Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine

[bemildred]

In a move expected to exacerbate already strained Sino-Japanese ties, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi went Monday to Yasukuni Shrine, the contentious Shinto site that honors the nation's war dead and 14 Class-A war criminals.

t was Koizumi's fifth visit as prime minister and came on the first day of the four-day Reitaisai, the shrine's most important biannual religious ceremony, which is held in spring and autumn. It also came hot on the heels of the Diet's approval Friday of the postal privatization bills.

Koizumi has kept his pledge to visit the shrine at least once a year since taking office in April 2001, despite repeated protests from China and South Korea, which regard the shrine as a symbol of Japan's Shinto-inspired militarism through the 1930s and 1940s.

Koizumi probably had few choices in timing his latest visit, given his tight diplomatic schedule for the rest of the year.

Japan Times

[rpannier]

1. Koizumi is scrub-asia

The Japanese Supreme Court already ruled his visit unconstitutional. But, he doesn't care. He's above the law.

[rpannier]

2. Self delete dupe