Visit to notorious shrine exposes cowardice of politicians

Despite strong protests from neighboring countries, a group of 169 Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday visited the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which honors convicted war criminals together with the country's war dead during World War II.

Such a move, coming at the heels of similar visits by three Japanese cabinet ministers and a ritual offering by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the weekend, will hurt Japan itself more than it could to its Asian neighbors which suffered gravely under the Japanese imperialists.

These visits, provocative in its nature, will in effect push Japan further away from the realization of a "normal country," a catch phrase among many Japanese politicians.

Since the defeat of Japan in 1945, the vision to become a normal country has been gaining popularity in the Japanese society, especially after the country's economic takeoff in the 1970s.

However, unlike Germany, Japan's journey to such a destination has been constantly disrupted by controversial moves, in which prominent politicians either shied away from truly reflecting on the country's wartime atrocities or even attempted to stoke nostalgia for its military past.

While it is impossible for Japanese politicians to be ignorant of the fact that worshipping the Yasukuni Shrine touches on a sore spot for many Asian countries, some of them deliberately take the provocative move to harvest political gains.

For these politicians, their fondness of the shrine game, played often before or after key elections, exposes their political short-sightedness as such moves only help boost their domestic profile at the price of tarnishing Japan's national image abroad.

The weekend visits by three Japanese cabinet ministers have already drawn harsh criticism from China and South Korea. Following the visits, China lodged solemn representations to Japan, while South Korea shelved a proposed trip by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se to Tokyo in protest.

Tuesday's mass visit to Yasukuni -- involving the largest number of lawmakers since October 2005 -- will definitely further weigh on already strained ties between Japan and its key Asian neighbors.

For Japan's neighbors, at the core of the Yasukuni Shrine matter is whether Japanese leaders correctly see and treat the country's history of invasion, and respect the feelings of the people of China and other victimized countries.

Japanese politicians, especially those with a vision to remodel Japan as a normal nation, should remember that only when Japan faces up to its notorious aggressive past can it embrace a bright future.