LOS ANGELES -- Alarm bells will start sounding across Asia in August. That's when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to visit Tokyo's most famous Shinto shrine, Yasukuni, which honors not only Japan's war dead since the 19th century but also, inconveniently, convicted war criminals, including wartime Premier Hideki Tojo.
Although Koizumi undoubtedly views the ceremonial occasion as nothing more menacing than a political genuflection to powerful domestic constituencies, many in Asia will view the visit as further evidence of Japan's possible remilitarization -- and continued insensitivity to the war-crime issue.
In Asia -- where the past is never, ever forgotten -- Japan's war record is anything but a neutral subject. Indeed, alarm bells are already ringing over Koizumi's announced intention to revise Article 9 of the Constitution, which restricts the military to a defensive role.