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A ritual offering to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine by senior lawmaker Sanae Takaichi, made on the anniversary of the end of World War II, puts Japan's diplomatic posture in focus.
Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese officials have been a long-running point of friction with China and South Korea, given the shrine's ties to Japan's wartime period.
Takaichi's gesture, timed to the WWII anniversary, is the kind of signal currencies desks track for its potential read-through to Japan's bilateral relationships and regional cross-border flows.
The question from here is whether a formal diplomatic response follows from Beijing or Seoul. Any such statement would be the next confirmable signal.
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