Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

After going swimming today, Hiroshi and I went to Yasukuni Shrine. This is the shrine that people from other Asian countries are all up in arms against because there are 14 war criminals buried there. (The fact that there are 2.5 million war casualties burired there is apparently irrelevant to them when they protest government visits to the shrine).

Anyway, the shrine itself is nothing special if you don't know its purpose (a memorial to those who have died in wars since the Meiji era). I do like the architecture though - the buildings have great sweeping eaves, which is what I like. It s sort of majestic architecture. A little bit different from the normal understated design you see at shrines and temples. So I enjoyed walking around for that reason. Politically and culturally it didn't do anything for me - just another shrine really. Amazing that there is so much fuss about it.

There is also a museum on site. We just wandered around the free exhibits on the first floor. There was a zero fighter and a howlitzer (big gun). On the way out, we wandered by a Noh stage and the surprise discovery - a dove coop. There were only a few wandering in and out of the coop, but you could hear them all cooing inside. Very cool.