Another member of Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet has paid a visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals along with the war dead. 

Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Sanae Takaichi joined some 100 lawmakers on Friday, according to Kyodo News, the second day of the annual autumn festival at the shrine located in central Tokyo.

The visit comes a day after Seiichi Eto, the minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, paid his respects at the shrine. 

The visits mark the first time in two-and-a-half years that any Cabinet-level official went to Yasukuni during its seasonal festival, though Japanese politicians not in a Cabinet post have frequently done so. 

The Shinzo Abe administration had refrained from making ministerial visits to Yasukuni until recently, apparently out of concern it will trigger criticism from other Asian countries, which consider the shrine a symbol of Japan’s militarism.    

Abe has not visited Yasukuni since 2014, but instead sent ritual offerings during the seasonal festivals, including on Thursday.