GSDF vice chief punished for using official car for Yasukuni visit

The Japanese Defense Ministry punished the Ground Self-Defense Force's vice chief of staff and two others on Friday over the use of official cars for their group visit to Tokyo's war-linked Yasukuni shrine, often seen as a symbol of the country's past militarism.The ministry, however, added that the visit itself to the Shinto shrine on Jan. 9 was a private one and "based on their free will," and thus not subject to any penalty. The trip was made by 22 GSDF members in total including Lt. Gen. Hiroki Kobayashi, the vice chief of staff.The ministry had been investigating whether their action v…READ FULL ARTICLE