File Photo : Women perform a traditional dance at the Mitama festival held to commemorate the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine, July 16, 2006. Established in 1869 by the Meiji Emperor to commemorate those who died in the Boshin War. The shrine now houses the souls or ‘kami’ of Japan’s war dead including 14 A-class war criminals who were interned among the 2.5 million war dead in 1978. Visits to the shrine by Japanese Prime Ministers create tensions with Japan’s Asian neighbors. (Photo by Bruce Meyer-Kenny/AFLO)
