Japan Times
Readers in Council
January 26, 2005
In answering N. Fenger’s Jan. 12 letter and question, “Why does Koizumi keep doing it?” (visiting Yasukuni Shrine despite Chinese protests), two assumptions need to be stated beforehand:
First, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is well-informed of the concern and irritation felt by the Chinese following his Yasukuni visits, and of the ill will they are creating toward Japan.
Second, Koizumi also knows what Yasukuni means to the Chinese and why they object to his visits.
Therefore, one possible answer, based on these assumptions, is that Koizumi is deliberately visiting Yasukuni out of spite. He goes there not to honor the war dead (which he could do in other more respectable and noncontroversial ways) but because he personally hates the Chinese.
KO UNOKI
Tokyo
I
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