Japan’s Takaichi Reaffirms Murayama Apology While Sending Yasukuni Offering

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has again said her government upholds the historical positions of previous administrations, explicitly including the 1995 Murayama Statement that expressed remorse and apology for Japan’s colonial rule and wartime aggression.

Takaichi made the remarks during an Upper House budget committee session on Friday after an opposition lawmaker questioned her earlier criticism of the landmark statement. She said the positions taken by successive cabinets on historical recognition would remain unchanged and confirmed that this included the Murayama Statement.

The statement, issued by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, acknowledged that Japan had caused tremendous damage and suffering to people in Asia through colonial rule and aggression. Its wording has remained a key reference point in Japan’s relations with South Korea and China.

Takaichi’s assurance drew attention because of views she expressed before becoming prime minister. As a first-term lawmaker in 1995, she said she did not personally belong to the generation responsible for the war and questioned why she should be asked to reflect on it. She also criticized the Murayama Statement’s use of the term aggression.

Asked whether her thinking had changed, Takaichi replied that she was growing every day. She also referred to the position in the 2015 Abe statement that future generations should not be made to continue bearing the burden of apology. Since taking office, she has formally said that her administration inherits the historical positions of past cabinets.

The renewed pledge came alongside a carefully calibrated approach to Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted Class-A war criminals are enshrined along with Japan’s war dead. Takaichi sent a ritual masakaki offering under her official title for the shrine’s three-day autumn festival, which began Saturday. Japanese media reported that she plans to refrain from visiting during the festival.

Before becoming leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Takaichi regularly visited the shrine during its spring and autumn festivals and on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s wartime surrender and Korea’s liberation. She has avoided an in-person visit since taking the party leadership and becoming prime minister.

That balance—reaffirming past apologies, sending an offering and avoiding a visit—appears aimed at reassuring conservative supporters while limiting diplomatic friction with South Korea and China, where official visits to Yasukuni are viewed as glorifying Japan’s militarist past.