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.
