超党派議連９９人が靖国参拝　２年２カ月ぶり

　超党派の「みんなで靖国神社に参拝する国会議員の会」（会長・尾辻秀久元参院副議長）は７日、東京・九段北の靖国神社に集団参拝した。自民党、日本維新の会、国民民主党などから計９９人が参加した。議連の集団参拝は２０１９年１０月の秋季例大祭以来。
　参拝後、尾辻氏は記者会見し、「久しぶりの参拝ができてよかった」と語った。岸田文雄首相が就任後に参拝していないことについては「参拝したい気持ちはお持ちだと思う。早い機会にご参拝いただきたい」と述べた。
　議連は例年、春と秋の例大祭、８月１５日の終戦記念日にそろって参拝しているが、新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大を受け、集団参拝を見送っていた。（2021/12/07-10:49）

Ninety-nine lawmakers from Japanese ruling and opposition parties made a group visit to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
   They are members of a suprapartisan group of lawmakers promoting visits to the Shinto shrine in the Kudankita district in the Japanese capital's Chiyoda Ward. This was the first group visit to Yasukuni Shrine by members of the league since the shrine's autumn festival in October 2019, before the start of the novel coronavirus crisis in the country.
   Yasukuni Shrine is regarded as a symbol of Japan's past militarism by such neighboring countries as China and South Korea as it enshrines Class-A war criminals along with the war dead.
   The 99 lawmakers included those from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, major opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People, also a major opposition party.
   "It was good that we were able to make the first (group) visit to the shrine in a while," LDP lawmaker Hidehisa Otsuji, who heads the group, told a press conference after the visit.