Yasukuni Shrine is the most controversial religious location in Japan. The shrine was founded in 1869 after the Bonin War, Japan's modern civil war. It was constructed to commemorate those who died for the emperor. Yasukuni means "peaceful country." Almost 2.5 million souls are deified as kami, people who died in the Boshin War, the Satsuma Rebellion, Taiwan expedition (1874), Imo Incident, First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War, WWI, the Chinese invasions, WWII, and self defense forces who died after WWII. Controversy is two stemmed. Christians who do not wish to be deified there are done so against explicit wishes of the family. Also, all Japanese who died in WWII are deified there, including war criminals, and several members of the government have made official visits to the shrine. This usually screws up diplomatic relations with China and Korea. Yasukuni is also home to a right-wing war museum that blames the United States for initiating the Pacific War.
Controversy and historical awkwardness aside, Yasukuni has a lovely garden, huge paper lantern collection, and raises doves. There's a selection of omamori too, and I chose this basic omamori because of the roping, and Yasukuni Shrine is written on the back. (I'll probably get a better photo of this later.)
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