Koizumi undented by shrine visit row

By staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's provocative visit to a war shrine will keep Japanese voters content and quickly cease to be an issue with Asian neighbors, analysts predict.

By visiting two days before Wednesday's critical anniversary of Japan's World War II defeat, Koizumi diminished diplomatic fallout yet kept a campaign promise to honor Japan's war dead.

North Korea joined the backlash on Tuesday, warning through official media that "militarism is raising its head again in Japan." Taiwan's protest was equally mild.

On Monday, China and South Korea also criticized the visit without mention of retaliation.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Hong Kong protesters burned a Japanese flag and a photo of Koizumi and authorities allowed a lone demonstrator to make a point outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing.

AUDIO Japan marks the anniversary of its World War II surrender with protests over Koizumi's shrine visit 1.6 MB / 2 mins 39 secs WAV sound   MORE STORIES Japanese shrine courts controversy     MORE STORIES Beijing restrained on shrine visit     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

Domestic public opinion had been about evenly divided among those who favored an August 15 visit to the Yakusuni Shrine, those who were staunchly opposed, and those who either would not say or did not care.

Masao Okonogi, a professor at Keio University, said: "Going on August 15th was an option, but not only were China and South Korea opposed to that, domestic opinion was split in two. And if he hadn't gone at all, he would have been criticised.

"He took the middle route aimed at the majority of people, who probably think his decision was about right," Okonogi added.

"I think he probably got away with it," said one Western political expert.

Koizumi's popularity ratings are still at around 70 percent after nearly four months in office, buoyed by voters keen to see him reform the stagnant economy and challenge the vested interests that have bound the Liberal Democratic Party for most of the past half-century. Koizumi, a diplomatic novice whose focus has been on domestic reforms, began fence-mending with Beijing and Seoul immediately.

Asked why he had changed his mind about visiting on Wednesday, Koizumi said: "I want from the bottom of my heart to maintain friendly ties with China, South Korea and other Asian nations.

"It became evident that a visit on the 15th would be interpreted in an opposite way and that is not what I desire."

AUDIO Lisa Rose Weaver tells of Beijing's reaction / WAV sound

Before his fast-tracked visit, reaction was building to a crescendo that threatened to prove destructive.

In South Korea, 20 men draped in national flags chopped off their little fingers to protest Japanese textbooks they contend gloss over Japanese atrocities during World War II.

The protesters said they would mail the severed fingers to the Japanese Embassy and threatened to disembowel themselves if Koizumi does not apologize for visiting the shrine.

Purification rituals

Many Asians see the shrine as a monument to militarism and to those convicted of war crimes during Japanese occupation of much of Asia.

To soothe fears among some Japanese that official visits violate the separation of religion and state, Koizumi did not undergo traditional Shinto purification rituals at the altar, The Associated Press reported.

"I want to express my deepest condolences to all the people who sacrificed their lives in the war," he said in a statement just before the visit.

"Our country should never again walk the path to war."

Kouzumi said he was confident his decision to visit the shrine would "be understood by the Japanese and by our neighboring nations" and said he wants to meet with Asian leaders to discuss relations.