yasukuni

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Ruling that prime minister's Yasukuni visits are unconstitutional finalized
Akahata editorial

The Osaka High Court ruling of September 30 that Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's visits to Yasukuni Shrine are unconstitutional has been finalized, as the plaintiffs decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of bereaved families of a Taiwan ethnic minority demanding damages in compensation for the prime minister's shrine visits encroaching on their freedoms of thought, conscience, and creed. Although the high court stopped short of acknowledging their claim for compensation, it said that Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine are a religious activity banned by paragraph 3 of Article 20 of the Constitution. The defendant government will not appeal since it "won a victory" by not having to pay damages.

Endangering constitutional government

In a published statement the lawyers for the plaintiffs said that by judging that the prime minister's Yasukuni visits are unconstitutional, the high court has issued a strong warning to Prime Minister Koizumi. The problem is the prime minister's response.

Commenting on the Osaka High Court judgment, the prime minister in the Diet said, "I don't think (my visits to Yasukuni Shrine are) unconstitutional. I can't understand why my Yasukuni visits as a Japanese citizen are in violation of the Constitution. We have yet to hear from the Supreme Court." Asked if the Osaka High Court ruling will affect his actions at a news conference at the prime minister's official residence, Koizumi said, "No, it won't."

By ignoring the high court judgment that the prime minister's action is unconstitutional, and despite being the person who must accept the judgment, Koizumi shows no willingness to abide by it. This is tantamount to ignoring the Constitution and government legal system based on the Constitution.

Now that the high court judgment has been established, an excuse that the Supreme Court is yet to decide on it is no longer tenable. Prime Minister Koizumi must squarely abide by the judgment and stop his visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

Although Koizumi said, "I can't understand why my Yasukuni Shrine visits as a Japanese citizen are in violation of the Constitution," the Osaka High Court ruling made it clear that there is no room for supporting such a statement.

The Osaka High Court judge pointed out that the prime minister uses an official government car to visit Yasukuni Shrine, that he is accompanied by a secretary to the prime minister, and that he writes his name in the visitors' register as "Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro." The court also said that Koizumi has visited the shrine to fulfill a "public promise" he made before he took office. Before or after his shrine visits, Koizumi did not characterize his visit as a private one and stopped short of denying that he was visiting the shrine in his official capacity. Thus, "his shrine visits emerge from his political motivations and aims." Summing these up, it could be regarded that his Yasukuni Shrine visits are "done in his capacity as a prime minister performing his official duties."

Recalling that the prime minister has made three Yasukuni Shrine visits that were embodying a "deep religious essence" and "public nature," the judge stated that they "supported and promoted" a particular religion. What he did "exceeded any acceptable relation between the state and Yasukuni Shrine."

Based on these arguments, the Osaka High Court ruling proved that Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine are in violation of paragraph 3 of Article 20 of the Constitution that states, "The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity." Nobody should find it difficult to understand the ruling.

'Encourages' moves to glorify the war of aggression

During the Japanese war of aggression, Yasukuni Shrine helped mobilize the people for war, and after the war, it has been a chief advocate of the view that Japan waged a just war. Far from being a simple religious corporation, Yasukuni Shrine is a political organization aimed at glorifying and justifying the war of aggression.

In this sense, Prime Minister Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits amount to "support and encouragement" of a specific religious movement and a campaign aimed at beautifying and justifying the war of aggression. The prime minister must immediately stop such unjustifiable practices. -- Akahata, October 13, 2005