Japanese anime star Ai Kayano sparks anger on China's social media after visit to controversial Yasukuni Shrine

Japanese voice actress Ai Kayano has triggered a fierce online debate with her social media posts about visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial memorial in Tokyo that commemorates millions of Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals.

Kayano, a 33-year-old Tokyo native, has performed leading roles in dozens of animated films, television programmes and video games, many of which have also proved popular in China. Her credits include Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend and No Game, No Life.

In a YouTube broadcast last Thursday, Kayano said she had recently visited the Yasukuni Shrine, describing it as "comfortable" and adding that the air there was fresh. She also mentioned the visit on her Twitter page, although both posts have since been deleted.

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Chinese social media users were quick to react, with some demanding the withdrawal of all the programmes in which she had appeared because there was "zero tolerance" over the issue, the Global Times reported.

The nationalist tabloid quoted a fan of animated films as saying: "Political issues cannot be compromised. How could she still want the Chinese market without respecting Chinese fans?"

People visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Photo: AFP alt=People visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Others, including on the Global Times site, suggested that some Chinese were overreacting to the issue or throwing "tantrums", with one post pointing out that Kayano had visited the shrine in her private time and was unlikely to have intentionally tried to disrespect Chinese fans.

More than 150 years after it was founded, the Yasukuni Shrine still triggers angry responses from opposing sides of the debate. To the Japanese people, it is dedicated to the souls of more than 2.46 million men, women and children who have died in wars involving the country.

But neighbouring states, including China and the Koreas, make their displeasure known whenever a member of the Japanese government visits the shrine, because it also commemorates 1,068 convicted war criminals, including 14 who were convicted of Class A war crimes in World War II.

Makoto Watanabe, a professor of communications at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, said it was likely Kayano simply did not realise the full significance of her visit and the anger it would arouse.

"There is a trend among young people in Japan now to visit old temples and shrines around the country and to admire the spiritual and natural world more than perhaps their parents' generations did," he said.

Kayano's credits include "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day", "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" and "No Game, No Life". Photo: Twitter alt=Kayano's credits include "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day", "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" and "No Game, No Life". Photo: Twitter

"It's almost a nostalgia for a simpler time, before the nation's economic problems, before the March 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster and, more immediately, before the coronavirus that is affecting everyone's lives so dramatically."

With people officially discouraged from travelling far due to the pandemic, Watanabe said Kayano likely wanted to keep her profile up by posting on her social media sites and decided to go to a nearby shrine.

"This is a young performer who would be aware of her public profile, so I find it hard to believe that she intended to anger or upset millions of foreigners, including many fans of her work, by visiting Yasukuni," he said.

Hers is not, however, the first high-profile historical faux pas committed by young Asians in the media spotlight.

Earlier this month, K-pop star Sowon of the band GFriend apologised after coming under fire for photographs in which she posed cuddling a mannequin dressed as a Nazi soldier.

The hugely popular Korean band BTS was caught up in a similar scandal in 2018, when one of the members of the group was photographed wearing a Nazi-inspired hat, prompting an apology from management agency Big Hit Entertainment.

At a Halloween event in Japan in 2016, the group Keyakizaka46 made headlines around the world after they took to the stage in uniforms reminiscent of those worn by SS troops.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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