War criminals’ names to stay on shrine rolls

Press, 1 February 1986, Page 27

War criminals’ names to stay on shrine rolls

By

YUKO NAKAMIKADO

of Reuters

Tokyo Japan’s Yasukuni shrine for war dead has refused a request by members of Parliament to strike the names of 14 war criminals from its rolls so politicians can pay respects without being criticised. “We refused. We cannot remove those already enshrined as gods. No more talks have been held,” said a spokesman for the shrine.

Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (L.D.P.) members had asked the shrine to remove the names of 14 Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister at the start of World War H and one of the masterminds behind the

spread of Japanese power. High-level visits to the shrine in Tokyo, notably by the Prime Minister, Mr Nakasone, have been severely criticised at home and abroad because the 14 names are included on rolls of honour. Mr Nakasone became the first Japanese leader since the end of the war to pay his respects at the shrine on August 15, the fortieth anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the allies. China led the attack with official protests saying that Mr Nakasone’s visit hurt the feelings of all those who suffered under Japanese militarism during the war. The Prime Minister has not visited the shrine since. The Yasukuni shrine honours 2.4 million Japanese dead from all its wars, but

in October 1975, the 14 names were added to the rolls of honour as “victims,” the spokesman said. ' J. The shrine is Shinto,Vthe, Japanese religion '<whicfi., deifies the dead and was .the': State religion (iptil the. end' of the war. ' ’'y--; Last year, a Government;, internal report gave clearance for Cabinet Ministers to visit the shrine as long as they did not. offend/ the separation between religion and State written; into < the post-war constitution. Mr Nakasone at first declined to say whether his visit in August was in a private or official capacity, saying only that he went as “Nakasone, who is Prime Minister.”

However, when he went to the shrine it was announced as an official visit.