A Japanese court ruled on Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had violated the constitution by visiting a shrine honouring Japan's military war dead, a landmark ruling on his annual pilgrimages that have angered China and other Asian neighbours.
But Koizumi vowed to keep visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are among those honoured and which critics at home and abroad regard as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
"It's strange," Koizumi told reporters after news of the court ruling. "I don't know why it violated the constitution." Asked if he would go again, he replied: "I will."
In the first such ruling against Koizumi's visits, the Fukuoka District Court in south-western Japan said the prime minister's visit to Yasukuni on August 13, 2001 had violated the constitutional separation of religion and state.
The court, however, rejected a demand by 211 plaintiffs for damages of 100,000 yen ($945) each.
"Despite strong opposition from within the (ruling) Liberal Democratic Party and ordinary citizens, Koizumi went four times to Yasukuni, which cannot be said to be the best place to honour war dead," Kyodo news agency quoted the court as saying in its ruling.
"This was based on political calculations."
Koizumi had pledged to visit Yasukuni as prime minister when he was campaigning in April 2001, a promise aimed in part at attracting support from a powerful association of veterans and relatives of war dead.
He has repeatedly stated that his visits are to pray for peace and that Japan should never go to war again.
Other lawsuits have been filed against Koizumi's visits to the shrine and lawyers said Wednesday's ruling could affect those on which verdicts were still pending.
"This is an epoch-making ruling," said Junichi Kusanagi, a lawyer who filed a similar suit on which the court declined to rule on the constitutionality of the visits.
Comments
Comments are closed.