Japanese leader defends visits to war shrine

Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today sharply defended his visits to a Tokyo war shrine and told other countries not to interfere – a pointed reference to China, which says the shrine of glorifying Japan’s militarist past.

Koizumi, who has visited the Yasukuni Shrine four times since 2001, also refused to vow not to worship there again this year, repeating his statement that he would decide “appropriately” when to pay homage to Japan’s war dead.

“I don’t understand why Yasukuni visits are linked to militarism,” Koizumi told a Parliament committee.

“China says (that Japan) should show through its actions that it is reflecting on the war, but in the 60 years since the war Japan has shown it has reflected on the war by … staying true to its word never to wage war,” he added.

Yasukuni honours the spirits of 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including executed war criminals such as wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

China, South Korea and other Asian nations invaded by Japanese armies in the first half of the 20th century consider official visits there a sign that Japan has not atoned for its past.

The shrine visits have been one of the many irritants between Japan and China that erupted last month in a series of sometimes violent protests in Chinese cities. A further visit by Koizumi is expected to further inflame tensions.