Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi must heed pressure from a powerful conservative group and halt his annual visits to a Tokyo war shrine to improve Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors, a veteran ruling party lawmaker said yesterday.
The Nippon Izokukai, which represents families of Japan's war dead and has long backed visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine, cautioned Koizumi about his annual pilgrimages, saying "it is necessary to give consideration to neighboring countries and obtain their understanding," according to weekend news reports.
The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and 13 other leaders convicted of the most serious war crimes at a 1946-1948 international war tribunal in Tokyo. Koizumi's visits there have outraged China and other Asian countries.
Koichi Kato, an LDP heavyweight and close Koizumi ally, said yesterday that the group's message was a clear signal to Koizumi to halt his visits -- and noted that an election pledge made to the group was the principal reason behind Koizumi's four pilgrimages to the memorial since taking office in 2001.
"Koizumi began his visits [to Yasukuni] at the request of the Nippon Izokukai. He linked the issue to his leadership campaign and pledged to keep his promise to them," Kato told TV Asahi.
"That group is now saying it is grateful for his efforts, but that if it causes this much trouble, the spirits of the war dead cannot rest in peace," he said. "He must stop his visits."
Nippon Izokukai, which represents about 1 million families, is a major backer of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. It pushes a conservative agenda that opposes constructing an alternative site to Yasukuni or withdrawing the names of convicted war criminals that are honored there.
"It is now clear that the noose pressuring the prime minister to refrain from visits is tightening," the Mainichi newspaper said.
In a statement issued Saturday, Nippon Izokukai said the families did not want Koizumi's pilgrimages to turn into a political problem for Japan and urged him to consider the criticisms of China and South Korea ahead of any further visits, the reports said.
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