Japanese P.M. mourns dead

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 29

Japanese P.M. mourns dead

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, and his Cabinet Ministers have visited a controversial shrine for war dead during ceremonies marking the thirty-nineth anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War H. The Ministers paid homage at Tokyo’s 114-year-old Yasukuni shrine which is sometimes viewed as a symbol of pre-war Japanese militarism. The first premier to visit the shrine on Anniversary Day was Takeo Miki in 1975. An outcry followed and the Government subsequently ruled there was a “suspicion of unconstitutional behaviour” about visits there by Cabinet Ministers. Nevertheless, most Prime Ministers since then have gone to the shrine on Anniversary Day in a private capacity. Mr Nakasone left it ambiguous whether his visit was official or private.

For two days about 160 members of bereaved families- staged a hunger strike in the shrine compound demanding official visits by Cabinet members. Mr Nakasone, widely regarded as one of the most hawkish Japanese premiers for years, also attended a memorial service at which Emperor Hirohito delivered his customary speech mourning the 3.1 million Japanese lost in World War n. The speech adhered rigidly to the same text delivered by the Emperor every year. “I mourn for the war dead wholeheartedly and pray for peace jointly with the whole people,” the Emperor, aged 83 said. About 7300 mourners were at the ceremony in Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan hall, near the Imperial Palace. They included political and business leaders and members of warbereaved families.