Inada Checks In

Late 19th image of the Yasukuni obelisk commemorating those who died in the Seinan War

I was certain that Minister for Administrative Reform Inada Tomomi was going to join the other two members of the Abe Cabinet's Terrible Trio in paying her respects at Yasukuni during the shrine's spring festival. I was very surprised when she was not one among the herd.

On Sunday, she made up for it:

Inada now fourth Cabinet minister to visit Yasukuni
Kyodo

Administrative reform minister Tomomi Inada on Sunday became the fourth member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet to break the taboo of visiting war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, sources said.

Inada's visit to Yasukuni, which along with the nation's war dead honors Class-A war criminals, followed those by Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo on April 20 and by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Keiji Furuya, state minister for the abduction issue, on April 21...

It took Inada a while but she finally checked in. I had said over a month ago that she, Furuya and Shindo would be hard pressed not to.

I guess Inada made a judgment call based upon her own convenience and a sense of historical grandeur. She could pay her visit earlier in the week, in conjunction with the annual Spring Festival or wait for a visit to Yasukuni in combination with the ceremony marking the first official Return of National Sovereignty Day -- a double dip of hardline goodness that was on the menu of many of the attendees at Sunday's official ceremony.


Later - The online Mainichi Shinbun confirms my suspicion of a combined outing. Inada paid her respects and signed the shrine register. Unlike Furuya Keiji, she made no mention of her ministerial position. Instead she wrote down "Association for Tradition and Creation" (Dento to sozo no kai), the study group of Class of 2005 conservative lawmakers she founded (Link - J) and then "Member of the House of Representatives Inada Tomomi." (Link - J)