An ex-boss of mine once was on a business trip with me and asked if he could stop at a shrine to pay his respects on the way home. I, naturally, had no objection.

When we got there I said "Hmm, boss, I'm not sure I can read those characters. Does that say 'Yasukuni'?" "Good show!" "Is this the same Yasukuni that... has been recently mentioned on television?" "Yes. What of it?"

Thus began a very, very long day. Word to the wise: looking obviously American in August at Yasukuni is a bad idea. It's not the death glares, per se, it is the earnest nationalists who come up and try to teach you The True History of WWII.