On the eightieth anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, the nation's defense minister visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo — a site that holds the names of millions of war dead, including convicted war criminals, and that neighboring nations have long read as a refusal to fully reckon with imperial history. The visit was not solitary: four other ministers made offerings and the prime minister sent a formal gift, transforming private remembrance into collective political statement. At a moment of already sharpened tensions between Japan and China over territory and military posture, the pil