Word: yasukuni
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...exactly the same moment when Okuyama was promoting Japan's multilateralism, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was across town paying his respects at Yasukuni Shrine?a highly controversial memorial to Japan's war dead, including an assortment of convicted war criminals. Although Koizumi later bafflingly claimed that his visit was designed to "reaffirm our antiwar position," most observers declared it a foolishly provocative affront to South Korea and China?the very nations Japan was supposedly reaching out to. By the time the evening news hit the airwaves, the prospect of Japan organizing an international peace coalition was dead...
...speed up soon, in part because any dramatic move to create a full-fledged military with significant offensive capabilities would cause a diplomatic furor. Such a move would also require the tacit blessing of China?hardly likely as long as Koizumi continues to indulge in provocations like visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. Further-more, Japan already labors under a government debt that tops 130% of GDP, giving it scant fiscal justification for a military buildup...
...Koizumi, Japan's Prime Minister, to a Tokyo shrine containing the remains of war criminals have joined legal proceedings against him. About 800 people, mostly South Koreans, signed on to one of three law-suits that are pending against Koizumi. The suits claim that his visit to the Shinto Yasukuni shrine, which commemorates 2,460,000 Japanese war dead, contravenes the constitutional separation of church and state. Though Koizumi's two visits have annoyed Seoul and Beijing, the three lawsuits (originally filed by about 900 people in November) are unlikely to get the official backing of either government.opment measures...
...understand the depth of Korean anger, take a stroll through the peaceful, leafy grounds of Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where Japanese soldiers who died in bat-tle are honored. With a number of war criminals enshrined there as well, it is the most infamous symbol of Japanese militarism. Koreans were outraged when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid his respects at the shrine last August, but this place is a raw wound for Koreans for another reason, too. Tucked away in a remote corner of the grounds, behind a heavy, locked iron gate, is a simple tombstone-shaped tablet, just...
...into trouble than out of it. Koizumi is close to right-wingers like Shintaro Ishihara, the Tokyo governor and Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former Prime Minister, and it was apparently on their advice that he made his first political gaffe: on Aug. 13, he paid his respects at Yasukuni, the Shinto shrine where Japan's soldiers, including indicted war criminals, are honored. The right-wingers supported him as pacifists and even mainstream politicians objected. The gesture infuriated Japan's neighbors, notably China and South Korea, who viewed the Prime Ministerial visit to the shrine as condoning Japan's wartime aggression. Koizumi...