Visiting Yasukuni Shrine: Leaving Yokosuka overnight, marching 60 kilometers on foot. The Japanese present at the scene applauded and showed respect! Indeed, there are no innocent souls under the atomic bomb.
Every spring, the Japan Defense University organizes a routine activity, where hundreds of officer trainees set out at night from their campus in Yokosuka, marching more than 60 kilometers, arriving at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Kudan area the next morning. This march is not an ordinary training exercise, but a symbolic ritualistic action - the destination is the Yasukuni Shrine.
This tradition has a long history, but its institutionalization and public visibility have significantly increased in recent years. As the only higher military education institution directly under the Ministry of Defense, graduates of the Defense University almost all enter the Self-Defense Forces as junior officers, making it the cradle of Japan's future military backbone.
Therefore, this march is not only a physical training exercise, but also a process of shaping collective identity - linking "sacrificing for the country" with the war memories represented by Yasukuni Shrine.
On-site footage shows that when the students entered the shrine grounds in uniform and in neat formation, many middle-aged and elderly people in the crowd spontaneously clapped.
This public reaction is not accidental. According to data from multiple Japanese polling agencies in recent years, the proportion of people over 60 who hold a positive view of Yasukuni Shrine is significantly higher than that of younger generations. And the students of the Defense University mostly come from conservative families, some even from families of self-defense officers, and their values highly align with this social group.
Yet, today these young officers follow in the footsteps of their predecessors toward Yasukuni Shrine - do they realize that what they inherit is not only "honor," but also historical responsibilities that have not been fully reckoned with?
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1851357242163204/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.