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TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he disagreed with a court ruling that his visits to a controversial war shrine were unconstitutional.
"I do not think my visits to Yasukuni shrine violate the constitution," Koizumi said in parliament after a high court in western Japan said the visits contravened the constitutional separation of politics and religion.
"It was not like I have made my pilgrimages as part of the prime minister's official duties," he said. "I have paid homage to express my grief over people killed in war and pledge not to cause that kind of war again."
The Osaka High Court in western Japan ruled the visits to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo defied the constitutional separation of politics and religion.
But it rejected a claim of damages from relatives of war dead from Taiwan and other plaintiffs, on the grounds that his visits to Yasukuni did not infringe on their individual rights.
The Taiwanese argued that they had suffered mentally because many of their indigenous ancestors, who were conscripted by Japan under colonial rule, were enshrined at Yasukuni with Japanese soldiers who staged acts of aggression.
In one of several judicial rulings on the visits this week and next, the court rejected a claim for 10,000 yen (90 dollars) for each of the 188 plaintiffs, 60 percent of whom are Taiwanese, for psychological damages.
The visits are "religious activity forbidden" to be carried out by a government representative under the constitution, Judge Masaharu Otani was quoted as saying by the Jiji Press news agency.
"The prime minister's visits in the face of strong opposition at home and abroad lead to promotion and encouragement of a certain religion."
It is the first high court ruling that the visits were unconstitutional. The Fukuoka District Court handed down a similar verdict in April 2004.
Koizumi has visited Yasukuni, which honours Japanese war dead including some infamous war criminals, four times since he took office in 2001, inflaming tensions between Japan and neighbours such as China and South Korea.
When asked whether he would continue his annual visits, Koizumi gave his standard answer, saying he would "make a decision appropriately."
The Taiwanese argued that they suffered mentally because many of their indigenous ancestors, who were conscripted by Japan under colonial rule, were enshrined at Yasukuni with Japanese soldiers who staged acts of aggression.
The Shinto shrine, which is seen by neighbouring countries as glorifying Japan's past militarism, honours 2.5 million war dead, including World War II leaders hanged by the US-led allied powers as war criminals.
The high court ruling contrasted sharply with a verdict delivered by the lower Osaka District Court in May last year.
The lower court had dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the pilgrimages were "personal" in nature. It also turned down the damages claim.
The latest ruling came a day after the Tokyo High Court dismissed a separate appeal challenging the visits to the Yasukuni shrine and rejecting damages of 100,000 yen per plaintiff from Koizumi and the state.
The Tokyo appeals court did not rule whether the visit violated the constitution. Another verdict on the visits is due next week from the Takamatsu High Court.
Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni shrine four times since he took office in 2001, provoking protests at home and in neighbouring Asian countries, particularly China and the two Koreas.
Shinto, an indigenous Japanese animistic religion based on the worship of ancestors and spirits in nature, served as state religion during World War II with Emperor Hirohito revered as a living god.
- AFP/ir
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