About 150 Japanese lawmakers have visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, in a move likely to further sour ties with China and South Korea.
Yasukuni shrine commemorates Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals from World War Two.
The visit, marking a spring festival, comes a day before President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo.
It also comes amid strained relations between Japan and its neighbors over geopolitical and historical tensions.
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe was not among those who visited the shrine, but he sent a traditional offering on Monday.
The Chinese foreign ministry denounced Shinzo Abe’s offering as a “negative asset for Japan”, saying that both it and visits by Japanese cabinet ministers reflected “the erroneous attitude towards history adopted by Japan’s incumbent cabinet”.
About 150 Japanese lawmakers have visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine (photo Reuters)
South Korea’s foreign ministry said that Shinzo Abe had “romanticized Japanese colonialism and its war of aggression” by paying tribute to the shrine.
Japanese officials visit the shrine during seasonal festivals and on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
Japanese lawmaker Hidehisa Otsuji told the Associated Press news agency that he visited the shrine “with a calm mind” and that there was “no further meaning” to the visit.
“I have been visiting here for decades,” he said.
Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo, meanwhile, said: “As this visit was my own personal visit, I don’t believe that it will have any effect on the US president’s visit.”
China and South Korea view the shrine as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression and have accused Tokyo of failing to show the necessary remorse for wartime atrocities.
When Shinzo Abe visited the shrine on December 26, 2013, the US embassy in Tokyo expressed disappointment and said Abe’s actions would “exacerbate tensions” with neighbors.
Washington has also been trying to get Japan and South Korea to set aside their differences and work more closely together, both on North Korea and in terms of counter-balancing China’s growing power in the region.
Ties between China and Japan meanwhile, remain severely strained, over historical tensions and a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.
[youtube 8XWv7g5PBaI 650]
China and South Korea got angry after PM Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including some convicted war criminals.
Shinzo Abe said his visit to Yasukuni was an anti-war gesture.
But China called the visit “absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people”, and Seoul expressed “regret and anger”.
China and South Korea see Yasukuni as a symbol of Tokyo’s aggression during World War Two, when Japan occupied large parts of China and the Korean peninsula.
The US embassy in Tokyo said in a statement it was “disappointed” and that Shinzo Abe’s actions would “exacerbate tensions” with Japan’s neighbors.
China, Japan and South Korea are embroiled in a number of disputes over territory in the East China Sea.
It was the first visit to Yasukuni by a serving prime minister since Junichiro Koizumi went in 2006.
Shinzo Abe, who took office in 2012, entered the shrine on Thursday morning, wearing a morning suit and grey tie. His arrival was televised live.
PM Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including some convicted war criminals
“I chose this day to report [to the souls of the dead] what we have done in the year since the administration launched and to pledge and determine that never again will people suffer in war,” he said.
“It is not my intention at all to hurt the feelings of the Chinese and Korean people.”
Officials said Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni shrine in a private capacity and was not representing the government.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said: “We strongly protest and seriously condemn the Japanese leader’s acts.
“This poses a major political obstacle in the improvement of bilateral relations. Japan must take responsibility for all the consequences that this creates.”
Japan made an unwritten agreement with China in the 1970s that serving leaders would not visit the shrine.
But now, Shinzo Abe appears to have broken that deal.
In August, Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the shrine but was not among a group of dozens of Japanese politicians who visited Yasukuni.
During an earlier period in office between 2006 and 2007 he said he would not even discuss visiting the shrine “as long as the issue remains a diplomatic problem”.
Yasukuni commemorates some 2.5 million Japanese men, women and children who have died in wars.
But the souls of hundreds of convicted WW2 criminals are also enshrined there.
Fourteen so-called Class A criminals – those who were involved in planning the war – are among those honored. They include war-time leader General Hideki Tojo, who was executed for war crimes in 1948.
[youtube Ub9w-xf23Vk 650]
