Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni Shrine five times in succession since he took office in 2001. He has repeatedly defended himself for his conducts.

Externally, he said, "My visit to the shrine is not to mourn specific objects, but to express my grief over those who fell in the combat zone not out of voluntariness and those who rushed to the battlefield, and I went to the shrine with the determination that war must not be launched again."

Internally, he declared, "As Japanese, it is absolutely not a bad thing to pay our due respect and express our sincere thanks for the war dead"; "Although I know that China is dissatisfied, I wonder whether it is suitable for me to stop the visit just because foreign countries claim our practice of consoling the souls of the deceased is "improper", the Yasukuni Shrine cannot be replaced by any other facilities even if they are built."

These two internal and external different tunes, in today's information society, finally can only lead to the complete loss of trust at home and abroad. There exist some incomprehensible contradictions in his explanations:

First, in Japan. when it was proposed to move the spirit of class-A war criminals out of the Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese Right-wing forces and the Yasukuni Shrine unanimously expressed their objection.

One of their "reasons" was that once the spirits of the deceased were enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine, they were turned into so-called inseparable "spirits of the braved departed", just as a drop of water is inalienable once it is blended with the sea.

The objects Japanese PM worships are precisely the so-called "spirits of the brave departed", what is this if not beautification? In addition, the "spirits of the brave departed" inseparable from the Yasukuni Shrine can be differentiated only when they are worshipped by prime minister Koizumi and thus exclude the "specific objects"?

Second, prime minister Koizumi expresses his "respects" and "sincere thanks" for the war dead in the Yasukuni Shrine, but the main part of them were the harm-doers, including class-A war criminals, who had committed aggression against their Asian neighbors. As Japanese prime minister, he, on the one hand, expressed "self-examination" and "apologies" to the victims; on the other hand, he expressed his "respects" and "thanks" for the injuring party, can this be regarded as normal thinking? When Japan launched the aggressive war in those years, didn't they also flaunt the banners of "liberating Asia" and "winning peace for East Asia"? At present, although Koizumi indicates that "he went to the Shrine with the determination that war must not be launched again", his worshipping actions themselves have spiritually constituted further harm to the people of neighboring Asian countries, because it is always true that "actions speak louder than words".

Third, there has long been a "mythology" in Japan, stressing the view of traditional Japanese religion and culture that "when people die they all become Buddha", and "there is no longer distinction between good and evil", and so there is no need to look into the crimes of the dead class-A war criminals and is possible to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Obviously this is due to the intangible influence of the national deity advertised by the wartime Yasukuni Shrine, which is a kind of serious misleading. In fact, previous traditional Japanese concept of deity as propagated by the Yasukuni Shrine, the concept on spirit is divided roughly into two kinds: i.e., "mild spirit" and "wild spirit". The former can bring tranquility; while the latter will bring disaster.

Traditional Japanese concept on gods is also differentiated into two kinds: i.e., "good god" and "evil god". The former is a peaceful god linked with "mild spirit" and "ancestral soul"; while the latter is linked with "wild spirit" and "grieving spirit", that is, the evil spirit of ghost and monster died from war turmoil, pestilence and calamity. In the "belief in governing the spirit", "consoling the spirit" originates from consoling "ancestral souls", while "suppressing the spirit" lays emphasis on deterring the "wild spirit", through "suppressing the spirit", people pray for a transformation of the "wild spirit" into "mild spirit" and "good god".

Regrettably, now many Japanese do not understand the above-mentioned concept of Japan's real traditional religion and culture and fail to use correct Japanese pronunciation to read out the terms such as "mild spirit" and "wild spirit", and "good god" and "evil god". The point is that those who favor visit to the Yasukuni Shrine often advertise restoration of traditional Japanese culture, isn't this self-sarcasm? The Yasukuni Shrine itself does not enshrine all souls of the deceased, but enshrines only the so-called "spirits of the brave departed" who "died in war for their country". In addition, if the Japanese deeply believe it is Japan's traditional culture advocating that "people who have died will all become Buddha", is it that people's self-restraint sense they cherished during their lifetime won't be subjected to negative influence?

Such self-contradictory logic won't be convincing at all. Koizumi's insistence on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine has not only seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, but also has repeatedly obstructed efforts by people of various circles of the two countries for improving bilateral relations and has thus become the crucial reason for Sino-Japanese relations being landed in a predicament.

By People's Daily Online