Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet decided not to visit the militarist Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday.
It will be the first time since 1980 that all members of a Japanese Cabinet have refrained from visiting the Shinto shrine, which commemorates convicted war criminals among the island country's war dead. Although data before 1979 are not readily available, this year seems the first year when no Japanese Cabinet members visit the shrine.
Cabinet members made the announcement Tuesday after a meeting that approved Kan's statement on the centennial of Japan's annexation of Korea. Kan also said he will not visit the shrine.
During the general election campaign in August last year, the Democratic Party of Japan pledged to advise all Cabinet members to avoid the shrine, which has become a focal point for nationalist sentiment.
In 1980, when Zenko Suzuki was prime minister, the Liberal Democratic Party administration decided to make it a rule for the Cabinet and the prime minister to pay their respects at the shrine, and since then, all Japanese Cabinets and prime ministers have visited on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
After Korea and China protested against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the shrine, three of his successors -- Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso -- refrained from visiting, but some of their Cabinet members went.
During the Abe administration in 2007, one Cabinet member visited in defiance of a Cabinet decision. Three members of the Fukuda Cabinet visited in 2008 and one of the Aso Cabinet in 2009.
Kan and his Cabinet are expected instead to pay homage at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, a graveyard for fallen soldiers.
