A staffer from a foundation that finances Japan's controversial Yasu-kuni Shrine recently visited Tai-wan, but Taipei's representative to Tokyo says it's not clear whether the trip was aimed at setting up a branch office for fundraising.
"The foundation, which is connected to the Yasukuni Shrine, has dispatched its members to visit Taiwan. But we have no idea as to the group's actual activities in Tai-wan," Lo Fu-chen (羅福全), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Lo's remarks came in response to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun daily on Monday that Seigo Matsumoto, a section chief of the foundation, arrived in Taiwan last week for a two-week visit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that it doesn't know if Matsumoto is still in Taiwan.
The newspaper report said the foundation, largely supported by non-governmental organizations, wanted to set up a branch office in Taiwan in order to seek financial support for the shrine.
The foundation was established in 1998 and has a membership of around 90,000 people.
The Shinto shrine, originally known as the Tokyo Shokonsha (shrine for inviting the spirits), was founded in 1869, just outside the moat of the Imperial Palace.
It is dedicated to those people who gave their lives for Japan in conflicts between 1835 and 1945. Their names are inscribed in a "Book of Souls" and they are venerated as war gods.
The shrine was renamed Yasu-kuni Jinja (shrine for establishing peace in the empire) in 1879.
After the end of World War II, US occupation authorities forced the shrine to become a private religious foundation.
Among the some 2.5 million people venerated at the shrine, the most controversial are the 14 who were convicted as Class A war criminals after World War II and secretly enshrined at Yasukuni in 1978, along with 1,055 other war criminals.
Many Asian countries view Yasukuni Shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Visits to the shrine by Japanese prime ministers have always drawn vociferous condemnations from China, South Korea and others over the years.
Many of the Taiwanese who joined the Japanese military during the Japanese colonial era are also commemorated there.
"Tens of thousands of Taiwan-ese civilians were forced to act as Japanese soldiers and lost their lives. The families of the deceased from Taiwan don't feel they were sufficiently compensated," Lo said.
"Emotionally, I don't think the families of the Taiwanese commemorated at the shrine would welcome the foundation setting up an office in Taipei," Lo said.
The foreign ministry on Monday requested Lo's office investigate the validity of the Yomiuri Shimbun report.
Two ministry officials yesterday said that the government should treat the question of a shrine foundation office cautiously as anything related to the shrine could strike a sensitive chord not only with people in Taiwan, but elsewhere in Asia.
The Ministry of the Interior said it would investigate whether the group's activities in Taiwan violate regulations.
"We will investigate what kind of activities the group is involved in here," said Chien Tai-lang (
Article 27 of the Immigration Law (
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