Opposition

The visits of the Prime Minister provoked ardent opposition in certain groups of Japanese society. Public opinion on the matter has been divided from the very beginning. A survey conducted by NTV tv network in 2001 showed that about 40% of the people in the poll disapproved of Koizumi's visits to the shrine, moreover, there are certain peace groups and even political parties, that publicly express their opposition to Koizumi's actions.

The Democratic Party of Japan-the leading opposition party in 2001 when Koizumi's visits as a Prime Minister began, claimed that Koizumi's actions were "inappropriate". One of their motives was that Yasukuni was the "former home of state Shintoism, the religious creed behind Japan's wartime aggression". At this point the very important question of the real role of religion in the Japanese government has been brought up.

Koizumi faced opposition within his own cabinet as well. Japanese foreign minister in 2001 Makiko Tanaka publicly expressed his concern that the visits Prime Minister Koizumi is paying to Yasukuni may be an impediment to future Japanese relations in the region.

Other than that disapproval has been expressed by the president of the Buddhist Soka Gakkai organization, Einosuki Akiya, who qualified them as "disturbing and deplorable". It is an interesting fact that the Buddhist organization was connected with the Komeiko party-the coalition partner of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party.

Support

There are always groups of supporters, greeting the Prime Minister outside Yasukuni whenever he visits the shrine. About 50% of the Japanese people highly approve of Koizumi's visits. His popularity can be attributed to the fact that ge is stirring up patriotism and getting a lot of media attention.

The proponents of Koizumi's actions include the relatives of the dead soldiers, who were dissatisfied with the fact that Yasukuni became a private institution with no official public status and who have been making unsuccessful attempts to restore the national management of the shrine.

The nationalists in Japan are among the supporters of Koizumi's visits, as well. The argument has been made that by his repeated visits to Yasukuni, Koizumi is trying to please the right wing nationalistic ruling elite, a group with significant influence in Koizumi's own political party. This fraction of the ruling class considers nationalism an irreversible part of their program, therefore the patriotism provoked by Koizumi works for them both as a way to weaken the opposition parties by gaining popularity, and a as a sign of more powerful assertion of Japanese interests on the scene of world politics. An example of the latter is one of Koizumi's public announcement that foreign governments shouldn't say it's bad for Japanese people to pay their sincere respect to Japanese war dead.