A Japanese court ruled that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine violate the constitution, not that seems to matter much to the prime minister:
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese court ruled on Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had violated the constitution by visiting a shrine honouring Japan’s military war dead, a landmark ruling on the annual pilgrimages that have angered Japan’s neighbours, particularly China.
But in a reaction likely to further stoke Beijing’s ire, Koizumi vowed to keep visiting Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine.
Koizumi’s visits to the shrine — where convicted war criminals are among those honoured — have frayed ties with China, where many have bitter memories of Japan’s military aggression before and during World War Two.
Critics at home and abroad see the shrine as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
In what media said the first ruling of its kind, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni on August 13, 2001 violated the constitutional separation of religion and state.
But the court rejected a demand by the 211 plaintiffs for damages of 100,000 yen ($945) each.
“Despite strong opposition from within the (ruling) Liberal Democratic Party and ordinary citizens, Koizumi went four times to Yasukuni, which cannot be said to be the best place to honour war dead,” Kyodo news agency quoted the court as saying in its ruling. “This was based on political calculations.”
Koizumi pledged to visit Yasukuni as prime minister when he was campaigning for the post in 2001, a promise aimed at least partly at attracting support from a powerful association of veterans and relatives of war dead.
He has repeatedly stated that his visits are intended to pray for peace and reiterated Japan should never go to war again.
“It’s strange,” Koizumi told reporters after news of the court ruling. “I don’t know why it violated the constitution.”
Asked if he would go again, Koizumi said: “I will.”
What the court ruled, in fact, was that Koizumi’s visits violate Article 20, Clause 3 of the Japanese constitution. Article 20 reads:
Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. 2) No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious acts, celebration, rite or practice. 3) The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.
Visits by the prime minister — as the prime minister, not as an individual — would seem to be a clear violation of the third clause. Now, I’d imagine that this case is going to get pushed up the judiciary food chain, so this issue might be worth watching in the future. Personally, I find the prime minister’s cavalier attitude toward the court decision somewhat disturbing — I don’t mind if he tells Beijing to bugger off, but a court rulings claiming he’s in violation of the constitution is a different matter entirely. Still, I’m not familiar at all enough with the Japanese legal system to know how a decision like this works, so if anyone can fill me in, I’m all ears.
3 Comments
Wouldn’t it be cool if the Japanese impeached their leader, too?
Hmmm… Since Seoul has done it, do you think the Japanese would even consider it?
Considering there is no provision in the Japanese Constitution for impeachment of the Prime Minister, I wouldn’t hold my breath. (No confidence motion, yes, but I wouldn’t hold my breath there, either–Koizumi’s party controls the Diet.)
Consider also that this was merely a district court ruling. The same issue has gone before district courts throughout the country five other times. Two threw out the suit without a ruling. If I am reading the article correctly in this morning’s paper (vernacular), the Sendai distric court in 1991 held that visits by the emperor or the PM to Yasukuni would be unconstitutional. (This case had to do with the shrine receiving funds from a public lottery, I think.) So this is new only for being applied to a specific visit.
In other words, this alone won’t stop Koizumi from doing it again. I see nothing in the paper about any ruling by the supreme court on this issue, and that’s probably what it would take.
Even if the supreme court were to rule against the PM, a PM still might go and claim they were doing it as private citizens.
What got Koizumi caught up here is that he signed the register as the Prime Minister, he went in an official car, and he took along one of his aides. Omit those and the case looks weaker.
This is a much more complicated question than it appears on the surface, and I haven’t got the time to go into it, but here are some points on both sides:
First, there are the public aspects I mentioned above. Also, there is the fact that the shrine is apparently a “religious corporation” (or legal person, or some similar animal). So they at least try to take advantages of their religious aspect.
On the other hand, Shinto is not exactly a religion in the way most people view religions (perhaps it is a religion with a small r). There are no original religious texts. There is no body of dogma. There is no preaching about how to live your life. Any “worship” that goes on, if it does, is just a nod to the spirit inherent in all things–including trees and rocks.
I did an experiment with adult students here in Japan some years ago when I taught English–I reeled off a series of religions and asked them to raise their hand if they considered themselves one of those. At least 95% over the years considered themselves Buddhist, if anything at all. I think one or two actually raised their hand when I said Shinto. More actually said Christian. Most Japanese do not view it as a religion in the same sense as Buddhism or Christianity, but a folk custom that originated before there was a “Japan” into something that has developed into a social custom.
One very serious Christian woman I knew–had a picture of Christ on her desk at work–had a part-time job as a shrine maiden at weddings. Considering the 10 commandments, I cannot believe she would have done that had she viewed Shinto as a religion. Undoubtedly her parish priests knew about it and had no objection.
Most Japanese are probably apathetic about the whole thing. To them it’s roughly analagous to a 4th of July picnic, which even the non-patriotic participate in. They do it for the hot dogs and beer on an off-day, and no one sings the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Unlike their Korean cousins, the Japanese are not prone to actively looking for things to get pissed off about. The Japanese attitude (for most) is to just go about their lives and let any dispute dissipate.
Most would probably raise their eyebrows slightly at the usual suspects who brought the suit–what the newspaper called “religionists” (i.e., activist Christians and Buddhists) and the so-called zainichi kankokujin (people officially Korean citizens born in Japan, some of whom have never been to Korea). Most Americans would have a similar reaction to the people who get upset about manger scenes in front of public buildings in the US.
Don’t expect a resolution anytime soon.
One more quick one:
“Since Seoul has done it, do you think the Japanese would even consider it?”
The Japanese are very unlike the Koreans in that regard. They do not use Korean behavior as a compass pointing in the opposite direction. In fact, the most common reaction (in private) from Japanese when they hear about that Korean attitude is to laugh and forget about it in about five seconds.
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TITLE: Unconstitutional visits
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Decency scored a big gain yesterday, as Japan?셲 Constitutional Court ruled that PM Koizumi visits to the Yasukuni Shrine violated the separation of State and Religion.
A Japanese court has reached the unprecedented decision that Junichiro Koizumi, t…
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TITLE: East Asia’s Sacrificial Lamb
BLOG NAME: Kamelian X-Rays
The Chinese and Korean reactions to Japan’s latest Yasukuni controversy and the recent Senkaku Island pissing contest is a Descent into ugliness/ subscription-required.
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TITLE: East Asia’s Sacrificial Lamb
BLOG NAME: Kamelian X-Rays
The Chinese and Korean reactions to Japan’s latest Yasukuni controversy and the recent Senkaku Island pissing contest is a Descent into ugliness/ subscription-required.