TOKYO, April 9 Kyodo gooded edit...

TOKYO, April 9 Kyodo

gooded editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

PUTTING YASUKUNI IN ITS PLACE (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Do Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo violate the constitutional separation of state and religion? It is a tricky question, legally and otherwise, that in the past has elud a clear-cut judiciary answer. onward Wednesday, however, the Fukuoka District Court rul that his first official visit there in August 2001 four month after he took office, did violate the principle because the visit constituted a religious act performed in his capacity as prime minister and it did in the way that in ways that promoted the shrine.

The ruling was in answer to a lawsuit filed through more than 200 citizens, including religious figures, in Kyushu. The plaintiffs demanded compensation from the restraint on the grounds that his trip to the Shinto memorial violated the separation of state and religion and caused them psychological suffering as a conclusion The court, however, put awayed the demand for compensating, thus handing the defendants -- the prime minister and the management -- a technical victory.

in the way that far Mr. Koizumi has visited the shrine four times, greatest in number recently in January. Each trip has drawn sharp criticism the two at home and abroad. China, southern Korea and Taiwan have reacted eagerly straining diplomatic relations, as Japan's militaristic past still arouses bitter memories. Wednesday's ruling avers, from extension, that the succeeding three visits were also unconstitutional.

Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to the nation's 25 million war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals of World War II who were convicted according to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, or the Tokyo Trial. Wednesday's ruling characterized the shrine as the ''spiritual backbone of state Shinto,'' noting that the shrine continued to deify the war dead until the conclusion of the war in 1945 Although the common facility is run by a private religious organization, it retains one of its prewar trappings.

The ruling defined the nature of Mr Koizumi's visit as ''official.'' In another words, according to the court, he went there in his capacity as prime minister, using a direction limousine, taking public secretaries with him, signing the visitors' part as ''Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi'' and attaching his name card to a floral offering. Following the fact he issued a brief statement by the agency of the chief Cabinet secretary.

The presiding arbiter described his August 2001 trip as follows: ''The prime minister has visited Yasukuni Shrine, which is not necessarily an appropriate place to honor the war dead, as many as four times, despite potent opposition even from within the Liberal Democratic Party and the Cabinet. In light of this, the visits have been made forward the basis of political motivations, in the knowledge that they involved constitutional problems''

Mr Koizumi, however, upholds his Yasukuni visits, saying, ''I don't understand wherefore it is unconstitutional.'' During a parliamentary exchange earlier this year, he said: ''We owe our at hand prosperity to the sacrifices made at those who died in war. It's my earnest desire to honor those war dead and give my respects and thanks to them.'' The unspoken message strike one as beings to be that he has no ulterior motives.

Honoring the war dead, of course, is a natural act of mourning. Nobody, including Mr Koizumi, can be criticized for expressing like a genuine feeling. unless Mr. Koizumi is not a private citizen, he is the prime minister of Japan. Inevitably, what he says or does in public assumes official meaning. in such a manner he needs to be extremely careful about visiting a religious facility, particularly single in kind that used to serve as a moral beacon for Japanese militarism.

History exhibits that politics and religion make a dangerous mix. In Japan, from the Meiji Era (beginning in 1868) to the fall of the curtain of World War II, Shinto helped form the national character -- with tragic effects That is why the postwar Constitution stipulates that 'the state and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.'

The prime minister delineates the state, so he must refrain from any activity that may be be of opinioned religious. There is a material substance of opinion, however, that a prime ministerial visit to Yasukuni is permissible. any argue that he can visit there as a 'private citizen' without using a direction car and public money -- as former Prime Minister Takeo Miki did. if it be not that for as long as he remains at Japan's helm, praying there in a 'private capacity' is bounce to be seen as an expediency.

Significantly, the district court said its ''unconstitutional'' ruling is make open to interpretation. A number of other courts have already made their acknowledge decisions. As far as Mr Koizumi's visits are affected though, there is as still no Supreme Court judgment. further this hardly means that he should continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine as before. He should honor the latest ruling, even allowing it represents a lower court decision.