Yahoo TV

STORY: Despite the sultry heat, people started queuing from early morning to offer prayers in front of the shrine and jointly observed a moment of silence at noon. A small group of right-wing activists, some bearing flags, marched and chanted slogans in the shrine.

Several politicians, including Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, along with Koichi Hagiuda, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) policy research council and a key ally of slain former prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also visited the site.

Yasukuni, seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, honors the war dead, including 14 World War Two leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as "Class A" war criminals, hence making it a flashpoint for tensions with China and South Korea.