Former Taiwanese Presidential Advisor speaks in support of Yasukuni Shrine visits (Video)

I don’t think this woman is just using Yasukuni for her aim.
I have talked with an old Japanese woman who is just as old as her.
She said she was envious of soldiers because they would be worshipped at Yasukuni after death. She said she thought up how she could be worshipped like them and since she heard she would be worshipped if she was killed as a military nurse, she wanted to become a nurse.
For them Yasukuni was not the symbol of evil; it was the sacred place to go after the death.
An old man told me she thought it natural to be killed as a soldiers.
These old man and women were children or quite young when the war ended.
The older man like more than 80 years old said to me he thought Japan was stupid to start the war with the US when Japan was already at war with China, but he still worships the Emperor.
I find it little hard to understand their sentiment. but one thing is certain. Yasukuni means different for them from younger generation.

The soldiers are in essence killers, but at the same time there is something for them to protect. Some Japanese soldiers committed horrible crimes. That should be blamed. Japan invaded other countries. That should be blamed too, as other western countries should be blamed for the invasion of African and Asia. Japanese leader should be blamed for sacrificing their people just as, say, Mao should be blamed for sacrificing their people.

But many soldiers died, believing they would be worshipped at Yasukuni, believing they were protecting something precious and dear, and people survived are worshipping them..Though I have no special sentiment toward Yasukuni like her, and I have no faith in Yasukuni, I don’t think there is something morally, politically wrong with it. The painful souls and painful memory , whether war is morally wrong or not , whether they lived through mad times in a mad way, need to be pacified. Leave the souls and those who pray for them as they are, i can’t bring myself to interfere their pray.

No Japanese are forced to be grateful to these war criminals.
Those who visits Yasukuni pay tribute to the dead they have in mind.
For my part, I am not grateful to these individuals.

But in a way it is understandable in a scope of religion.
For instance, there is a story in which Zen master protect a criminal who escaped to his temple, saying something to the effect that it is an evil man who really needs Buddha teaching.
In Shinto, a samurai who was rebellious to the then government
and had his head cut off is worshipped. Not because the believer worship the evil acts he did, but , but they fear the evil power , the dirty soul that might cause trouble to this world and it needs to be pacified and purified.
I am not sure if Yasukuni takes this line of reasoning, but it is one possible interpretation.

In any case you don’t have be grateful to any one of these individuals, for that matter, you don’t have to be grateful to anyone at all.