The Japanese prime minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi's decision to visit the Yasukuni war memorial shrine yesterday will make his relations with neighbouring states more difficult at a time when he must concentrate on reviving his country's ailing economy. It is a reminder that he has to appease the nationalist wing of the ruling Liberal Democrat Party, many of whom do not approve of his radical approach to economic reform.
The shrine is dedicated to the 2.5 million people who have died in Japan's wars since the mid-nineteenth century. It is controversial because of the decision taken in 1978 to transfer the bodies of a number of Class A war criminals there, including a wartime prime minister, Hideki Tojo. Although he did not visit the shrine on the official commemoration day, which falls tomorrow, and in several other ways played down the symbolism of the occasion (drawing criticism from nationalist parliamentarians) this is seen in Japan and overseas as an official occasion. It has therefore been criticised as an effective endorsement of Japan's imperial past, during which it ruthlessly and brutally occupied China, Korea and other Asian states.
Japan's failure to apologise satisfactorily for that record and continuing rows over school history textbooks which seem to justify its militarist history have jeopardised normal relations with them. But on the nationalist wing of Japanese politics from which, despite his unorthodox political style and methods, Mr Koizumi comes, the Yasukuni Shrine is seen as a symbol of normalisation with its troubled past, 56 years after the end of the second World War. That is easier to justify because, unlike Germany, Japan has not had a deep confrontation with its imperial atrocities.
After Mr Koizumi's extraordinary success in succeeding Mr Yoshio Mori as party leader and prime minister in April, followed by his electoral victory in Upper House elections last month, he now has to tackle the economic reform that was such a prominent part of his platform. Japan's economy is still in the downturn that has lasted most of the last decade. Mr Koizumi's plans to revive it include forcing the banks to deal with bad debts arising from the 1980s bubble economy and a series of restructuring and liberalising moves.
In doing so he is bound to antagonise key sections of his party which have supported regional pork barrel investments, contributing to Japan's high public indebtedness. If his reform plans tip the economy into deeper recession Mr Koizumi may find his personal support evaporating. Yesterday's clumsy compromise over the shrine visit, in which he antagonised more people than he pleased, shows what a difficult task he faces.