Polls: Japanese oppose shrine trip

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- More than half of Japanese don't want their next prime minister to visit a Tokyo war shrine at the center of a diplomatic row with China, according to two newspaper polls published Monday.

A survey in the Mainichi newspaper showed 54 percent of 1,065 respondents felt that whoever replaces Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- who is set to step down in September -- should not visit Yasukuni Shrine. Another 33 percent supported the visits, while the remaining 17 percent were undecided, the July 22-23 poll found.

China and other Asian countries say Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted World War II war criminals, glorifies Japan's militarist past.

Opposition to the shrine visits has increased since the newspaper's last survey on the issue in January, Mainichi said.

Koizumi is widely expected to make a final visit to Yasukuni as prime minister on August 15, and a majority of respondents were also opposed to that, Mainichi said.

The newspaper attributed the rise in opposition to Japan's prolonged diplomatic row with China and South

Korea, as well as to a recent report indicating former Emperor Hirohito did not want war criminals included in the shrine.

Hirohito, under whose name Japan fought World War II, visited the shrine eight times before 1975. The palace never clarified why he stopped visiting the shrine after that, although the 14 convicted war criminals were enshrined at Yasukuni in 1978.

Emperor Akihito has not visited Yasukuni since succeeding Hirohito in 1989.

According to the Mainichi poll, 63 percent want the war criminals' names removed from the shrine, while 23 percent said no change is necessary.

A separate survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai business newspaper showed similar results, with 53 percent opposing the prime minister's war shrine visits, 28 percent supporting them and 19 percent undecided.

The Nihon Keizai survey was conducted July 21-23 through telephone interviews of 966 respondents.

Neither Mainichi nor Nihon Keizai provided a margin of error.

Oh, how about that.

love and peace

id like to see some sources to back up that poll. i dont believe it is valid or reflects truly what japanese ppl think.

So what do you think is the true Japanese view on this issue?


another poll by Asahi shinbun on whether they support next PM's visit to the shrine:
60% against
20% support

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0725/...0607240658.html
for translation,
http://honyaku.yahoo.co.jp/url
don't forget to click 日⇒英


in case you don't about Mainichi and Asahi, there are two of five major newspapers in Japan and have, at least in foreign issue, have relatively liberal positions.




also, Nihon Keizai business newspaper, reffered in the first post, is also one of the major five newspapers in Japan.

I think the results of polls held by three major newpapers are consistent.

Foo! Get off mah grille dawg!

with no source or margin of error? its unscientific.

i wonder if the surveyed people were all ethnic japanese....sorry if this is a stupid question

what do you mean by ethnic Japanese?
Foreign population is 2 million compared to 127 million Japanese.



Japanese 'oppose PM shrine trips'
More than half of Japan's citizens do not want their next prime minister to visit the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, according to two recent polls.

About 54% of respondents to a Mainichi newspaper survey said the next premier should not visit the shrine.

A similar poll in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun found 53% of participants opposed such visits.

Current Premier Junichiro Koizumi, who is due to step down in September, has been to the shrine five times.

The visits anger China and South Korea, which say the shrine honours Japan's militarist past.

They object to the fact that 14 Class A war criminals are among the 2.5 million people commemorated at the shrine.

Growing opposition

According to both surveys, opposition to the shrine visits has risen since the last polls were taken.

Mainichi attributed this rise to Japan's ongoing tensions with its regional neighbours, as well as claims that former Emperor Hirohito did not want war criminals included in the shrine.

Documents in a recently discovered journal, published last week in the Japanese press, show that Hirohito stopped visiting Yasukuni because of the war criminals honoured there.

Mr Koizumi is widely expected to make one more visit to the shrine before he steps down as prime minister.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the front-running candidate to replace him, has often defended Mr Koizumi's visits.

But he has refused to say whether he plans to visit the shrine himself if he becomes the new prime minister.

The Nihon Keizai survey, conducted over the weekend, was based on 966 valid responses. The Mainichi survey, carried out over a similar time period, received 1,065 valid answers.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia...fic/5208946.stm

Well nobody thought that this was a problem with actual Japanese people right? It's always been the government.

well, some people here don't like the result and doubt it without presenting thier view on what Japanese"truly" think of this issue.

whats wrong with showing face to your big brothers?

japanese diety needs to stop acting childish and show face