performance outside yasukuni
Friday, March 27, 2009 (10:48 PM)
in spite of his insistence to visit the yasukuni shrine annually to the protests of many chinese and koreans tortured or know people tortured under japanese aggression during the 2nd world war, koizumi junichiro seems to be a better candidate to the position than his successors.
in 2005, koizumi attempted to pass a Postal Reform to privatize postal services in japan so as to relief financial burden on the government. this move was rejected by the upper house and at the risk of losing his prime minister post, koizumi dissolved the lower house, expelled rebel LDP members and called for a general election. this move was not welcomed as koizumi appeared to be attempting political suicide but his popularity rose instead and won the general election. the Postal Reform was then passed.
5 years after taking up the position, koizumi stepped down and his successors couldn't impress. 1 year into service, abe shinzo resigned. fukuda yasuo took over and resigned after another year. they didn't visit the shrine, but they didn't do much either.
he may have incurred the wrath of many with his visits to the yasukuni shrine, but he also publicly apologised twice for the atrocities of world war 2, which had nothing to do with him. and people still weren't satisfied. why force someone who did no wrong to apologise to the world? what purpose does that serve?
did you ever consider the fact that koizumi was only 3 years old when the war ended?