 Cabinet ministers and Dietmembers visit Yasukuni Shrine On August 15, the 59th anniversary of the end of World War II, four ministers of the Koizumi Cabinet visited Yasukuni Shrine. Some cabinet ministers visited before or after August 15. Whatever the date, a cabinet minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine contravenes the constitutional principle of separating politics from religion. The visit also contravenes the peace principles of the Constitution because class-A war criminals are enshrined there in an attempt to gloss over Japan's war of aggression. Fifty-eight Dietmembers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition Democratic Party of Japan on August 15 visited the shrine, forming a group led by former Defense Agency Director General Kawara Tsutomu. Kong Quan, China's foreign ministry spokesman on the same day expressed "deep regrets" over the Yasukuni visits by the Japanese cabinet ministers and Dietmembers. On the same day, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro, who made his fifth Yasukuni visit as Tokyo governor, told reporters that he wants the emperor to visit the shrine by all means on the 60th anniversary of the war's end next year. Akahata of August 16 criticized his statement as an attempt for the political use of the emperor to acquit the former emperor of making the war of aggression. The emperor, the prime minister, and the chairs of both Houses were present on August 15 at a memorial service for the war dead organized by the government. Meanwhile, members of the War Bereaved Family Association for Peace and against War, who called not only for mourning for the war dead but also for maintaining peace by defending Article 9 of the Constitution, staged campaigns for their cause. (end) |