BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) From April 21, the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors a number of Japanese Class-A World War II war criminals, will hold a three-day routine spring festival. In previous years, Japanese politicians, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would choose to offer sacrifices, offerings or direct visits to worship.
Recently, due to successive scandals, the cabinet led by Abe is facing a crisis, and the voice of "Abe stepping down" and "Abe is difficult to be re-elected as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party" has gradually sounded in Japan. In such an "eventful spring", how will Abe and his cabinet members handle the question of whether to pay homage and how to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine?
Members pay homage and call on Abe to "worship ghosts"
On the morning of 20th, local time, members of the "Meeting of Members of Parliament who All Come to Visit the Yasukuni Shrine" composed of Japanese parliamentarians from different parties have collectively visited the Yasukuni Shrine.
The group was established in 1981. Since its establishment, it has organized members to pay collective visits to the Yasukuni Shrine on the day of Japan’s defeat and during the routine festivals in the Spring and Autumn Period. Last spring, more than 90 members of the National Assembly participated in the big festival. During the autumn festival, they were unable to pay homage because of the parliamentary election. On December 5 last year, more than 60 members went to pay homage.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported that when asked whether Abe would pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, Hideyoshi Nagatami said, "At present, Japan is in trouble at home and abroad, and it is at this time that it is the prime minister who should come to pay homage, so that those heroes who died for the country will not feel shame."
Japanese TBS TV station believes that Abe is not expected to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine during its routine spring festival, although Hidehisa Otsuji has expressed his hope that Abe will "worship ghosts".
Do you pay homage? There have been many sacrifices before.
From his first official residence in 2006 to his third term, Abe has visited the Yasukuni Shrine twice. During his first term as prime minister, Abe did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine. However, he once said that during his first term, he "thought about when to visit the shrine many times", which made him "feel guilty about the heroes in the Yasukuni Shrine".
On October 17, 2012, on the first day of the autumn festival of the Yasukuni Shrine, Abe, who had just been elected as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, went to pay homage. On December 26th of the following year, the first anniversary of his second term in power, he visited the shrine again. Later, during the annual "Final War Memorial Day" and the Spring and Autumn Festival, although Abe did not pay homage again, he paid for the offerings from his own pocket.
The analysis believes that it is an important issue for Abe to grasp the distance from his main support base and the Japanese right-wing conservative forces who support visiting the shrine. It is not difficult to see from past experience that Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine was chosen at a time when his ruling momentum was booming. However, at present, the cabinet he leads can be said to be in trouble.
In an eventful spring, government scandals are one after another.
At present, Abe is "getting deeper and deeper" on the issue of Senyou Academy and Plus Academy. Last month, Japan’s Ministry of Finance admitted to tampering with the relevant approval documents for "selling" state-owned land to Senyou Academy, including deleting the names of Prime Minister’s wife, Akie Abe, and others. This month, the relevant documents found by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for running the "Plus School" have increased the suspicion that Abe is a good friend and "uses power for personal gain".
In Japan’s Defense Ministry, following last year’s "reporting the door" incident of the Self-Defense Forces’ peacekeeping operations in South Sudan, the department was caught in a scandal of reporting the Self-Defense Forces’ Iraq operation logs. In response to this matter, the opposition party demanded that the Abe government take responsibility and asked the defense center Onoji Five Codes to resign.
In addition, the news of Japan’s "Weekly Trendy" magazine also caused a heavy blow to Abe’s cabinet. Shunichi Fukuda, Deputy Minister of Finance Affairs, was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing female journalists. After the incident was exposed, due to pressure from all sides, Fukuda Junichi resigned. At present, the opposition party has further called for the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso.
Under the influence of the scandal, the support rate of Abe’s cabinet was seriously frustrated. According to a poll conducted by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News in the middle of this month, the support rate of Abe’s cabinet will be less than 40%, and the disapproval rate will be as high as 52%.
Re-election crisis? Or take a low-key approach.
The Japanese media pointed out that because Abe could not find a coup to improve the cabinet support rate, the situation of "Abe alone" within the Liberal Democratic Party began to change. Some analysts also said that maintaining the position of the president of the Liberal Democratic Party in the election in September this year is regarded as a prerequisite for Abe’s re-election as prime minister. As the support rate fell to the "lowest point", Abe entered the "dangerous waters" where he might step down.
At the same time, Japanese folks are gradually calling for "Abe to step down." On the 14th of this month, about 30,000 people held a large-scale rally in front of the National Assembly in Tokyo, demanding the collective resignation of Abe and his cabinet.
On August 15th last year, the 72nd anniversary of Japan’s defeat, in the third cabinet reshuffle of the third Abe government, no cabinet members went to visit the Yasukuni Shrine in the north of Tokyo’s Jiuduan, and Abe did not pay a visit, but presented a tribute at his own expense. This is the second time since Abe’s cabinet took office. For the first time, no cabinet member personally visited the shrine on the day of defeat or in the spring and autumn festivals.
At that time, Abe was also riddled with scandals and was forced to reshuffle the cabinet because of the sudden drop in support rate. The analysis believes that for Abe at that time, restoring trust was the top priority, so a low-key approach was adopted depending on the trend of public opinion. At today’s point in time, how Abe handles the Yasukuni Shrine Spring Festival will also receive much attention. (End)