The Yasukuni Shrine is neither Japanese history nor Japanese culture, but a "political card" in the hands of a small bunch of Japanese politicians, Shiranishi Shinichiro, chairman of the Executive Council of the Japan-China Society, pointed out Wednesday at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

Shiranishi Shinichiro is in Nanjing leading the 20th tree-planting delegation in memory of Chinese victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Since 1986 spring, the Japan-China Society has been organizing such tree-planting tours annually, with altogether more than 700 Japanese citizens participated in the activity and over 50,000 saplings survived. They call this activity "green atonement".

Talking about some Japanese politicians insisting on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Mr. Shiranishi Shinichiro, who is quite an expert on Japanese history, said disdainfully that the Shrine, set up only after the Meiji Restoration to call back the spirit of the war dead, is only a little more than 130 years old. It belongs neither to Japanese citizens nor to the Japanese history. It is certainly not Japanese culture but a show by a handful of politicians.

The Yasukuni Shrine not only causes religious confusion by creating false gods and worshiping war, but distorts history and advocates extreme nationalism and bushido spirit. The 2.46 million-odd sprit tablets honored in the Shrine, along with that of the 1,068 war criminals tried after the war, all represent people died for the Mikato, for financial magnates and for fascist militarists in a string of unjust wars. So how can we idolize them and worship them as if they were gods? The Yushukan in the Shrine, in particular, is an exhibition hall that fully affirms Japan-launched wars of aggression, which has been exerting a very bad influence. Therefore, it serves it right to call the Yasukuni Shrine a shrine of war.

By People's Daily Online