Hashimoto's shrine visit gets new rap<\/p>\n
TOKYO (Reuter): North Korea yesterday joined the chorus of
\nprotests from Asian nations against Japanese Prime Minister
\nRyutaro Hashimoto's visit this week to a controversial war
\nshrine.<\/p>\n
\"This is an unbearable insult to the people of Korea and other
\ncountries in Asia,\" the official Korea Central News Agency said.<\/p>\n
Hashimoto on Monday broke a decade-long taboo on prime
\nministerial visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors
\nJapan's war dead, saying it was time for Japan to stop
\napologizing for honoring its fallen soldiers.<\/p>\n
Hashimoto was the first Japanese prime minister since 1985 to
\nvisit the shrine, where 2.6 million Japanese who died in wars
\nsince the 19th century are honored and where the remains of war
\ncriminals executed after World War Two are enshrined.<\/p>\n
Official visits to the Shinto place of worship have long been
\na sensitive issue for Japan's neighbors and wartime adversaries,
\never watchful for signs of a return by Tokyo to the militarism
\nthat once led it to war with much of Asia.<\/p>\n
The shrine honors some 2.6 million Japanese who died in wars
\nsince the 19th century. The remains of war criminals executed
\nafter World War II are also enshrined there.<\/p>\n
In a dispatch monitored in Tokyo, KCNA said \"the vicious
\npolitical attempt of the Japanese reactionaries to realize the
\nwild ambition for re-invasion by restoring the departed spirit of
\nmilitarism can never be concealed\".<\/p>\n
China's state media on Wednesday denounced a controversial
\nshrine visit by Hashimoto, accusing him of playing a dangerous
\ngame that could lead to isolation and resurgent militarism.<\/p>\n
\"Japan has again hurt the feelings of the Asian people,\" said
\nthe People's Daily, China's Communist Party newspaper, in a
\nsigned editorial.<\/p>\n
\"(Hashimoto) is playing a dangerous game by visiting Yasukuni
\nShrine, one that could lead Japan to isolation in Asia,\" said the
\nofficial China Daily.<\/p>\n
\"With him setting a bad example, we can expect the resurgence
\nof militarism,\" the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
A decision by Japanese leaders on whether to pay their
\nrespects at the shrine had become a critical test of the
\ngovernment's attitude to World War Two, the People's Daily said.<\/p>\n
Hashimoto's visit came after the right-wing prime minister
\nsignalled he would not be paying his respects there on August 15,
\nthe anniversary of Tokyo's 1945 surrender and one of the most
\nsensitive days in the Sino-Japanese diplomatic calendar.<\/p>\n
\"But he then shifted the visit to Yasukuni Shrine to an
\nearlier date...this really is surprising, regretful and
\ninfuriating,\" the People's Daily said.<\/p>\n
If Japan were unable to go back and learn from history by
\nitself, others would have to force it to do so, the newspaper
\nsaid without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The Yasukuni visit was not the first time the prime minister,
\nwho won his job after tough trade talks with the United States,
\nhas flirted with controversy over Japan's World War II legacy.<\/p>\n
In October 1994, he set off a furor by saying in parliament
\nthat Tokyo's fight had not been against Asian nations but against
\nthe United States, Britain and others.<\/p>\n
The China Daily said Japan's leaders were one by one
\nsanctifying the crimes committed during the war.<\/p>\n
\"Cabinet members, and now the prime minister...are stealing in
\nand out of Yasukuni Shrine, worshipping the dead souls of war
\ncriminals,\" it said. \"Militarism is far from dead in Japan.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hashimotos-shrine-visit-gets-new-rap-1447893297",
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