Tomorrow is August 15th.

Tomorrow is August 15th, the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, which means that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will almost certainly be visiting the Yasukuni Shrine to pay his respects to the Japanese who died in Japan’s past wars. Among the 2,466,000 who are enshrined at Yasukuni, there are 1068 ‘ “Martyrs of Showa” who were cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces‘. In recent decades the Koreans and Chinese have made a huge political issue out of the Yasukuni visits, and they will be sure to hold massive anti-Japanese protests in the wake of tomorrow’s visit.

Here are a few recent news articles about the issue:

Gulf Times: The ghost of war still haunts Japan’s psyche
– A general examination of the Yasukuni issue and the intention of Shinzo Abe to visit the shrine if he becomes the next prime minister.

Yomiuri Shinbun: WAR RESPONSIBILITY–delving into the past / Who should bear the most blame for the Showa War? – The Yomiuri Shinbun has posted an 8 part series that examines historical events and places blame on certain Japanese people for them.

Yahoo! News: Away from shrine, Japan’s war criminals rest with goddess of mercy – An article about how Japan’s war criminals are not actually ‘buried’ at Yasukuni, as many foreign journalists falsely claim.

Reuters: China looks to Japan with fury, pragmatism - Notes that the shine visits cause problems for the Chinese government, which seeks better relations with Japan, but cannot control the nationalistic rage against Japan that it created.

People’s Daily: Foreign groups protest against Koizumi’s shrine visit in Tokyo – Groups from Taiwan and Korea gathered in Tokyo to protest the Yasukuni shrine. Included in the group were Taiwanese people who were angry that the Yasukuni shrine honors Taiwanese soldiers who had fought alongside the Japanese.

Mainichi Shinbun: China, South Korea deny report they would accept shrine visits by future Japan leaders – Yesterday there was a news report that claimed that China and South Korea had secretly informed the Japanese government that they would accept one, and only one, visit to the Yasukuni shrine from Japan’s next PM. Not they have officially denied the report.

Mainich Shinbun: South Korea vows to react strongly if Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine – A totally unshocking article that says teh South Korean government will protest if a Yasukuni visit takes place tomorrow. It also repeats the denial of the “Only once more is OK” agreement about PM visits to the shrine.

Japan Times: Kin of war dead sue Yasukuni, state – Some relatives of people enshrined at Yasukuni are suing the shrine and the Japanese government to have the names of their family members removed.

Crisscross: U.S. hoping next PM will diffuse Yasukuni issue – U.S. officials would prefer that the next Japanese PM not visit Yasukuni.

It seems like most Japanese people feel that those who died in the war deserve to be honored, and Yasukuni was the place that shrine that was founded at the start of the modern Japanese state to do just that. Many Japanese, who aren’t right-wing ultranationalists, see Koizumi’s shrine visit as a way of honoring those who sacrificed their lives in the belief that they were defending Japan. They might not agree with honoring the war criminals, but since Koizumi has never made any statement about honoring the Class-A criminals, they see don’t see Koizumi’s visits as something that glorifies war crimes or militarism.

When I returned to Japan a year ago, I my views on Yasukui were pretty much in line with the standard American “WTF? Worshipping war criminals?” view, but meeting several Japanese people like those I just mentioned has had a softening effect on my stance. I still think it is a probably not a good thing for Koizumi to visit the shrine, especially without commenting on the enshrinement of certain war criminals. I’d like to see some of the war criminals’ names removed from the shrine, or perhaps another war memorial created, but I doubt that such actions would quiet Korean & Chinese protests. Any honoring of members of the Japanese military who died in the Pacific War, convicted war criminals or not, would probably be enough to spark rage in Korea/China. The only acceptable solution to many of it’s foreign opponents might be to stop honoring the war dead, something that very few Japanese are willing to do. It is an issue that is unlikely to resolve itself soon.

In closing, here is an photograph I took at the Yasukuni shrine on January 1, 2003. As you can see, New Year’s celebrations are a hotbed of ultranationalist militarism.