The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected a damages suit by about 1,000 people, including South Koreans, who said visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara were unconstitutional.
The situation did not warrant that the plaintiffs' rights or interests should be legally protected, presiding Judge Hiroyuki Shibata said in handing down the ruling.
The court did not rule on whether visits to the shrine -- which is regarded by critics as a symbol of Japan's militarist past -- violated the constitutional separation of religion and state. It also did not make any judgment on whether the visits were made in a private or official capacity.