Masaaki Inoue has been visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for decades.
The 63-year-old's father, who passed away five years ago, was a survivor of the Battle of Imphal, the bloody fight between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Allied forces considered one of the great turning points of the war.
For Inoue, his annual visit on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II is to honor his father's fallen comrades that are among the 2.46 million war dead commemorated at the shrine. But he says this tradition is unlikely to be handed down to his children.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.