Word: yasukuni
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...overtures to China. The two Asian giants have had icy, even confrontational, relations in recent years, due to lingering anger among Chinese over Japan's brutal invasion of their country in the 1930s and 1940s. But Hatoyama has defused tensions by promising not to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japanese war dead, including some convicted World War II war criminals. Regular visits by Hatoyama's predecessors had been a regular irritant in Japan-China relations. In contrast to Gates' testy visit, Japanese officials rolled out the red carpet in December in Tokyo for Chinese Vice President...
...than Chinese or Indian ones. How Japanese is Japan? Well, consider this datum: Junichiro Koizumi, who led Japan from 2001 to 2006, and who in terms of economic-policy terms was the most "American" Prime Minister Japan has ever had, routinely paid his respects at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, which memorializes those who died in war - including, inconveniently, a number of convicted war criminals from World War II. (Don't get me started on the revisionist history of the run-up to World War II - that's putting it politely - in the museum attached to the shrine...
...move to placate China, pledged last month not to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine. The shrine honors millions of Japan's war dead, including many considered war criminals; visits by high-ranking officials often spark outrage among Japan's neighbors...
...hawkish, gruff and outspoken. In the past, he put his foot in his mouth by saying that "even Alzheimer's patients" could tell that rice was more expensive in China, and in response to China's criticism of former Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine (considered by some to be a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression) he told China "to keep quiet". His political gaffes make headlines, make LDP members cringe and, in the past, have strained ties with China. But Aso's awareness of his shortcomings, his persistence - this is his third...
...have been warming up a bit - and because of China's growing economic power, it's crucial to Tokyo that this trend continues. (China last year surpassed the U.S. as Japan's largest export destination.) Like Abe, Fukuda has avoided angering Beijing by refraining from official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals from World War II. But the delicate relationship between China and Japan contains many potential flash points, among them disputed exploration rights to gas deposits in the East China Sea and a disagreement over how pesticide-laced...