Koizumi revisits controversial shrine

Yasukuni shrine: Seen as a monument to militarism

By Charles Scanlon BBC Tokyo correspondent

The Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has made a surprise visit to a shrine that honours Japanese war dead.

A similar visit last year sparked a furious reaction from China and the two Koreas, which suffered from Japanese aggression and imperialism in the first half of the 20th Century.

After careful consideration, I thought I could honestly express my genuine feelings by visiting the shrine today in line with the spring peace festival

Junichiro Koizumi

The Yasukuni shrine honours the 2.5 million Japanese who died in wars, including a number of convicted war criminals.

There had been much debate over whether Mr Koizumi would repeat last year's highly controversial visit to the war shrine, which is seen as a potent symbol of Japanese militarism.

Relations with China and South Korea were poisoned for several months afterwards, and Japanese liberals accused Mr Koizumi of trying to stir up nationalist sentiment.

Provocative

Since then, the prime minister has worked hard to repair relations with Beijing and Seoul.

Fourteen war criminals are among those honoured

But now, just over a month before Japan co-hosts the football World Cup with South Korea, he has done it again.

Before leaving for the shrine to pay his respects to the war dead he said simply that the timing was good.

That is probably a hint that he will not visit the shrine on 15 August for the annual war memorial.

Mr Koizumi seems to have accepted that that would be unduly provocative.

Assertive

By going four months early and keeping his visit low-profile, he feels he is making a concession to his critics.

Koizumi is only the third Japanese prime minister to visit since 1978

Clearly Mr Koizumi is taking a diplomatic gamble.

But he believes that the Japanese prime minister has a right to visit the shrine even if it does honour war criminals and there are compelling political reasons as well.

Mr Koizumi is popular with conservatives for his more assertive foreign and defence policies.

Backing down in the face of criticism from China and South Korea would make him look weak.