Two cabinet ministers and a group of lawmakers on Monday visited
Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 notorious Class-A war
criminals responsible for the country's aggressive war against
Asian neighbors.
Against the backdrop of strained ties with neighboring countries
over issues related to the war, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi indicated last Friday he would not visit the shrine on or
around August 15.
He offered flowers at the tomb for the unknown war dead at the
Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on
Monday.
Health Minister Hidehisa Otsuji and Environment Minister Yuriko
Koike were the two cabinet members who visited the shrine on
Monday.
Asked about the protests from Japan's Asian neighbors over
Japanese leaders' Yasukuni Shrine visits, Otsuji said: "Each
politician visiting the shrine likely has their own reasons. I
visited with my own."
Meanwhile, Koike said she visited the shrine as a "private
citizen."
In addition, about 50 lawmakers, who belong to a nonpartisan
group that makes Yasukuni visits en masse, and Tokyo Governor
Shintaro Ishihara visited the shrine Monday.
Koizumi made his most recent annual visit to the shrine on
January 1, 2004, the fourth since he took office in April 2001.
The shrine was set up in 1869 under Emperor Meiji to honor those
who died in civil and foreign wars. Class-A war criminals from
World War II were added to the list of the enshrined at the shrine
in 1978. Hence, the shrine has been regarded as a symbol of
Japanese militarism.
Japanese leaders' visits to the shrine have been strongly
denounced by many Asian countries, including China and South Korea,
where Japan's aggression caused great sufferings.
Koizumi on Monday apologized for Japan's wartime colonization
and invasions in Asia on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of
the country's surrender in World War II.
He also pledged Japan would never forget the "terrible lessons"
of the war.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2005)