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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Corporate executives call for voluntary restraint of prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine

The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) in its policy proposals published on May 9 for improving Japan's relations with China called on Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro to refrain voluntarily from visiting Yasukuni Shrine. It is the first time that a business organization compiled a proposal that went as far as recommending a voluntary restraint.

At a news conference held on the same day, Keizai Doyukai Chairman Kitashiro Kakutaro touched upon the question of the prime minister's visits to the shrine, the major obstacle to the highest-level communication between the two countries, and said, "At the stage in which Japan fails to win a full understanding from China, the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine are undesirable. It's better to refrain (from visiting the shrine)."

Concerned that strained political relations between Japan and China may exert a negative impact on both countries' economies and trade, the proposal pointed out that building a good bilateral relationship is essential.

Keizai Doyukai also recommended that a secular national cenotaph be constructed to commemorate all war victims, and that historians from both countries jointly carry out a study on the textbook issue.

The proposal was adopted by a majority vote, although eleven out of about 70 Keizai Doyukai executives voted against.
- Akahata, May 10, 2006