You probably won’t read about this in American news. PM Koizumi made a very controversial official visit to Yasukuni Shrine yesterday.

Why is visiting a shrine controversial? In this case, it’s because the shrine honors war dead who are interred there, including some infamous war criminals. China and Korea have been protesting this visit for weeks. Upon hearing that it had been accomplished, 20 Korean gangsters cut off their fingers (or so it was reported). These strong emotions stem from Japanese atrocities over fifty years ago.

Koizumi had planned to visit on the 15th, the anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender, but instead slipped in on the 13th. He doesn’t seem to wish to upset his neighbor nations, but he certainly has. Posted by kuri at August 14, 2001 07:41 AM