STORY: Thousands of Japanese paid their respects at Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday (August 15) to mark the 81st anniversary of the end of World War Two, amidst a new ban on military attire and cosplay on shrine grounds.

Announced via their official website on August 7, the shrine said specifically that the wearing of “cosplay” and “military uniforms”, aside from active-duty service members, will be banned from shrine grounds, in order to “preserve the tranquillity and dignity of the sacred shrine grounds where the war dead are enshrined”.

For 70-year-old Sumiyo Kawahara, who has been visiting the shrine for decades in an imperial Japanese navy costume, it’s no issue.

“When I entered the shrine, I took off (my uniform). I paid my respects in normal clothes, not this military uniform,” said Kawahara, proudly sporting his white uniform and navy cap, which he changed back into outside of shrine grounds.

The new ban, however, does not prevent the wearing of jumpsuits or uniforms by right-wing nationalist groups, dozens of whom visited the shrine on Saturday morning, offering “banzai” chants and patriotic choruses.

For Japan’s East Asian neighbours, the shrine is seen as a symbol of aggression. Among the 2.5 million war dead commemorated at ‌the ⁠site are 14 wartime leaders convicted of the most serious war crimes, along with over 1,000 others found guilty by Allied tribunals after Japan's 1945 defeat. Japanese officials have explained past visits as being in their personal capacity to ⁠honour those who died in the nation's wars.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took up the role last October, sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni, while Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the shrine on Saturday morning.

No ⁠sitting Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni Shrine since Shinzo Abe in December 2013, when he drew an expression of disappointment from the administration ⁠of then-U.S. President Barack Obama. The last premier to visit on the anniversary of Japan's surrender was Junichiro Koizumi, Shinjiro's father, in 2006.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 15, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS, SOME HOLDING RISING SUN (FORMER JAPANESE IMPERIAL NAVY FLAG) ENTERING YASUKUNI SHRINE GROUNDS

2. VARIOUS OF RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS HOLDING BANNERS WITH NATIONALIST SLOGANS AT ENTRANCE TO YASUKUNI SHRINE

3. VARIOUS OF RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS CHANTING “BANZAI” (LITERALLY “LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR”)

4. RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS WALKING SHRINE GROUNDS, SHRINE-GOER HOLDING JAPANESE FLAG

5. RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS BOWING THEN CHANTING

6. RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS CHANTING

7. SHRINE-GOERS, SOME HOLDING RISING SUN AND JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAGS, SINGING PATRIOTIC SONG

8. SHRINE-GOERS IN MILITARY COSTUME HOLDING JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG

9. VARIOUS OF RIGHT-WING GROUP MEMBERS CHANTING “BANZAI”

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 70-YEAR-OLD SHRINE-GOER WHO VISITS EVERY YEAR IN MILITARY COSTUME, SUMIYO KAWAHARA, SAYING:

“(The ban on military uniforms here) has nothing to do with me. (I think) that's not something the shrine itself decided... It’s fine here and I’m outside the shrine gates right now, aren't I? In any case, when I entered the shrine, I took off (my uniform). I paid my respects in normal clothes, not this military uniform.”

11. SHRINE-GOER HOLDING JAPANESE FLAGS BOWING AT ENTRANCE

12. VARIOUS OF SHRINE-GOERS QUEUING UP AT ENTRANCE TO YASUKUNI SHRINE

13. JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING ABOVE QUEUEING SHRINE-GOERS

14. SHRINE-GOERS QUEUING

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 56-YEAR-OLD SHRINE-GOER AND TRUCK DRIVER FROM CHIBA, TAKAMASA FUKUI, SAYING:

“The people who fought for the country are enshrined here, so I came to pray for them.”

16. VARIOUS OF DOVES BEING HANDED TO SHRINE-GOERS FOR DOVE RELEASE

17. SHRINE STAFF HOLDING DOVE

18. SHRINE STAFF SAYING (Japanese): “THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” / DOVES BEING RELEASED AND FLYING AWAY

19. SHRINE-GOERS CLAPPING

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 56-YEAR-OLD SHRINE-GOER AND TRUCK DRIVER FROM CHIBA, TAKAMASA FUKUI, SAYING:

"Of course (it’s my duty). It's the memorial day marking the end of the war, so that's why I came." /

REPORTER ASKING: “What does that mean for you?” /

“Well, I think it's simply the natural thing to do as a Japanese citizen.”

21. VARIOUS OF COOLING MIST BEING SPRAYED ONTO SHRINE-GOERS IN QUEUE

22. SHRINE-GOERS FANNING THEMSELVES IN QUEUE

23. SHRINE-GOERS QUEUING OUTSIDE SHRINE’S MAIN HALL

24. VARIOUS OF SHRINE-GOERS BOWING AND PRAYING AT MAIN HALL

25. VARIOUS OF TAIWANESE DELEGATION QUEUEING

26. JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG