No Japanese Cabinet ministers visited the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo during the three-day autumn festival that ended Sunday, with ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader and staunch conservative Sanae Takaichi also staying away.Takaichi, who had regularly visited the shrine while serving as a minister, is believed to have abstained this year in an apparent bid to avoid diplomatic friction ahead of her expected inauguration as Japan's first female prime minister.Yasukuni honors the war dead as well as Japan's wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by a post-World War II internati…READ FULL ARTICLE
