Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, his third since he took office in April 2001, has caused a predictable stir both here and abroad, particularly in China and South Korea. One wonders whether the prime minister had carefully weighed the pluses and minuses of paying homage at the Shinto shrine, a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.
Diplomatically, a Japanese prime minister has nothing to gain by visiting Yasukuni, where Class-A war criminals of World War II are enshrined along with Japan's war dead. Previous visits by some of Mr. Koizumi's predecessors, as well as by Mr. Koizumi himself, had invariably provoked strong criticism from both Beijing and Seoul. Once again they have reacted sharply.
On Wednesday, South Korea abruptly canceled a meeting between President Kim Dae Jung and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. The official explanation was that President Kim's schedule was tight, but there is little doubt that Seoul was trying to convey its displeasure over Mr. Koizumi's trip to the shrine. China's protest, meanwhile, has cast a shadow over his prospective trip to Beijing.