Japan's agriculture minister visits controversial Yasukuni Shrine

Over in Japan,.. a senior official has visited a controversial war shrine in Tokyo on the anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Japan's Kyodo News reported that the country's agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Friday visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a place often seen as a symbol of Japan's imperial military past.

Koizumi a powerful figure seen as someone who could potentially be the country's next prime minister is the first Ishiba Cabinet official to visit the war shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals,.. so visits there have irked Japan's neighbors, specifically Korea and China.