Blast hits Tokyo war shrine, no one injured

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.

The 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 the small blast occurred as a larger-than-usual number of people were visiting the shrine for an annual harvest festival.

The police found the ceiling and wall of the bathroom damaged and burned, NHK said, adding that they also found a battery and wire there.

A bomb unit attended the scene and the police has now launched an investigation into whether the incident was a targeted attack.

“Fortunately, no one was injured,” a shrine official said, adding that it had not received any threat in connection with the explosion.

The incident came as Japanese authorities were beefing up security in the capital after the Paris attacks that killed 130.

“I was a bit surprised as (terrorism) just occurred in France,” a visitor to the shrine told NHK.

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. The shrine honours millions of Japan’s war dead, but also controversially includes several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes.