Court rejects Japan PM's shrine visit suit
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-15 15:48

TOKYO - A Japanese court Wednesday rejected a suit alleging that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2004 visit to a Tokyo war shrine violated the constitution, one of the plaintiffs said.

Koizumi has visited Yasukuni Shrine five times since taking office in 2001, triggering protests from critics who say the shrine glorifies militarism, and prompting a string of lawsuits.

The suit in Matsuyama in western Japan alleged that Koizumi's visit violated the constitutional separation of religion and state. Yasukuni honors Japan's war dead, including executed war criminals.

The plaintiffs also alleged that his visit has given them emotional distress.
The Matsuyama District Court rejected the suit brought by eighty-six people each seeking 10,000 yen (US$85; euro71) in compensation from the prime minister, the government and the shrine, said plaintiff Kenji Anzai.

However, Anzai couldn't immediately confirm a Kyodo News agency report that the ruling didn't touch on whether Koizumi's shrine visit violated the constitution.
Matsuyama is about 680 kilometers (420 miles) southwest of Tokyo on the island of Shikoku.

Koizumi has outraged neighboring South Korea and China by visiting the war shrine five times since becoming prime minister in April 2001, most recently last October. Japan's World War II-era aggression is bitterly remembered in both countries.

Japan's 2.5 million war dead are worshipped as deities at Yasukuni, a shrine in Japan's native Shinto religion - among them, seven Class-A war criminals executed after World War II, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

The plaintiffs in Wednesday's case include Buddhist monks, housewives, and workers around the country, according to Junichi Kusanagi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Japanese courts remain divided over how to handle the issue.

In October, the Osaka High Court found Koizumi's visits were unconstitutional, concurring with a decision by the Fukuoka District Court in April 2004.

But nine other courts have sidestepped the constitutionality issue. All 11 rulings on the visits have rejected compensation demands.