Top (North) American celebrity Justin Bieber has caused massive controversy by posting a photo of himself honouring Japan’s top war criminals in an “accidental” visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.
At the first whiff of controversy Bieber withdrew the photograph and issued an apology in his usual eloquent style:
While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan
The apology soon drew over 20,000 largely supportive comments, although the finer points of the situation seem possibly even more lost on his fans than on Bieber himself.
Yasukuni was established as the shrine for all Japan’s war dead in the era of state Shinto, including various vanquished soldiers later judged war criminals, but when the post-war government divested itself of all religious control the shrine passed into the private control of those who for whatever reasons refuse to see the more controversial spirits rehomed.
With the nation’s main war memorial now stuck housing the spirits of all Japanese who perished in war along with several decidedly controversial executed war criminals – for what are undoubtedly spiritual reasons which have nothing to do with the shrine’s owners wanting to spite the victors- there have been endless problems as Japanese leaders are stuck with an all-or-nothing choice of kowtowing either to China or their own crazed nationalists.
That Bieber was entirely unaware of the single most controversial place in Japan he could possibly visit short of the Senkaku islands themselves is perhaps plausible, although whether anyone else had a hand in guiding him to the shrine is of course open to some speculation.
Japanese are more bemused than most at his choice of attraction:
“This guy…”
“OK, now I’m a fan.”
“What are China and Korea going to say about this!”
“Cool pic.”
“Justin really does know nothing at all, doesn’t he?”
“I expect he thought it was just a normal shrine.”
“I’ve never even been there either…”
“Something to do with Obama’s visit perhaps? Odd timing.”
“I can only imagine Kennedy’s reaction to this.”
“The bad thing is that all the crazy fuss is just going to reinforce people’s belief that there is nothing at Yasukuni but a shrine to war criminals.”
“Looking at this pic I would think it would drive tourists there even so.”
“Next he’ll find himself accidentally tucking into some whale meat.”
Let me just try to understand this, is Yasukuni Shrine a criminal facilitty, or being build by war criminals?, then why the fucking hell that shrine still exist in the first place…………..f♥♥k LOGIC!
Somebody please murder that Canadian cocksucker and burn his body as well!
Hey now that’s not right, don’t lump that Canuck in with us. He ain’t no American.
Well we don’t want him here up north either. Just deport him to the middle of the ocean somewhere. An oil rig will do, or just anywhere.
To be fair, I wouldn’t have known what kind of shrine that was either.
But perhaps there’s a sign placed somewhere near it with info.
I doubt he didn’t even know about WW2, let alone what that shrine was for.
Never understood the controversy about Yasukuni. Honor your dead however you want. Treating every visit from anyone to the shrine like it is a tragedy is bizarre.
Chinese and Koreans should let WW2 go already, or if they won’t they should start paying the USA reparations for defeating their enemy and freeing them.