Japanese PM Not to Visit Yasukuni ShrineJapanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Sunday he will not make an official visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the 55th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.Mori unveiled his decision at a news conference in Hiroshima, southwestern Japan, after attending a ceremony marking the 55th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city more than five decades ago. The Yasukuni shrine, a bastion of the wartime government-sponsored Shintoism and symbol of militarism in Japan before and during World War II, houses the memorial tablets of 14 class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and some 2.4 million Japanese military personnel and officials who have died since 1853 in Japan's various wars. In the past, visits by Japanese cabinet ministers to the shrine drew criticism from Japan's neighboring countries invaded by Japanese troops during the war. Cabinet ministers' visits to the shrine are also controversial because Japan's postwar Constitution stipulates separation of the state and religion. |
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