Koizumi urged not to visit war shrine

A top politician today urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to reconsider his annual visit to a controversial war shrine, warning it could damage Japan’s already strained relations with China.

Yohei Kono, the speaker of Parliament’s powerful lower house, told Koizumi he should “use extremely careful judgement” when considering whether to make a visit this year to the Yasukuni Shrine, the house speaker’s secretary said.