The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Osaka High Court on Friday ruled that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo--where the country's war dead are enshrined--are unconstitutional.
It was the first high court ruling judging that such visits were "official" acts carried out by Koizumi in his capacity as prime minister and therefore violated Article 20 of the Constitution, which separates the state and religion.
Koizumi said he did not think his visits to the shrine were unconstitutional. He was speaking before the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Friday afternoon.
The Fukuoka District Court ruled in April last year that the prime minister's worshipping at the shrine was unconstitutional.
Despite the negative judgment for Koizumi, the Osaka High Court ruled in favor of him and two other codefendants--the central government and Yasukuni Shrine--by dismissing an appeal filed for compensation by a group of 188 plaintiffs, including Japanese and Taiwanese families of the war dead.
The plaintiffs had demanded that the defendants pay damages--10,000 yen each--for mental pain they claimed they suffered as a result of Koizumi's shrine visits.
Upholding the Osaka District Court's ruling of May last year that dismissed the plaintiffs' claim, presiding Judge Masaharu Otani said in Friday's ruling that the prime minister's acts had not infringed upon the plaintiffs' rights and benefits.
The high court ruling will become the final legal decision on the matter if the plaintiffs refrain from taking the case to the Supreme Court. The three defendants--the state, Koizumi and the Shinto shrine--are not entitled to appeal as the verdict concerning the damages suit was in their favor.
The ruling said Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine as prime minister on Aug. 13, 2001--about 3-1/2 months after he took the helm of the government--as well as on April 21, 2002, and Jan. 14, 2003. Each time, the prime minister, accompanied by secretaries, used an official car, made a personal donation and entered his official title and name--Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi--in the shrine's visitors register, the ruling said.
While the Osaka District Court determined Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine were "personal" acts, the high court regarded them as "official" acts.
Otani ruled that the prime minister visited the shrine to keep his inauguration pledge and that he neither claimed that his visits were personal nor denied they were official. His remarks and statements concerning Yasukuni Shrine were political, the judge added.
The high court judge went on to say Koizumi's visits to the shrine were "acts of highly religious significance," giving "an impression to ordinary people that the state was extending special assistance."
The presiding judge ruled that the prime minister's acts were tantamount to the state's facilitating and promoting a specific religion.
Otani also said the relationship between the state and Yasukuni Shrine "oversteps the line that is acceptable, given the social, cultural and other conditions of our country."
Concerning Article 20--which stipulates that "the State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity"--the judge referred to a 1977 Supreme Court ruling in connection with the municipal government of Tsu's official involvement in a Shinto-style ground-breaking ceremony prior to construction of a gymnasium.
At that time, the top court said Article 20 banned religious activity that "is of religious significance and whose effect either helps or suppresses religion." This definition is known as "the purpose and effect criterion."
On the basis of the criterion, Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine clearly violate Article 20, Otani said in the ruling.
As for the plaintiffs' demand for compensation, the judge said their rights and benefits were not harmed because Koizumi did not encourage the plaintiffs to worship at Yasukuni Shrine or ask for their support for his visits.
A total of seven lawsuits have been filed in Matsuyama, Fukuoka, Chiba, Naha, Tokyo and Osaka--where two lawsuits were filed--in connection with the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
Prior to Friday's high court decision, the Osaka and Tokyo High Courts handed down their respective rulings on July 26 and Thursday without touching on the issue of constitutionality.
In 1991, the Sendai High Court became the first court to rule a prime minister's official visit to Yasukuni Shrine unconstitutional. The lawsuit had been filed against the Iwate Prefectural Assembly's resolution calling on the prime minister and government ministers to make "official visits" to the shrine.
In a related court case, the Osaka High Court said in a 1992 ruling that then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's visit to Yasukuni Shrine in August 1985 was "suspected of being unconstitutional."
(Oct. 1, 2005)
