Visiting shrine for war criminals (#59; Topic J)

This morning, a good friend of mine, while visiting Japan, sent me a release from Agence-France Presse (AFP), datelined Tokyo: "the Imperial Household Agency continued to 'carefully' consider whether the emperor should visit the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japanese war dead including [14 convicted] top war criminals." According to AFP, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso, a hawk, urged this be done, "as soldiers had gone to war saying 'banzai', or 'long live' the emperor." Paving the way for such a visit, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe downplayed its significance: "If the emperor were to visit the shrine, it would be considered a private visit in nature." For people from China and Korea, who had suffered much by Japan's militarists both before and during WWII, the shrine symbolizes Japan's criminal past which, to this day, Japan refuses to acknowledge. Earlier, Prime Minister Koizumi visited it, despite warnings from Prime Minister Hu Jin-tao of China of dire consequences. To show that he meant what he said, Hu cancelled a bilateral meeting. At a recent Asian summit meeting, while the two were sitting next to each other, Hu turned his head away from Koisumi and never said a single word to Koisumi. Breaking the ice, Koisumi managed to borrow a pen from Hu for signing a document. But that was all; Hu refused to say another word to Koisumi.
Posted at 8:53 pm, Tuesday, January 31, 2006