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Updated Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:40 am TWN, CNA

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Surprise protest staged at Japan war shrine

TOKYO -- A group of indigenous people from Taiwan staged a surprise demonstration at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo Tuesday in a fresh attempt to have the Japanese government remove the names of their ancestors from the controversial shrine that honors war dead.

The group, led by Legislator Kao Chin Shu-mei, walked straight toward the shrine's main hall as soon as they arrived there unexpectedly at 9:30 a.m. The protesters chanted slogans and carried banners, demanding that the Japanese side “give us back our ancestors' spirits.”

Despite attempts by the shrine's security guards to block the protesters and seize their banners, the group managed to reach the square in front of the main hall.

Using a megaphone, Kao Chin called for the removal of the names of Taiwanese aborigines who were forced to fight for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II and demanded that the Japanese government critically examine, apologize and make reparation for Japan's war atrocities.

Unless Japan redresses its wrongdoings, the indigenous people will visit the shrine every year to demonstrate, she said.

The demonstrators sang a song to pay their respects to their ancestors, before ending their 30 minute protest and leaving the site.

While Kao Chin has organized similar demonstrations over the past several years, this was the first time that the protesters managed to enter the shrine.

According to the legislator, in the past the protesters were always barred by police from approaching the shrine, even though they had obtained permits in advance from the Japanese police to do so.

The police at the shrine would deny the Taiwanese protesters access, on grounds that they could clash with Japanese right-wingers who usually gather there once they get wind of the planned demonstrations, she added.

The Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to the 2.5 million soldiers who died fighting for Japan during World War II. More than 28,000 of them were from Taiwan, which was under Japan's colonial rule at that time.

The controversy stems from the fact that the shrine also honors executed Japanese war criminals who committed atrocities in China, Korea and many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Kao Chin and the Taiwanese protesters, who arrived in Japan Aug. 7, departed Tuesday afternoon to return to Taiwan.

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Comments

August 12, 2009 cuckoo@

Nipponese Lee, did you hear the "CRY" for our Taiwanese Indigenous Chinese and the Taiwanese Chinese "GIVE US BACK OUR ANCESTORS SPIRITS" whose spirit are still LOCKED-UP at the Notorious Japanese war criminal YASUKUNI SHRINE?
Shame on Nipponese Lee, the DPPs and those who love to be Japanese.
Kao Chin Shu-mei. Your courageous act and love of your ancestor will be remembered and live on in the minds and hearts of all the Chinese and all the Asian people.