[Editorial] Japan should say goodbye to ’Yasukuni ideology’

A document has been discovered in Japan, one written by an aide of Hirohito, the country’s previous emperor. In it, he describes why the emperor decided to stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. The discovery of the document has ignited a new debate about the Yasukuni issue.

Written by former Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita, the memo describes how Hirohito was very displeased with the decision to move the memorial tablets of Class A war criminals to Yasukuni. He is quoted as saying he chose not to visit after they were moved there in 1978. The document itself was written in 1988, at which time he lamented the fact that members of cabinet who tried to justify their visits to the shrine "still do not understand my position as emperor, nor my mind." The war was his worst memory, he said.

The document destroys the arguments made by Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe. Koizumi has always said that he goes there to express his regret and gratitude to those who went to war against their will. Abe, who has a good chance at becoming the next prime minister, says it is a "matter of freedom of faith and conscience to mourn those who gave their lives for the country," and that "it is the unanimous opinion of the Japanese people" that such freedom should not be violated. In the recently released document, however, the war criminals in question are not considered people "who gave their lives for the country." It notes that worshipping at Yasukuni while the war criminals’ memorial tablets are housed there is the same as approving of Japan’s war of aggression.

We find it a positive development that the document is leading to increased public calls for the prime minister to stop his visits and to make a separate shrine for the Class A war criminals. By worshipping at Yasukuni, the Japanese prime minister is hurting peace in Northeast Asia and friendly relations with Japan’s neighbors, and he must stop immediately. A separate shrine can be built if necessary.

That would, of course, not be enough to resolve doubts about Japan among Koreans and other East Asians, because Abe and other right wing politicians are engaging in a dangerous form of nationalism, using North Korea’s launching of missiles as an excuse to talk about Japan’s ability to make preemptive attacks and increase military spending. We hope that in the wake of the disclosure of this document, Japan’s leadership will say goodbye to the ’Yasukuni ideology’ that rationalizes its war of aggression, and return to the spirit of a peaceful nation. Sadly, however, Koizumi says the document has nothing to do with his visits and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which first reported the document’s contents, has been the subject of a petrol bomb attack.