From Trans-Pacific Radio in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, This is Alex Pappas with Shasetsu, an editorial.

Let me first briefly say a big thank you to the folks at Trans-Pacific Radio for their warm welcome as a member of the team here at Trans-Pacific Radio dot com.

Getting right to it, a headline that’s coming out right now in Japan, and something that I think is certainly important to talk about is that under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the government of Japan has recently decided to, quote, soften up end quote some controversial references found in the Yasukuni War Shrine in Tokyo.

For those of you not familiar, Yasukuni jinja, a term literally meaning (peaceful nation shrine) is a Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the spirits of soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Japanese emperor in times of conflict and war.

The shrine has been a site of great controversy of the last few decades as several nations particularly China and Korea have taken very vocal stances against its existence. Their opposition comes because enshrined at Yasukuni in what I guess I’ll call a Book of Souls are the names of over a thousand convicted War criminals including 12 Class A War Criminals found guilty by the Allied Tribunal after the second World War.

Of the 12 men are such famous Japanese historical figures as Tojo Hideki, Doihara Kenji. Seishiro Itagaki and Muto Akira, all of whom are famous in their own right for their military careers during the time of World War 2 and prior.

In October, authorities overlooking the shrine agreed to change key text that appears on display in the war museum found within the Yasukuni complex. Some examples of what they will be changing for instance are panels as the one that talks about The United States deliberately forcing Japan into the war.

Another panel that will be adjusted is one that claims the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the 1937 battle near Beijin that marked the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War, was sparked by Chinese nationalist’s troop’s illegal attacks on the Japanese.

No one outside the shrine authorities know quite what the new panels will say except but the Mainichi Shimbun reported that an anonymous source on the subject was saying that “There is no mistake in the facts, but the expressions are such that some parts could be misunderstood, so we will substitute softer expressions”.

There is also information coming out that the authorities will be examining text related to panels that speak about conflicts and historical elements relating to China as well.

There’s little doubt that softening up Yasukuni Shrine will help Abe and his government
politically with the other powers of the world that have never had a taste for Yasukuni.

And that seems to be the real motivation here behind this. Abe is more or less doing what his predecessor former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had only limited success in doing and that is to help Japanese businesses penetrate China’s lucrative marketplace by attempting to warm relations between the two nations.

But politics asides, I’m always taken aback about how misunderstood Yasukuni Shrine is. There seems to be a real lack of correct information in regards to what Yasukuni Shrine is and what is in fact there particularly in North America.

Firstly, Yasukuni Shrine was originally built in June of 1869 by order of the Meiji Emperor to commemorate the victims of the Boshin War in which the Tokugawa Shogunate fell to the Imperial Forces preceding the modernization of the country.

It is not at all a shrine dedicated to World War 2, but in fact is a place of prayer and remembrance for all those who died in service to of the Japanese Emperor.

The Book of Souls which is found in the temples main complex holds well over 2 million 4 hundred thousand names of men and women including foreign nationals who were killed in wartime.

Included in those names of course are as mentioned the names of a few war criminals as previously mentioned.

Another note I would comment on is that there are no actual remains of people enshrined at Yasukuni. There are no grave markers or anything of the sort. It is strictly a place of remembrance with a War Time museum on its premise.

Now I am not an apologist for the Japanese. Far from it. To use China as an example, I think it is a well documented fact that the Japanese Imperial Forces committed some crimes against humanity while in China. It may be that China exaggerated it claims, I don’t know. I am not going to comment on that.

But I do find it rather disturbing that the Chinese, who are indeed quite vocal about their disgust for Yasukuni Shrine should speak so loudly when they have a less then perfect Human Rights record. What the Japanese army did in several circumstances may have been bad, but the Communist Regime which then took over was just as terrible and merciless on its own people. Its one thing that an invading force does such terrible things but then to have a new government of your own countrymen do equally terrible things doesn’t sit right with me.

It seems like the pot calling the kettle black. In fact if you google Tienemen Square on a Chinese ISP, you will not see any information about the massacre at all. All you’ll see is wonderful touristy photos of the location. Something about that seems rather odd considering their vocal opposition what is basically a memorial for the dead. But Yasukuni seems to me to be nothing more of a wedge issue for them, an attempt to get Japan to be obsequious.

Nevertheless, Shinzo Abe’s government needs to do better when it comes to Japan China relations. If this is a first step in that direction then it can’t be a bad thing at all.

This has been Alex Pappas with Shasetsu, an editorial, for transpacificradio.com. For more information or to place a comment on this or other stories you’ve seen or heard here, please visit www.transpacificradio.com. Thank you for listening.