[TS] A Shrine to Japan's Tainted Past

[RSS Bot]

It would be diplomatically shrewd and morally wise for Japan' s prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to stop visiting a war shrine in Tokyo that honors war criminals.

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[temujin77]

Diplomatic, yes. Morally, no.

He has every right as an individual to visit the shrine; to suggest otherwise is hypocritically to Japan's democracy. However, I do agree with it when it comes to diplomacy. Even though he is visiting as an individual and not necessarily as a representative of the government, he is still intimately associated with the government the visit may be seen as so.

[Jim O]

Here are some quotes from the full article:

Yasukuni is a beautiful, private Shinto monument in Tokyo to Japan's 2.5 million war dead. It also glorifies more than a thousand Japanese war criminals, most notoriously a dozen top leaders convicted as Class A war criminals by the Allied war crimes tribunal at Tokyo, including Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime minister.

A rallying point for revisionists, the shrine includes a newly renovated museum that showcases a fiercely nationalist version of Japanese military history -- one that glosses over Imperial Japan's invasion of Manchuria and skates past its brutal slaughter in Nanjing without mentioning the massacre of Chinese civilians. Small wonder that Japan's neighbors react with revulsion and fury when Mr. Koizumi visits the shrine.

and

On top of that, the Yasukuni visits are propelled by domestic politics. In 2001, when Mr. Koizumi was campaigning for the leadership of the longtime ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he promised influential right-wingers that he would visit Yasukuni annually. He has kept his word -- although never yet on Aug. 15. This cemented a popular image of a statesman of integrity and won him favor with the powerful conservatives.

Now the party is in the midst of the leadership race to succeed Mr. Koizumi. Once again, many of the likely candidates -- including the front-runner, Shinzo Abe, the chief cabinet secretary -- have been tempted to pander to the right.

If Mr. Koizumi changed his own position on the shrine, he would give cover to the others to do the same. Better that a lame-duck prime minister take the hit with conservatives than a fresh one. And whoever Japan's next prime minister is, he will be better off taking office without the dead weight of Yasukuni around his neck.

Many Japanese are troubled by Mr. Koizumi's visits to the shrine. In recently discovered palace diaries, Emperor Hirohito is quoted saying he stopped visiting Yasukuni after the Class A war criminals were added to the rolls in 1978. His successor, Emperor Akihito, has never visited since taking the throne.

Japan's main opposition party opposes the visits, as does the junior partner party in Mr. Koizumi's coalition, as well as much of the powerful business community. A recent Asahi Shimbun poll found that 60 percent of Japanese respondents thought their next prime minister should not visit Yasukuni, against 20 percent who backed more visits.

So the door is open to a new Yasukuni policy. It could well be domestically popular, and would certainly be diplomatically shrewd and morally wise. And it offers Mr. Koizumi one last chance to be remembered as a statesman.

So my questions include whether he visited annually before he was Prime Minister. If not, this appears to be simple pandering to the right.

The full Op-Ed piece is still available for free (for now) at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/op...rssnyt&emc=rss.

I subscribe to the NY Times home delivery and also have access to 100 Times Select articles each month should anyone be interested in a reprint.

[Jim O]

Well he did visit. See CNN.com - Japanese PM visits war shrine - Aug 14, 2006

[Lancer44]

Originally Posted by Jim O

Well he did visit. See CNN.com - Japanese PM visits war shrine - Aug 14, 2006

Hi Jim,
I don't see where you find that Mr. Koizumi visited Yasukuni before he become Prime Minister...
And this was your question I think.

In my opinion Mr. Koizumi is making political statement by each visit. Even politicians have private life and certainly many ways to make visit "private", not being seen by scores of photographers and journalists.
It's hard to believe that televisions crews are at the front of Yasukuni shrine 24 hours every day just waiting for him. It must be orchestrated by his staff.

[Jim O]

Yes, I don't know whether he visited previously either.

And I agree, it is a political statement.

[temujin77]

Originally Posted by Lancer44

It's hard to believe that televisions crews are at the front of Yasukuni shrine 24 hours every day just waiting for him.

Lancer, are you familiar with this thing they call "paparazzi"? They can be quite the patient predator because the pictures/footage they obtain can well be worth it.

[Lancer44]

Originally Posted by temujin77

Lancer, are you familiar with this thing they call "paparazzi"? They can be quite the patient predator because the pictures/footage they obtain can well be worth it.

Hi temujin, I actually love "paparazzi"...

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/618/0566if.jpg

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8155/0867oo.jpg

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/1007/0559up.jpg

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/7136/pam1sc3.jpg



Sorry for off topic...

I agree with you, some nut can wait long time to get a shot.
It would be true for any celebrity. But prime ministers usually can ask their blokes "in black suits" to sweep the area.

Cheers,

Lancer44

[temujin77]

Lancer, you never have to apologize for taking a thread off topic with such links!

Paparazzi is kind of a perverse way to demonstrate the saying that "when there is a will, there is a way." Because people want to pay so much money for certain pictures/videos, there will be paparazzi photographers who are ready to sit around for days on end to get that shot. That goes in Hollywood, and I think the same goes for Yasukuni nowadays.