And within hours, protests from Beijing and Seoul. On Saturday, Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine instead of going herself. One day earlier, she said she plans to fly to China next month. Was it a gesture, or a signal?</p>

<h2>A ritual offering, not a visit</h2>

<p>Yasukuni's three-day autumn festival began in Tokyo on Saturday, 17 October. Takaichi sent a masakaki, a ritual offering of evergreen branches, in her name as prime minister. Kyodo News reports that a source close to her said she is unlikely to visit during the festival.</p>

<p>Others in her government did go. Her economic and fiscal policy minister, Minoru Kiuchi, visited the shrine, as did the ruling party's policy chief, Takayuki Kobayashi. Both speakers of parliament sent offerings, and a cross-party group of lawmakers plans to visit on Monday.</p>

<p>A ritual offering matters because of what Yasukuni represents. The shrine honours about 2.46 million war dead. Since 1978 it has also enshrined 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo. For China and Korea, that makes it a symbol of Japan's militarist past.</p>

<p>The last sitting prime minister to visit was Shinzo Abe, Takaichi's mentor, in December 2013. Since then, prime ministers including Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba have sent offerings instead. Takaichi visited routinely as a minister, but has not gone in person since becoming prime minister a year ago.</p>

<h2>Seoul regrets, Beijing condemns</h2>

<p>The reaction was swift. South Korea's foreign ministry expressed deep disappointment and regret, and urged Japan's leaders to face history squarely and show sincere remorse through action.</p>

<p>Beijing went further. The Chinese embassy in Tokyo said it strongly condemns the move, calling it an insult to historical justice and a provocation against the postwar international order, and accused Tokyo of pushing remilitarisation. The difference in tone is telling. Kyodo says ties with Seoul are relatively stable. Ties with Beijing are not.</p>

<p>That is because the real dispute between Tokyo and Beijing is not about a shrine. It began last November, when Takaichi told parliament that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could amount to a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, legal language that can justify military action. Beijing demanded a retraction. She refused.</p>

<p>China then told its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and halted Japanese seafood imports. In January it banned exports of dual-use items for military use in Japan. The cost is visible: Japan's national tourism organisation says visitors from China fell 59 percent in August from a year earlier, to about 418,000.</p>

<h2>The Shenzhen test</h2>

<p>On Friday, Takaichi told parliament she plans to attend the APEC leaders' summit in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November, if parliamentary duties permit. The same day, she said her cabinet upholds the historical positions of past governments, adding that the 1995 Murayama Statement, Japan's landmark apology for colonial rule and aggression, is naturally included. That is notable from a politician who once criticised that statement.</p>

<p>But Beijing's price has not changed. Former foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya says Wang Yi rejected a compromise formula last month. And according to the South China Morning Post, China reportedly turned down a proposed summit with Xi Jinping, offering a meeting with Premier Li Qiang instead.</p>

<p>LSN's verdict: Takaichi is running a two-track strategy, a tree for her base at home, and an apology statement and a summit trip for the neighbours. It is calibrated, and it is smart politics. But it will not unlock Beijing. China's demand is about Taiwan, not Yasukuni, and Saturday's offering simply hands Beijing a fresh talking point.</p>

<p>Seoul's measured response shows a relationship that can absorb symbolism. Beijing's shows one that cannot yet absorb anything. The fair read is that there will be no thaw before Shenzhen, and a brief handshake would count as progress. For the rest of Asia, that matters when Tokyo and Beijing barely talk.</p>

<p>What to watch: Monday's lawmakers' visit, whether any minister joins them, and whether Beijing confirms any meeting in Shenzhen.</p>

<h2>Sources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/88503" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyodo News, 17 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3371294/china-slams-japans-takaichi-over-yasukuni-ritual-offering-warns-remilitarisation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&quot;A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers plans to visit the shrine on Monday.&quot; Also SCMP, 18 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.fnnews.com/news/202610181205498088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial News (Korea), 18 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/others/20261018/why-japans-yasukuni-shrine-remains-flashpoint-for-korea-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Korea Times (Park Ung), 18 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://english.news.cn/20261017/43207735f646494e94e658f87463d9ef/c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xinhua, 17 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-international/2026/10/18/Z3ECAMWNDJGVZKI5VFTAMEWKRY/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chosun Biz, 18 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-slaps-export-controls-on-japan-military-for-taiwan-remarks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Straits Times (Bloomberg/Reuters), 6 Jan 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/japan-china-ties-deteriorate-after-takaichis-taiwan-comment-2025-11-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters, 20 Nov 2025</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-bans-exports-dual-use-items-military-purposes-japan-2026-01-06/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters, 6 Jan 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.jnto.go.jp/en/news/20260916.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JNTO preliminary, 16 Sep 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/16/japan/august-foreign-visitors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Japan Times, 16 Sep 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/85320" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyodo, 16 Sep 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/10/18/japan/politics/takaichi-china-apec-parliament/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Japan Times (Bloomberg, Sakura Murakami), 18 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008802113" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SBS (Korea), 17 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA1629N0W6A011C2000000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her 1995 criticism quoted. Also Nikkei, 16 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.khan.co.kr/en/article/202610081555027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kyunghyang Shinmun, 8 Oct 2026</a></li>

</ul>