August used to see Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the focus for Japan's wartime remembrances. But this year the focus has violently shifted to Yasukuni Shrine. Either way we see Japan's inability to come to terms with its militaristic past.
The problem with Yasukuni has little to do with the much-debated question of whether the souls of executed war criminals should be enshrined there. Instead it poses two other very different questions.
One is the implication that politicians who worship there in any official capacity ipso facto recognize Shintoism as the official religion of Japan. Not only does this violate the constitutional principle of separation between state and religion in Japan; it is also a direct affront to the country's other religions. The leaders of the pro-Buddhist New Komeito are understandably annoyed.