Aso, 15 of 17 cabinet ministers say they won't visit Yasukuni on Aug 15

Tuesday 11th August, 05:00 PM JST

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amerijap at 04:00 AM JST - 12th August

The mistake was to allow the Yasukuni priests to enshrine the souls of these 14 Class A criminals in 1978. This was apparently done in secret, but really with the knowledge of the government. This enshrinement was far later than for the other war dead, because the enshrinement would be seen as a fascist right-wing gesture.

So what happened immediately after their enshrinment?

The Emperor refused to visit the shrine since then. Inscribing the names of 14 Class-A war criminals to honor them, against his will, was a shrine organizer's final betrayal to him. The current emperor as well as his family have not visited the shrine so far.

But, it's kind of weird to me, because right-wing radical activists are still out there chanting Hirohito's names, regardless of the Emperor's choice to cut ties with the shrine. I personally wonder if Hirohito as well as Akihito and the imperial family had received the tons of harassment calls or death threats from the radical activists for their refusal to visit the shrine to honor the soldiers.
OssanAmerica at 05:54 AM JST - 12th August

Japan depends on China immensely and they cannot go on same path for the >future relationship.

Business and trade takes two parties to happen. People who say idiocies like USA NEEDS China, or Japan NEEDS China have no concept of how trade works. China equally NEEDS the USA, Japan, EU, Australia, etc etc.
sfjp330 at 06:20 AM JST - 12th August

People who say idiocies like USA NEEDS China, or Japan NEEDS China have no concept of how trade works.

OssanAmerican; Because Japan depends primarly on exports for their stability in business, compared to other countries. Japan no growth in domestic demand since the bubble. This is why Japan is so dependent on China. China will actually need less and less of Japan in the future.
roomtemperature at 07:41 AM JST - 12th August

"China will actually need less and less of Japan in the future."

I know it's kind of off topic but it immediately makes of think of all those Chinese tourists here who buy Japanese electronics. They always check if it really says "Made in Japan". Otherwise they don't want it.
nigelboy at 08:28 AM JST - 12th August

This is true. Japan has almost 20,000 companies in China. China is a #1 exporter to Japan, surpassing U.S. This is not 1978 or twenty years ago. What if China saids Japan needs to remove Class-A Criminals memory from Yasukuni, or else we will start reducing trade with Japan. What do you think Japanese govenment is going to do? Japan depends on China immensely and they cannot go on same path for the future relationship.

Well. According to JETRO stats, the ratio of Imports/GDP is only 13% for Japan while China is 29%. So no. By numbers, China is more import dependent than Japan.

Because Japan depends primarly on exports for their stability in business, compared to other countries

Another misconception. The ratio of exports/GDP is 14.8% while China is 36.6%. In other words, China is more export dependent than Japan. And since you stupidly boasted that "China is a #1 exporter to Japan", you have basically admitted that it's China who is soooo dependent on Japan.
nigelboy at 08:45 AM JST - 12th August

As I mentioned, there is almost 20,000 Japanese companies in China. The Japanese companies are making their products in China and exporting to Japan for profit margin. The Japanese companies are responsible for shipment for majority of goods exported to Japan, not Chinese

Now you're being desparate. As I indicated above, Japan isn't really dependent on trade as evidenced by the low Import+Export/GDP at only 27.8% while China is 65.6% (that's almost 2/3 there buddy).
sf2k at 03:44 PM JST - 12th August

As we visit a shrine we are not also visiting the shrine of Hitler or some such person. In Japan unfortunately Class A war criminals were included. Japanese thus merged the meaning of the shrine to include people that they themselves would never visit. This is too bad since Yasukuni historically was always a peace shrine.

This can be easily solved by having another shrine or just declaring a separation of the war criminals from the rest. But Japanese think they control spirits and have merged the group together, thus is why they don't believe they can have an alternative shrine.

Therefore it needs to be gently pointed out that, no, Japan can't control spirits, and that if people want to pray for peace to do so at a new symbolic memorial for such, and not the poor convoluted Yasukuni shrine taken over by rightists who are no doubt hoping someday the world will forget WWII.

I hope it works out for a new shrine and then Japan really can turn a page.
Seiharinokaze at 04:33 PM JST - 12th August

The Emperor refused to visit the shrine since then. Inscribing the names of 14 Class-A war criminals to honor them, against his will, was a shrine organizer's final betrayal to him. The current emperor as well as his family have not visited the shrine so far.

The main task of the U.A. Army officer Bonner Fellers was by working with the Navy Minister Yonai Mitsumasa (a very dubious figure) to absolve Emperor Showa of the war responsibility he might have and allow the major war criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the emperor would be spared from indictment. Fellers himself didn't care a bit about the emperor, but he was ordered by his boss Gen. MacArthur to save the emperor so that Mac's work would go smoothly in the post surrender occupation era. Rulers need the sanction of the gold-brocaded Imperial standard to govern this country from old times.

So the Tokyo Trial functioned as a stage setting to defend the emperor by putting all the responsibility on the Class A's, particularly on Tojo. Loyal subjects thus turned traitors overnight whereas the emperor remained almost as saintly though he declared himself as a human. The emperor and his family may as well have scruples about paying a visit to the shrine.

The emperor's displeasure or the reason for his refusal to visit the shrine thereafter seemed to be, though his chamberlain's private memo was not enough to confirm what the emperor really thought, for the enshrinement of Matsuoka Yosuke and Shiratori Toshio among others, the latter of whom regarded the Pacific War as the crash between the Imperial Japan's one-world holy scheme and Jewish aspiration for world hegemony by the power of money. Perhaps the emperor knew from the beginning who was the REAL power. He knew that stoop to the Anglo-American initiative, however unfair, would get you still a small share.
nigelboy at 12:09 AM JST - 13th August

Therefore it needs to be gently pointed out that, no, Japan can't control spirits, and that if people want to pray for peace to do so at a new symbolic memorial for such, and not the poor convoluted Yasukuni shrine taken over by rightists who are no doubt hoping someday the world will forget WWII.

And this ladies and gentlemen goes back to my arguments I make year and and year out that if you don't believe "spirits" or "souls" exist in the shrine and don't believe in the religion of Shinto, what's the big deal? Your insistence that people should not visit the shrine because it's "convoluted" can only make sense if you believe that souls do exist within the shrine. So which is it?
DenDon at 03:11 AM JST - 13th August

Your insistence that people should not visit the shrine because it's "convoluted" can only make sense if you believe that souls do exist within the shrine. So which is it?

how about primarily the insistence that politicians should not visit the shrine because it pisses so many people off and is unconstitutional. but in a losing battle I guess you have to grab whatever straws you can. skip the 'people' and 'souls' talk and get back on topic, year in year out if it gives you something to do.
sfjp330 at 04:16 AM JST - 13th August

my arguments I make year and and year out that if you don't believe "spirits" or "souls" exist in the shrine and don't believe in the religion of Shinto,

As to date, Emperor Akihito as well as his family have not visited the shine. They know the real reasons in which politicians seens to not understand. It's not about if you believe spirits or souls exist, Emperor believes in spirits and souls exists. In the Shinto religion, the emperor serve as the chief Shinto priest and he's not going there and he's making a right choice.
realist at 07:06 AM JST - 14th August

I also beleive that spirits and souls exist . . .and they are definately not in Yasukuni Shrine of Hatred. This is just a last-ditch effort by the LDP warmongers to win votes they have lost. These people wilol all be out of Office come September 1st. Yehhhhhh!
nigelboy at 09:48 AM JST - 14th August

how about primarily the insistence that politicians should not visit the shrine because it pisses so many people off

That's what I'm getting at DenDon. Why does it "piss so many people off"? PM's were going about their usual business of visiting shrine even after the enshrinment of Class A for over 20 times during a 6 year span without any complaints from so-called neighbors. Then all of the sudden in 1985, "so many people" (i.e. China) are pissed off. Can you tell me why these so-called "many people" weren't pissed off during that span (6 years 20+ visits)?
bushlover at 10:01 AM JST - 15th August

So many are pissed off because they want to make a mountain out of a molehill and it's easy to incite hatred against Japan when these molehills are there. Normal people get on with their lives. Others come here to tell us how bad Japan was/is and always will be for not being, in their minds, "sincere".
DenDon at 07:21 PM JST - 17th August

That's what I'm getting at DenDon>

you are wrong. even so if you were right by some bizarre alignment of the stars or excessive wikipedia work, what is important is the impact it has on the whole area TODAY