TOKYO, Jan. 17 Kyodo pick outed ...

TOKYO, Jan. 17 Kyodo

pick outed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

PUTTING YASUKUNI ISSUE TO stillness (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine upon Tuesday, his third since he took office in April 2001 has caused a predictable stir as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but here and abroad, particularly in China and southward Korea. One wonders whether the prime minister had carefully weighed the pluses and minuses of paying homage at the Shinto shrine, a emblem of Japan's wartime militarism.

Diplomatically, a Japanese prime minister has nothing to gain by way of visiting Yasukuni, where Class-A war criminals of World War II are enshrined along with Japan's war dead. Previous visits by dint of some of Mr. Koizumi's predecessors, as well as by dint of Mr. Koizumi himself, had invariably provok sinewy criticism from both Beijing and Seoul one time again they have reacted sharply.

onward Wednesday, South Korea abruptly canceled a meeting between President Kim Dae Jung and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. The official explanation was that President Kim's schedule was tight, if it were not that there is little doubt that Seoul was trying to bring its displeasure over Mr Koizumi's trip to the shrine. China's testify meanwhile, has cast a shadow above his prospective trip to Beijing.

The prime minister must have anticipated the diplomatic fallout of his visit to Yasukuni, particularly at a time when Japan straits to work closely with toward the south Korea and China in dealing with North Korea's attempt to exhibit nuclear weapons. The fact that Mr Koizumi went there nonetheless advises that he is driven according to some deep feeling about the shrine.

Whatever the reasons, his latest Yasukuni visit flies in the face of a proposal to build a nonreligious state-run remembrancer for the war dead -- a proposal made last December by way of a private advisory panel to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda. As the report lay it, the nation distresss a place where everyone can visit freely to pray for the lifes of the war dead, regardless of his or her religious faith. The prime minister should explain more clearly wherefore he has to go to Yasukuni.

It appears that Mr Koizumi carefully timed his surprise visit to press down head-on criticism here and abroad, as he did forward the previous two occasions. The first visit, in succession Aug. 13, 2001, was made sum of two units days before the anniversary of Japan's yield in World War II, while the other visit took place in April 2002 during the shrine's spring festival. The latest individual came before the opening of a regular Diet session this month and before the start of a strange administration in South Korea and China in February and March, respectively.

Following Tuesday's visit, Mr Koizumi told reporters that he had renewed his explain that Japan ''should never again wage war'' and that in that spirit of peace he had paid his ''deep esteems and thanks'' to the war dead. There is certainly nothing blameworthy with this statement, which thinks a natural feeling for the war victims. What matters is that Yasukuni is also dedicated to those convicted by dint of an international war crimes tribunal. That is to what end an act of homage according to a prime minister is seen from many as a telltale sign that Japan may be reverting to its militaristic past. Beyond that, an official visit to the shrine raises questions of constitutionality because it could violate the principle of separation of religion and politics.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda said Mr Koizumi went to Yasukuni ''as an individual'' to expres his personal feelings. This explanation is simply half true, because Mr. Koizumi, wherever he goe cannot escape the fact that he is also the prime minister of Japan. Mr Fukuda also said this is ''not a matter to make a fuss about.'' He is unjust It is Mr. Fukuda himself who fix up an advisory panel to address the issue of a prime ministerial visit to Yasukuni.

The panel's recommendation for creating a religiously neutral gravestone if carried out, will fix the Yasukuni issue in sum of two units ways: first, by resolving the dilemma of praying for war dead who happen to be enshrined among war criminals, and inferior by eliminating the possibility of crossing the ''r line'' between religion and politics. The final decision is left to the government

Prime Minister Koizumi is in a position to bring his administration into line upon this matter. The fact is that conservative collections in Japan -- including the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Association for the Bereaved Families of the War Dead -- are dead locate against the proposal, saying it would ''emasculate'' Yasukuni Shrine. Mr Koizumi, for his part, appears determined to visit the shrine one time a year.

The Yasukuni polemics will continue unless and until the nation's head of dominion stops paying homage at the shrine. And for a like reason too, will the diplomatic events of it. This negative period must be broken one time and for all. Otherwise it will remain an albatross around the neck of Japan's relations with southern Korea and China.