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

Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni shows his extreme irresponsibility: JCP Shii

Japanese communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on August 15 press conference made public the following statement on the Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine:

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro, who is soon to complete his term of office, visited Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of WWII without showing any concern over Japan's diplomatic stalemate caused by his act. The Japanese Communist Party protests strongly against the visit as an act that laid bare his irresponsible "after me the deluge" attitude in his diplomacy.

It is widely pointed out both in Japan and internationally that Yasukuni Shrine is not just a facility for paying tribute to the war dead but an organization whose self-imposed mission is to justify and glorify the past war of aggression.

The prime minister's Yasukuni Shrine visits are tantamount to giving an official government endorsement to the shrine's peculiar political standpoint. This political stance is outrageous in that it goes against the present international order built on deep remorse over the war of aggression waged by Japan, Germany, and Italy. That is why the issue of Yasukuni Shrine not only affects Japan's relations with China or with South Korea, but arouses deep concern about Japan's diplomacy throughout the world. Anyone who takes the country's future seriously is required to take a hard look at this fact.

The prime minister is trying to justify his visit by stating that he is fulfilling his "public promise" to do so. But it is a "promise" he had made to Yasukuni advocates who seek to make the argument praising the war of aggression a "national consensus." We must not allow the top government leader to publicly give priority to his duty to implement the allegiance to the promise he had made, causing the undermining of true national interests.

What is more, this argument about keeping that "promise" contradicts the excuse that the prime minister has repeatedly used: "It's matter of my personal belief."

I must point out that the Liberal Democratic Party for the last five years has been unable to correct Prime Minister Koizumi's political stance and that the important question now is whether the LDP is indeed qualified to be the government party.

The Japanese Communist Party demands that the extraordinary misdirection in Japan's diplomacy be immediately corrected and that the prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni Shrine be halted, no matter who the next LDP president or the next prime minister is.

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At the press conference, Shii said, "The surrender-day is a day when Japan must express its remorse over its past war of aggression and colonial rule, and its determination that it will never repeat the horror. By deliberately choosing the day, the last occasion in his tenure, Koizumi made the problem even more serious."

Criticizing Koizumi's statement that "Since I will be criticized for my Yasukuni Shrine visit anyway, the day of my visit will make no difference," Shii stated, "This is the worst kind of arrogance."
- Akahata, August 16, 2006