Koizumi snubs critics to pray at war shrine
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine reviled by critics as a symbol of militarism, triggering a further erosion in Japan’s ties with its neighbours just a month before he leaves office.
The impact of the visit to Yasukuni Shrine was heightened by its timing on August 15, a date viewed with sadness in Japan as the anniversary of its Second World War surrender, but celebrated as a day of liberation from Japanese colonial rule elsewhere in Asia.
