Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that he will keep visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine despite a Fukuoka District Court ruling that his August 2001 trip there, the first of four, violated the Constitution.
Dedicated to Japan's war dead, the Shinto shrine in Chiyoda Ward also honors convicted Class-A war criminals. It served as a spiritual pillar of the nation during the war and is still regarded by other parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's wartime military aggression.
Article 20 of the Constitution stipulates that the state and its organs must refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.