Word: shrines
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...What is Yasukuni? Built in 1869, it's a Shinto shrine in central Tokyo honoring the souls of Japanese killed in battle since the Meiji Restoration. Names of the deceased are added to Yasukuni's book of souls, a list of dead who are worshipped as Shinto deities. There are about 2.4 million spirits enshrined there?87% of whom died in World War II, including 14 Class-A war criminals and about 1,000 Class-B and -C war criminals, as well as roughly 50,000 people from Korea and Taiwan who died fighting for the Japanese...
...they get there? Soon after the American occupation ended in 1952, the Japanese government pardoned all its war criminals largely because of public calls for their release. Priests at the shrine took the move to mean that executions and deaths in prison occurred in the line of duty, and those names were duly added to the book of souls...
...current flap start? Japanese leaders have made private pilgrimages to Yasukuni without causing a fuss, but in 1985, Yasuhiro Nakasone became the first Prime Minister to visit the shrine in an official capacity, prompting outcry from other Asian nations. his successors avoided official visits for the next 16 years, until Koizumi came to power promising to resume them?which he has done, visiting the shrine each year since 2001. China, along with other Asian countries invaded during World War II, insists that for Japan's leader to visit a shrine where the war's masterminds are worshipped as gods...
...risk alienating Japan's neighbors? Japan says it's nobody's business how it remembers its dead?after all, Yasukuni honors over 2 million others who simply gave their lives for their country. And the shrine remains a deeply spiritual place for many older Japanese. In a country whose military past has been shamed and denied, it's the only place where veterans and their families can pay their respects without the burden of war guilt...
...What happens now? In the interest of harmony, China and Japan have begun to tone down their disparaging comments. And there are some calls in Japan's ruling coalition to start from scratch with a new memorial. Meanwhile, Koizumi hasn't visited the shrine yet this year?but insists that regardless of whether or not he does, it will be a domestic issue...