Monument sights in Tokyo
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Yasukuni-Jinja (Yasukuni Shrine)
If you’ve kept up with international headlines, you might recall several news stories about citizens of China, Korea and other Asian nations taking to the streets when Japanese politicians (such as former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi) visited Yasukuni-jinja. Literally ‘For the Peace of the Country Shrine’, Yasukuni is the memorial shrine to Japan’s war dead, around 2.5 million souls who died in combat. However, although the conservative right wing in Japan stands by its patriotic duty to honour its war dead, the complete story is just a little more controversial (to say the least). To put things in perspective, it’s important to fully understand the history of Yasukun…
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Hachikō Statue
In the 1920s, a professor who lived near Shibuya Station kept Hachikō, a small akita dog, who came to the station every day to await the return of his master, Professor Ueno of Tokyo University. The good professor died while at work in 1925, but the dog continued to show up and wait at the station until his own death 10 years later. Hachikō’s faithfulness was not lost on the Japanese, who built a statue to honour his memory. The story is more interesting than the statue itself, but Hachikō is perhaps Tokyo’s most famous meeting spot. The proud pooch is usually surrounded by hip-looking Tokyoites with mobiles in hand, coordinating the festivities to follow.
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