\n A suspected explosive device damaged a bathroom at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, but no one at the controversial war memorial was hurt, officials and news reports said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Police received reports of a loud bang and smoke rising near the public bathroom inside the shrine on Monday morning, a spokesman said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Public broadcaster NHK said the small blast occurred as a larger-than-usual number of people were visiting the shrine for an annual harvest festival.\n<\/p>\n
\n Police found the ceiling and wall of the bathroom damaged and burned, NHK said, adding that they also found a battery and wire there.\n<\/p>\n
\n A bomb unit attended the scene and police have now launched an investigation into whether the incident was a targeted attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Fortunately, no one was injured,\" a shrine official said, adding that it had not received any threat in connection with the explosion.\n<\/p>\n
\n The incident came as Japanese authorities were beefing up security in the capital after the Paris attacks that killed 130.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I was a bit surprised as (terrorism) just occurred in France,\" a visitor to the shrine told NHK.\n<\/p>\n
\n A South Korean national was charged two years ago for attempting to set fire to the shrine, while a man was also arrested in December for suspected arson there, the broadcaster said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The shrine honours millions of Japan's war dead, but also controversially includes several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Visits to the shrine by senior Japanese politicians routinely draw an angry reaction from Beijing and Seoul, which see it as a symbol of Tokyo's military past.\n<\/p>\n
\n An attached museum portrays Japan more as a victim of US aggression in WWII and makes scant reference to the extreme brutality of invading Imperial troops when they stormed through Asia.\n<\/p>\n
\n In October, three state ministers from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet paid homage to mark the autumn festival.\n<\/p>\n
\n The nationalist Abe has visited the shrine once during his time in office, in December 2013. That sparked anger among Japan's neighbours and a diplomatic slap on the wrist from the US, which said it was \"disappointed\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Chinese social media users were quick to laud the bomber.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I don't know who blew it up, but they blew it up well,\" read one comment on micro-blogging site Sina Weibo, with another adding: \"You blew it up well. That's worthy of celebrating!\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Another user said: \"If it were another place, I'd say 'don't let it happen again', but it's Yasukuni, so I just laughed.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A suspected explosive device damaged a bathroom at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, but no one at the controversial war memorial was hurt, officials and news reports said. Police received reports of a loud bang and smoke rising near the public bathroom inside the shrine on Monday morning, a spokesman said. Public broadcaster NHK said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-3111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n