Imperialna nostalgija na Japonskem: politična instrumentalizacija šintoističnega svetišča Yasukuni

The Yasukuni Shrine is among highly controversial issues when it comes to Japan’s foreign relations with its neighbouring countries, particularly China and South Korea. Recently, it has drawn considerable public attention worldwide, owing to regular visits by former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirō while he was still in office. However, his practice of paying respect to the soldiers who died for the “Japanese cause” was met with stiff opposition from a wide spectrum of individuals in Japan, not to mention Chinese and South Korean political leaders. In my view the glorification of chosen victims of the great Empire of Japan, practised mostly by the conservative part of Japanese political elites, needs to be set in a broader context of imperialist nostalgia, the wave of which has been coming over Japan since the turn of the 21st century