Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Friday that he decided not to run for president of the Liberal Democratic Party last September because he didn't want to make Yasukuni Shrine the focus of the race.
Visits by outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Shinto shrine, which honors Japan's war dead as well as Class-A war criminals, had strained relations with China and South Korea, raising the question of whether the next party chief and prime minister would continue to do the same.
In a speech at Kyodo News headquarters, Fukuda also divulged that he did not want to run against Shinzo Abe because their families have been on good terms for many years.