On February 11th, which is National Foundation Day, several groups from the far right pay their respects at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine with a parade of sorts and an official Shinto service. By far the most significant gathering, at least in terms of numbers anyway, is the troop pictured below. A ragtag bunch of characters that I’ve been photographing for quite a few years now — some of the results of which can be seen here.
And this Monday, as ever, was no different, with the same flags, and to be fair, the same respectful solemnity. There were several of the same old faces too. The overall number of participants, on the other hand, was very noticeably down. Now whether that is significant or not I really don’t know, but for a date and event that is clearly so important, it seems an odd one to miss.
An outbreak of flu perhaps, or maybe even an outbreak of common sense? A mystery that might be a little clearer next year. But until then, here are just a few photos from an especially cold and grey day.
Ron says
Haha, that girl in the middle seems to be either really pleased that you are taking her picture, or not impressed at all. My guess would be not 🙂
Lee says
Yes, I think the latter is a safe bet!
She was certainly surprised when she turned round and saw me facing her. That said, so were the blokes either side of her.
Ed says
You’ve captured even girls in the ranks this year. Scary…
Lee says
Yeah. The overall numbers were noticeably down, but the female count was definitely up. Not at all what I expected.
Harry says
Interesting shots. I don’t think she expected to do some modelling! 🙂
Lee says
Thanks. No, she wasn’t. Not at all. Although dressed like that, and at a ceremony like this, you have to expect to be noticed.
YTSL says
I find it interesting that their choice of uniform involves rumpled fatigues. Would have expected something more polished looking… But, then, I think those fatigues are better at covering up unmuscled physiques!
Lee says
Haha, very true. Although for a few of the fellas it doesn’t do much of a job of covering their physiques!
cdilla says
Another fine set of photographs of this event.
The young lady front and centre looks to be chewing a wasp – definitely not a happy look.
And the long haired lady on the left sure has a hard stare.
Year on year your coverage of the event makes an interesting collection, though the snowy ones still stand out the most for me.
Lee says
Thanks.
No, she didn’t look happy. I obviously didn’t help, although in my defence she didn’t look any different beforehand.
I genuinely find them interesting, so it’s good to go every year, see the spectacle and try and get some shots. But yeah, I don’t expect to ever get anything as special as those snow shots again. A real one off. Even better, that time was the one visit I hadn’t planned. In fact, I didn’t even know they had a ceremony. I just happened to turn up at exactly the right time.
john says
#2 “Oh dear, I haven’t got a belt.”
#3 “Oh deary dear, I don’t have those boots either”.
Lee says
Yeah, clearly she didn’t get the full memo. That said, judging by the general lack of uniformity in the uniforms, there may well be a lot of different memos…