Yasukuni Shrine: March 22, 2010

Yasukuni Shrine is famous in many reasons.

The shrine is a symbol of political and ideological controversies between nationalists and left activists. The shrine enshrines A-class war criminals.

I saw nationalists marching in the shrine. They held Japanese rising sun flag and sang nationalistic songs.

The shirine has a museum on Japanese war history in the garden.

The shrine is also fames for its cherry blossom. The judgment of the start of Tokyo’s cherry blossom season is made by Japan Meteorological Agency based on a cherry in the shrine.

The agency declared the start of the season today (March 22nd ) as it found more than five flowers open. When I visited, however, I found most buds were yet open.

The shrine is quite near from the Imperial Palace. The cherry trees in the palace's banks and in the walkways surrounding the palace were about to blossom. The pink buds were also beautiful.