Koizumi criticised for war shrine decision

Japanese Prime Minister Mr Junichiro Koizumi's post-election glory is increasingly being overshadowed by a dispute over his decision to visit a controversial war memorial.

Already the subject of a bitter diplomatic row with Japan's Asian neighbours, the visit on August 15th - the anniversary of the country's second World War defeat - threatens to split his cabinet and shift the focus away from eagerly anticipated reforms.

At the centre of the row is Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which commemorates Japan's 2.5 million war dead and enshrines a number of convicted and executed war criminals, including former prime minister Hideki Tojo, who led the country's invasion of Asia in the 1940s.

Because of its association with the country's militarised past, the Shinto memorial raises intense political feelings. Nationalists resent what they see as the tainting of the shrine with criminal associations.

Many others, particularly in former-occupied Asia, consider Yasukuni a symbol of Tokyo's fascist history and evidence of its lack of remorse for the war.

Mr Koizumi's decision, following the recent controversy over a nationalist-leaning high school textbook, has further angered China and South Korea. The Prime Minister's outspoken Foreign Minister, Ms Makiko Tanaka, last Thursday publicly asked him to reconsider visiting the shrine. Mr Koizumi's position is complicated further by opposition from his coalition partners, the Buddhist-backed New Komeito Party.

Although former prime minister Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto paid official tribute in 1996, political taboo has kept most Japanese leaders away from the shrine. Moreover, there is little evidence the Prime Minister will reap any political capital from the move. A survey published earlier this week showed 12 per cent of people "strongly supported" the visit.

Mr Koizumi's deeply conservative Liberal Democratic Party is, however, home to many nationalist sympathisers and is financially supported by the million-strong Japan Association of the Bereaved Families of the Dead. His critics warn that Mr Koizumi, mindful of his obligations to these supporters and his image as a stubborn and uncompromising straight talker, is in danger of being cornered.