The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 convicted Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II, is a notorious symbol of Japanese militarism that devastated the Asia-Pacific decades ago.

Yet the reports that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to forgo a visit to the shrine on Saturday — the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender that marked the end of WWII — should not be read as an exercise in diplomatic restraint, once the calculations behind the move are laid bare.

Reports suggest that this was not a historical reckoning but a calculated act of geopolitical gesturing — an effort to avoid derailing Japan's carefully cultivated ties with the Republic of Korea. Seoul sits at the hinge of the United States-Japan-ROK security architecture. By avoiding offending Seoul, Takaichi intends to hold the alliance in line with China one of the intended targets. Takaichi's reported skipping of a visit to the shrine is by no means intended reconciliation, but a pointed signal wrapped in diplomatic scheming.

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Although Takaichi has not visited the Yasukuni Shrine since taking office as prime minister in October last year, she offered a tribute to it in April and she has visited the shrine more than 10 times over the course of her political career, with the latest being on Aug 15 last year.

Takaichi's posture toward the shrine has always reflected her view of history. She may send ritual offerings and allow Cabinet members to visit in her stead, a move that would be less a gesture of restraint than a cynical balancing act: placate her right-wing support base while insulating herself from the diplomatic fallout. This is a desecration of historical justice and an insult to the victims of Japan's aggression.

The symbolization of the Yasukuni Shrine should be considered alongside changes taking place in Japan's military establishment. The Takaichi government has recently finalized a plan to revise the Self-Defense Forces officers' rank titles to those of the former Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII. For example, chiefs of staff will change to taisho, flag officers to chujo and field officers to taisa, chusa and shosa. At the International Military Tribunal for the Far East 80 years ago, more than half of the 28 defendants had the rank of taisho or chujo. Six of the seven Class-A war criminals executed had these ranks.

Nor should it be ignored that retired Maritime SDF vice-admiral Umio Otsuka has served as the chief priest of the Yasukuni Shrine since 2024, while a former Ground SDF chief of staff sits on the shrine's decision-making body. The Japanese military and the shrine are no longer merely ideologically adjacent, they are institutionally interlocked.

The concern becomes more acute when symbolism is placed alongside policy and action. Japan's 2026 defense white paper has listed the military industry as a pillar industry and a core driver of economic growth, designations that it held during the lead-up to and throughout WWII.

Japan's Ministry of Defense intends to submit a record defense budget request of roughly 8.9 trillion yen ($56 billion) for fiscal 2027, a number that could approach 10 trillion yen after further adjustments. Considering that Japan already outspends China by nearly threefold on a per-capita basis, the continued rapid growth of its military expenditures is deeply unsettling.

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As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons have repeatedly warned, Japan has failed to repent its historical crimes while accelerating remilitarization, breaching its pacifist Constitution and challenging the postwar international order.

For Japan's neighbors, an official pilgrimage to the shrine — or even a ceremonial offering — transcends the merely symbolic. It is a stark reminder that Tokyo has not repudiated the intellectual and political currents that once brought catastrophe to the region. If the Takaichi government genuinely wants to improve ties with regional countries, it must abandon its two-faced maneuvering and make a clean break with Japan's militarist past. That is the standard by which Japan's commitment to peace will be judged.