Yasukuni Shurine

Yasukuni Shirine is a memorial place for war victims and it is located in the center of Tokyo near the Imperial Palace. And whether or not Japanese prime minister visits the shrine has been an international issue as China and Korea have been opposing it.

One reason why this shrine has been a controversial entity is that it has militaristic feature, exhibiting weapons in its site ranging from sword to tank. It is like a cross between Smithsonian institution and Arlington National Cemetery.

And the most controversial issue is that A-class war crimes are interred there. However, the trial in which some Japanese military officers are sentenced as A-class war crimes has been so controversial that many intellectuals and politicians have cast doubt on its judicial decision regardless of their nationality. Besides, Japanese culture has a characteristic feature in which even a person who committed crime in his lifetime can be enshrined in the same way as innocent people. 

Therefore, most Japanese people are not negative to enshrine A-crass war crimes in Yasukuni Shrine. Rather, they are apprehensive about the diplomatic impact due to politicians' visiting to the shrine, concerning the relationship between neighbor asian nations.

However, China and Korea, in the first place, have educational policy in which Japan's war responsibility has been blamed fiercely for strengthening their national unity. And what is worse is that this situation is favorable to western world because they want to keep asian nations splitting for the economic reason. 

Yasukuni Shrine, indeed, is so controversial entity and it has been surrounded by the thoughts and interests of many kinds of societal factions. While it always has been a subject of argument in this 70 years, its reality can not be understood without visiting there. There are military costumed men and military veterans performing military ceremony in memorial days. That behavior has been a cause of troubles because for Chinese and Korean people, that military uniform equals to Natis' it.

A significant problem is that Yasukuni Shrine is a private religious corporation that has its own view of history. If it were a national cemetery, there would not be such a performance by individuals and exhibition of weapons. So there has been an opinion saying that a national cemetery should be founded instead of Yasukuni shrine. Anyway, Yasukuni Shrine is a complicated place in many ways and you will be able to feel it if you go there in some anniversary or memorial day such as august 15, the anniversary of the end of war. 

Fukushima Sekisho

Sekisho means check point in Japanese. Until the end of Edo period  (1603-1868), Japan had been holding many regional powers and they are administered by Edo Bakufu, the central power located in Edo, today's Tokyo. Sekisho was a check point equipped on the border line between different regional powers.

Sekisho, needless to say, has no longer been used as check point since Meiji new government was established. During Edo period, about fifty official Sekishos had been existing while there had been so many minor or private ones. Fukushima Sekisho had been one of the four major sekishos.

The first ever sekisho system is confirmed on documentary materials published in A.D. 646 but the time that its existing is surely confirmed is some decades after that point. Then, in late medieval period, the system was abolished in the process of building centralized nation.
However, since Tokugawa Ieyasu has established Edo Bakufu and built more steady administration across Japan, the Sekisho system became necessary again for controlling the flow of people and various goods. Sekisho, therefore equipped again on strategically important points.

Sekisho was managed by lower class of samurai but traffic fare was charged impartially regardless of the status of passersby. Passage license was also required to them but entertainers were often permitted to pass sekisho by playing their performance instead of showing their passage license.

Edo Bakufu had been keeping their foundation of authority by having the local leaders come to Edo and having Bakufu's officials go to Local states (Han) for keeping their eyes on the activities of those states. Sekisho, therefore, had been playing an important role in their administration system.

The clip below is an example of the sekisho's composition (not Fukushima sekisho but Hakone sekisho). Sekisho was not just a gate but had some functional structures such as stall(stable), shooting barricade, and lookout tower. 



Sensibly and interestingly, there were female officers to check women's belongings and bodies. Physical features of wanted men for crimes were noticed to every sekisho and violating its security check could become subject to execution.
In fact, 6 individuals were executed for sekisho breaking during Edo period. To prevent it, there were guard lodges on other trails and crapping traps were equipped in forests. In the late of Edo period, however, the business that assisted breaking sekisho emerged and the penalty for it was mitigated.