Kazuhiko Togo, one of Japan's leading strategic thinkers about foreign policy, wrote an article in the June issue of Far Eastern Economic Review calling for a moratorium on visits to Yasukuni Shrine. This article was then translated and reprinted in Ronza (August).
Togo argues that such a moratorium is essential for the national interest, especially in terms of repairing the critical Sino-Japanese relationship. The Yasukuni controversy highlights divisions within Japan about issues of war responsibility and the judgments at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits have alienated China and Korea, and nobody is convinced by his claim that he was paying his respects to the war dead to promote peace and harmony. This is because Yasukuni is a talismanic symbol of unrepentant militarism, especially given the vindicating and validating version of history presented at the shrine's museum, the Yushukan.