ID :
201433
Mon, 08/15/2011 - 19:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/201433
The shortlink copeid
No Cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni on 66th anniversary of war's end+
TOKYO, Aug. 15 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan and all of his Cabinet members did not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, the 66th anniversary of the end of Japan's 1941-1945 war.
It is the second consecutive year since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 that no Cabinet member visited the shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals along with the nation's war dead, on the day to mark the 66th year of Japan's surrender in the war that effectively ended World War II.
Kan has repeatedly said he will not visit the shrine as long as he is in office, saying he considers official visits by Cabinet members to the shrine as problematic because it honors the convicted war criminals.
The decision by Kan and his Cabinet members apparently reflects their desire to show consideration toward Asian countries such as China and South Korea which see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism and have been highly critical of visits to the shrine by Cabinet members in the past.
The Yasukuni Shrine is mainly dedicated to the soldiers who died during its past wars dating back to the second half of the 1860s.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano declined to comment on the issue of whether to separate the Class-A war criminals from the list of people honored at the shrine in Tokyo.
''The government is not in a position to make any comment on the issue as it is a matter of freedom of religion,'' Edano said at a news conference Monday.
Edano also said the government has not decided whether to make allocations in the fiscal 2012 budget for research on building a new national memorial.
Instead of visiting the shrine, Kan went to a national cemetery in Tokyo for unknown soldiers who died in the war.
Meanwhile, members of the largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party, including LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visited the shrine the same day.
According to a nonpartisan group of Diet members who advocate visits to the shrine, 53 lawmakers also visited it, including Parliamentary Secretary Takashi Morita from the People's New Party, the tiny ruling coalition partner.
''It is natural that we pay our respect to those who sacrificed their life for the sake of our country,'' Abe told reporters, while refraining from making comments on the decision of Kan's Cabinet.
On Aug. 15 last year, the entire Cabinet refrained from visiting the shrine for the first time since 1980s.
==Kyodo
Prime Minister Naoto Kan and all of his Cabinet members did not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, the 66th anniversary of the end of Japan's 1941-1945 war.
It is the second consecutive year since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 that no Cabinet member visited the shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals along with the nation's war dead, on the day to mark the 66th year of Japan's surrender in the war that effectively ended World War II.
Kan has repeatedly said he will not visit the shrine as long as he is in office, saying he considers official visits by Cabinet members to the shrine as problematic because it honors the convicted war criminals.
The decision by Kan and his Cabinet members apparently reflects their desire to show consideration toward Asian countries such as China and South Korea which see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism and have been highly critical of visits to the shrine by Cabinet members in the past.
The Yasukuni Shrine is mainly dedicated to the soldiers who died during its past wars dating back to the second half of the 1860s.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano declined to comment on the issue of whether to separate the Class-A war criminals from the list of people honored at the shrine in Tokyo.
''The government is not in a position to make any comment on the issue as it is a matter of freedom of religion,'' Edano said at a news conference Monday.
Edano also said the government has not decided whether to make allocations in the fiscal 2012 budget for research on building a new national memorial.
Instead of visiting the shrine, Kan went to a national cemetery in Tokyo for unknown soldiers who died in the war.
Meanwhile, members of the largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party, including LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visited the shrine the same day.
According to a nonpartisan group of Diet members who advocate visits to the shrine, 53 lawmakers also visited it, including Parliamentary Secretary Takashi Morita from the People's New Party, the tiny ruling coalition partner.
''It is natural that we pay our respect to those who sacrificed their life for the sake of our country,'' Abe told reporters, while refraining from making comments on the decision of Kan's Cabinet.
On Aug. 15 last year, the entire Cabinet refrained from visiting the shrine for the first time since 1980s.
==Kyodo
