Media frowns upon Abe's visit to shrine

Editor's note: After Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 World War II Class A war criminals among the country's war dead, on Thursday, media from around the world showed rare unity in criticizing Abe's decision. Most warned of Japan's shift toward a right-wing militarism.

Past visits by Japanese prime ministers and other political leaders to Yasukuni Shrine have ignited a firestorm of controversy with China as well as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The cycle of Japanese politicians visiting Yasukuni, prompting foreign criticisms, is well-worn.

There is almost nothing a Japanese prime minister could have done that would have inflamed tempers more along the Japan-China-South Korea-US axis than to make this visit. And yet he went ahead.

Abe's attitude that his behavior has reflected is the cause for concern. "His" Japan wants to take a different path than the universal values and human rights. He entrenches himself in isolation and shouts at other countries' curses.

There is never a good time for Japan's leader to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial memorial to Japan's war dead. For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have gone this week is especially inflammatory.

The visit to the shrine, which honors 2.5 million war dead including convicted class A war criminals, appears to be a departure from Abe's "pragmatic" approach to foreign policy, in which he tried to avoid alienating neighboring countries.

Thursday's visit to the site, reviled by many in Asia as a symbol of Japanese imperialism, chimed with what many see as a deepening focus on right-wing causes by Mr Abe.

Whatever Shinzo Abe says, any visit to the Yasakuni Shrine by a Japanese prime minister is deeply political and sure to cause offense.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Thursday visit to a controversial Tokyo shrine has pissed off friends and foes alike. Abe's refusal to honor the Chinese and stay grounded in their problematic view of history could be very dangerous.  

Mr Abe's surprise visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo, the first by a premier in seven years, is expected to make it even more difficult for Japan to repair ties with its two neighbors, which are already mired in territorial and other disputes. This is in part because Mr Abe is a revisionist who questions whether Japan did commit aggression during World War II.

Abe has repeatedly said his door is open if Seoul or Beijing want to have a summit, but no such meeting has happened since he took office and instead relations have deteriorated.