Japan - recent history

As the Japanese Foreign Minister calls for the Emperor to visit the controversial Yakuzuni Shrine it makes the uninformed observer wonder why he's not visited it before. Perhaps what looks like an historic dispute has more recent roots.

While describing the story the BBC notes that the Emperor used to visit the shrine until 1978 when some new additions where made - 14 'Class A' war criminals more from the BBC...

After the war the American occupation forces gave the shrine the choice of becoming part of the Japanese secular state or to be established as a separate religious foundation. By choosing the latter the shrine escapes direct instruction from the state - so any changes (like moving the war criminals to another shrine) must be voluntary more from Wikipedia...