首相靖国参拝 外交立て直しに全力を挙げよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun December 27, 2013
Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine must be followed by diplomatic rebuilding
首相靖国参拝　外交立て直しに全力を挙げよ　（12月27日付・読売社説）

◆国立追悼施設を検討すべきだ

In what could be called a “lightning shrine visit,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a surprise visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, raising the question of why he took such an action at this particular point in time. A number of other questions should also be asked, including what resolve and preparations were in his mind in making this visit to the shrine.
　“電撃参拝”である。なぜ、今なのか。どんな覚悟と準備をして参拝に踏み切ったのか。多くの疑問が拭えない。

Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday morning, on the first anniversary of the launch of the current Abe administration. It was his first visit since he assumed the top post of the government and the first visit to the war-related shrine by a sitting prime minister since then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi went there on Aug. 15, 2006.
　安倍首相が政権発足１年を迎えた２６日午前、就任後初めて靖国神社に参拝した。現職首相の参拝は、２００６年８月１５日の小泉首相以来だ。

Regarding his inability to visit Yasukuni during the first Abe Cabinet in 2006-07, Abe is repeatedly on record as saying, “It was a matter of deepest regret.” Thursday’s visit can be said to be the fulfillment of a personal, long-cherished desire of the prime minister.
　安倍首相は、第１次政権の任期中に靖国神社に参拝できなかったことについて「痛恨の極み」と述べていた。その個人的な念願を果たしたことになる。

U.S. ‘disappointed’
◆気がかりな米の「失望」

Abe refrained from visiting the shrine earlier this year on Aug. 15, the day marking the end of World War II, and during the shrine’s spring and autumn festivals. Instead, he only sent offerings of masakaki sacred tree stands and made monetary offerings called tamagushi-ryo.
　首相は終戦記念日と靖国神社の春・秋季例大祭の際、真(ま)榊(さかき)や玉串料を奉納するにとどめてきた。

His decisions on those occasions may have been based on a broad perspective that a visit to Yasukuni would worsen Japan’s already strained relations with China and South Korea, which see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan’s militarism, a step inadvisable from a diplomatic point of view.
　参拝すれば、靖国神社を日本の軍国主義のシンボルと見る中国、韓国との関係が一層悪化し、外交上、得策ではないと大局的に判断したからだろう。

The United States was also concerned that a visit to the shrine by the prime minister could heighten Tokyo’s tensions with Beijing and Seoul.
　米国も首相の参拝は中韓との緊張を高めると懸念していた。

On their trip to Japan in October, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel laid flowers at Tokyo’s Chidorigafuchi cemetery for the remains of unidentified Japanese who died overseas during World War II. This is believed to have been an attempt to dissuade Abe from making a Yasukuni visit.
ケリー国務長官とヘーゲル国防長官が１０月の来日の際、氏名不詳で遺族に渡せない戦没者の遺骨を納めた千鳥ヶ淵戦没者墓苑で献花したのは、そのメッセージだ。

We are especially concerned that the United States, in the wake of Abe’s visit to the shrine, has released an extraordinary statement saying that Washington “is disappointed that Japan’s leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan’s neighbors.”
　気がかりなのは、米国が「日本の指導者が近隣諸国との緊張を悪化させるような行動を取ったことに失望している」と、異例の声明を発表したことである。

Was this a miscalculation by Abe, who has placed top priority on the United States in his diplomatic policies?
　日米関係を最重視する首相にとって誤算だったのではないか。

China has unilaterally declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, heightening tension in the relations between Japan and China. China may beef up its offensive stance over the territorial sovereignty issue of the Senkaku Islands.
　中国は東シナ海上空に防空識別圏を一方的に設定し、日中間の緊張を高めている。尖閣諸島をめぐって、さらに攻勢を強めてくる可能性もある。

Japan, in tandem with its ally the United States, must continue acting resolutely in defense of the integrity of the nation’s territorial land and sea.
　日本は同盟国の米国と連携して領土・領海を守り抜かねばならない。

We cannot help but wonder whether Abe, at this highly sensitive time, has personally created a destabilizing factor for his administration by visiting Yasukuni Shrine.
この微妙な時機に靖国神社に参拝し、政権の不安定要因を自ら作ってしまったのではないか。

Some of the prime minister’s close aides reportedly prodded Abe to make a Yasukuni visit, saying China and South Korea have criticized Japan even though Abe had not gone there. The situation would remain unchanged even if the prime minister visited Yasukuni, they reportedly told him.
　首相周辺には、「参拝しなくても中韓は日本批判を繰り返している。それなら参拝しても同じだ」と参拝を促す声があったという。

If Abe came to that conclusion as a result of his failure to find a way to improve relations with China and South Korea, we cannot help but feel that is regrettable.
首相が、中韓両国との関係改善の糸口を見いだせず、そうした判断に至ったのであれば残念だ。

New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi opposed the visit when Abe phoned him immediately before his visit to the shrine, saying bluntly, “I cannot support that.” After Abe’s visit, Yamaguchi said, “As the prime minister presumably acted knowing there would be adverse reactions from both China and South Korea, the prime minister should personally make efforts to ameliorate the situation.”
　公明党の山口代表は首相から参拝直前に電話があった際、「賛同できない」と反対した。「中韓両国の反発を予測しての行動だろうから、首相自身が改善の努力をする必要がある」と述べている。

Abe must do his utmost to rebuild the nation’s diplomacy, which has been marred because of his visit to Yasukuni.
　首相は、外交立て直しに全力を挙げねばなるまい。

Abuse by China, ROK
◆中韓の悪のりを許すな

Regarding his Yasukuni visit, Abe said he chose that day “to report the progress of the first year of my administration and convey my resolve to build an era in which the people will never again suffer the ravages of war.” In regard to China and South Korea, Abe said, “I would like to explain this feeling of mine to them directly.”
　首相は、参拝について「政権発足後、１年間の歩みを報告し、戦争の惨禍で再び人々が苦しむことのない時代を創る決意を込めて不戦の誓いをした」と説明した。中韓両国などに「この気持ちを直接説明したい」とも語った。

Rather than lending an ear to Abe’s statement, China and South Korea have begun to use his Yasukuni visit as material to back their claim that Japan is drifting to the right.
　だが、中韓両国は、安倍首相に耳を傾けるどころか、靖国参拝を日本の「右傾化」を宣伝する材料に利用し始めている。

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement that Abe’s visit “infringed on the national sentiment of war-victimized countries and defied the justice of history.” The South Korean government also criticized the visit, saying it was “an anachronistic act that would harm the stability and cooperation of Northeast Asia from its very foundation.”
　中国外務省は、「戦争被害国の国民感情を踏みにじり、歴史の正義に挑戦した」との談話を表明した。韓国政府も「北東アジアの安定と協力を根本から損なう時代錯誤的な行為」と非難している。

Their misunderstanding and distortions are excessive.
　誤解、曲解も甚だしい。

Japan has pursued the path of a pacifist nation in the postwar period while upholding the principles of freedom and democracy. It is missing the mark for these two countries to ignore this point and criticize Abe’s Yasukuni visit.
　日本は戦後、自由と民主主義を守り、平和国家の道を歩んできた。中韓が、それを無視して靖国参拝を批判するのは的外れだ。

In the first place, China and South Korea should be blamed for worsening relations with Japan by linking the issue of perceptions of history with political and diplomatic affairs.
　そもそも対日関係を悪化させたのは歴史認識問題を政治・外交に絡める中韓両国の方だ。

Aside from the propriety of Abe’s Yasukuni visit, how the prime minister of one nation mourns its war dead is not a matter for interference from other nations.
　今回の参拝の是非は別として一国の首相が戦没者をどう追悼するかについて、本来他国からとやかく言われる筋合いもない。

Build nonreligious site
◆Ａ級戦犯合祀が問題

The predecessor of Yasukuni Shrine is Tokyo Shokonsha Shrine, which was built in 1869 to console the souls of soldiers from anti-Tokugawa Shogunate domains who died in civil wars to achieve the so-called Meiji Restoration. Samurai warriors in the late Tokugawa period, the war dead from the Sino-Japanese, Russo-Japanese and Showa wars are enshrined together at Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine, however, is not dedicated only to the war dead.
　靖国神社の前身は、明治維新の戦火で亡くなった官軍側の慰霊のために建立された「東京招魂社」だ。幕末の志士や日清、日露戦争、そして昭和戦争の戦没者らが合祀(ごうし)されている。戦没者だけが祀(まつ)られているわけではない。

Behind the fact that worshipping at Yasukuni Shrine has become a political issue is the enshrinement there of former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and other so-called Class A war criminals who were sentenced to death at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, or Tokyo Trials.
　靖国参拝が政治問題化した背景には、極東国際軍事裁判（東京裁判）で処刑された東条英機元首相ら、いわゆる「Ａ級戦犯」が合祀されていることがある。

Yasukuni Shrine has argued that it is impossible from a religious viewpoint to transfer enshrined souls elsewhere. But criticism of Class A criminals who led Japan into the Showa War is deep-seated, and there are still calls to move their souls to another place.
　靖国神社は、合祀した御霊(みたま)を他に移す分祀は、教学上できないとしているが、戦争指導者への批判は根強く、「Ａ級戦犯」の分祀を求める声が今もなおある。

Abe stressed that he also visited Chinreisha Shrine, which is located on the premises of Yasukuni Shrine. Chinreisha is dedicated to the war dead killed worldwide—not only Japanese but also people of other countries—who are not enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. If he gave such consideration, we believe he should have rather worshipped at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery.
　首相は、靖国神社の境内にある「鎮霊社」に参拝したことも強調した。靖国神社には合祀されない国内外の戦死者らの慰霊施設である。そうした配慮をするのなら、むしろ千鳥ヶ淵戦没者墓苑に参るべきではなかったか。

It is difficult even for the Emperor and foreign dignitaries to worship at Yasukuni Shrine as long as it stays in its current status. Measures must be studied to make it possible for everyone to worship without any reserve, centering on a plan to build a national memorial site with no religious affiliation.
　今の靖国神社には、天皇陛下も外国の要人も参拝しづらい。無宗教の国立追悼施設の建立案を軸に誰もがわだかまりなく参拝できる方策を検討すべきである。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 27, 2013)
（2013年12月27日01時43分 読売新聞）