Wow. It happened again. Japanese prime minister Kuizumi went to the Yasukuni shrine again.

To those who don’t know, that is where the war criminals of WWII Japan are buried. It is like seeing Gerhard Schröder go and visit Hitler’s grave every once in a while. How would you feel if he did that? Kuizumi means that there are not only war criminals, but also soldiers who fought the war. Why not just remove the war criminals from there? Because they are still considered heroes by some in Japan.

The countries against him visiting the Yasukuni shrine are mainly China and South Korea. In China, 9 million civilians were killed and 1.3 million were missing after the war. 3.1 million soldiers were killed. 13.4 million Chinese lost their lives. Sweden only has a population of 9 million, so imagine a small country like this being completely whiped out.

This thing with going to the Yasukuni shrine is not new, many Japanese priministers before Kuizumi also went there. Instead of being enraged, I feel sad about this. It is very unresponsible and impolite to all the families who lost someone during the war. Dont get me wrong, it is not like all Japanese people support this, many Japanese people also criticize Kuizumi for going there.

Kuizumi doing that is just like Schröder going to visit Hitler’s grave. Even if Hitler’s grave is surrounded with soldiers who fight bravely and lost their lives during the war, it does not matter, he does not do that.