90 Japanese Lawmakers Visit Yasukuni Shrine

Tokyo, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--Some 90 Japanese lawmakers visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo together on Tuesday during its autumn festival.

They are members of a suprapartisan group of lawmakers promoting visits to the shrine and included those from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the Democratic Party for the People and the NHK Party, which is critical of public broadcaster NHK, or Japan Broadcasting Corp.

Among them were State Minister of the Environment Miki Yamada and Parliamentary Vice Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Mio Sugita, both from the LDP.

The Shinto shrine is regarded as a symbol of Japan's past militarism by neighboring countries such as China and South Korea, as it honors Class-A war criminals along with the war dead.

"Japan owes its peace and prosperity today" to people who died for the country in war, Ichiro Aisawa, deputy head of the suprapartisan group, who is also a member of the LDP, told a press conference. "We will continue working to protect Japan while remembering the importance of peace in mind," he added.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]