Humanities Homework Help

reply to both student response

my response was Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan has religious significance. The Yasukuni Shrine also known as Yasukuni Jinja commemorates Japan’s war dead. According to Shinto which is the traditional Japanese faith, the place is used for commemorating the dead. It is a place where all Japanese people gather to give respect to those who die while protecting the country (Hayase, 2019). The Yasukuni Shrine enshrines the spirit of those who died while protecting the nation. Hence, the spirit of the dead is considered the object of worship in the Yasukuni Shrines in Tokyo, Japan.

The Yasukuni Shrine has become a controversial topic for the past decades where it is considered a controversial symbol of Japan’s war legacy. It is because it is seen as a place where war criminals are shown respect when in reality the leaders should commemorate the war dead. Some of the critiques for the controversial state that Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol for the military past and that when leaders visit the shrine, it violates the set separation that exists between religion and the state as per the post-war constitution (Berger, 2017). Further, critics also state that the shrine shows war that Japan fought when liberating Asia from imperialism but does not cover atrocities by the Japanese troops. The critics add that some of the relatives of men recorded as they serviced with imperial forces demand the names removed. This makes Yakusuni Shrines a controversial topic.

On the other hand, supporters of Yakusuni Shrine state that it is necessary since it opens a chance for people to show respect to those who died protecting the nation. My stand on this issue is that the Yakusuni Shrine is a controversial topic. For instance, no names should be put up of the deceased men if the relative demand otherwise. Also, there should a clear difference between religion and the state in respect to the post-war constitution.

References

Berger, T. U. (2017). Yasukuni Shrine: History, Memory, and Japan’s Unending Postwar. By Akiko Takenaka. Pacific Affairs, 90(3),

Hayase, S. (2019). The Yasukuni Shrine Controversy from the Perspective of Southeast Asia: A Hidden Dispute. ????????, (36),