The Yasukuni Shrine -- Japan's national memorial enshrining the spirits of Japanesesoldiers killed in domestic and foreign wars -- occupies a peculiar chapter in Japanese history. Originally designed as a sanctuary to house the spirits of those who died in overthrowing the Tokugawa Regime, Yasukuni was nurtured by the state and then the military into a powerful religious and iconographic center to promote Japanese ultranationalism. Following the...