Japanese lawmakers visit controversial Yasukuni shrine

More than one hundred Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine on Friday at the start of an autumn festival but the most senior ministers looked set to stay away, wary of damaging Tokyo's already-strained relations with Beijing and Seoul.

The shrine is seen by many across Asia as a symbol of Japan's early 20th-century militarism because generals convicted as war criminals are honoured there, along with the "souls" of millions of Japanese who gave their lives for their country.

A visit to the shrine in December 2013 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sparked anger in China and South Korea, where visits by Japanese prime ministers tend to be seen as a de facto endorsement of the country's aggressive empire-building.

Mr Abe is due to return from a European trip on Saturday, but is unlikely to visit during the four-day festival that runs until Monday. His office sent a ritual offering on Friday instead.

Relations between Japan and China deteriorated in the early autumn of 2012, when Tokyo's effective nationalisation of a chain of islands in the East China Sea triggered public unrest and boycotts of Japanese products in China.

China's President Xi Jinping, who became head of country's Communist party in November 2012, has since refused to meet his Japanese counterpart, characterising him as a dangerous nationalist - an accusation redoubled when Mr Abe paid his respects at the shrine in December.

Mr Abe now hopes to ease tensions by meeting Mr Xi and perhaps South Korean president Park Geun-hye next month, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in Beijing.

Internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi, appointed in a reshuffle last month, was the highest-ranking politician to declare an intent to visit the shrine on Friday, defying a call from the ruling Liberal Democratic party's junior coalition partner to stay away.

Her visit could spoil the "favourable atmosphere" that is being created for the meeting in Beijing next month, said Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of New Komeito, on a radio programme.

China is thought to have imposed two conditions for a meeting: that Mr Abe cease personal visits to Yasukuni, and that Tokyo acknowledge a dispute over ownership of the islands, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and China labels the Diaoyu.

Japan, which administers the islands, has long maintained that there is no dispute over sovereignty, and officials remain adamant that Tokyo will make no concessions.

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Responding to reports of Ms Takaichi's plans on Wednesday, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said that "only when Japan … makes a clean break with militarism can China-Japan relations achieve sound and steady growth. We urge the Japanese side to … take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbours and the international community."

Mr Abe's visit to the shrine last December marked the first anniversary of the launch of his government, and was seen as a move to win favour with his conservative supporters.

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