The aim of this study is to evaluate in what way is it ethical or not the utilization by the Japanese government of the Yasukuni shrine as a monument of national memory, in the construction of the identity that Japan projects to China and South Korea. The first chapter is an approach to the contributions of poststructuralism on ethics, and focuses on the following questions: who is the Other, how identity is constructed and what is the problem of responsibility in international relations. The second chapter approaches Yasukuni shrine in its history, what it symbolizes and the position of the Japanese government regarding it as a place of memory. Finally, from the standpoint of the ethical framework of poststructuralism, the third chapter assesses the arguments given by the Japanese Prime Ministers to China and South Korea, regarding their controversial visits to Yasukuni Shrine.