Allowing Japanese PM to revise pacifist Constitution will help revive militarism and harm the cause of peace in Asia-Pacific

In his written statement justifying his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, Abe has said he prayed "for the souls of all those who fought for the country and made ultimate sacrifices" and "for the souls of all the people regardless of nationalities who lost their lives in the war". He refuses to differentiate between the dead. But differentiating between groups, between good and evil, convicting the criminals and punishing the culprits are the basic tenets of international justice - the last resort of humanity against savagery.

Abe does not say that enshrined at Yasukuni are 14 Class-A, and thousands of Class-B and Class-C war criminals who were responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people of Japan and other countries. Among the 14 Class-A war criminals were chief allies of Adolf Hitler, masterminds of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and generals behind the Nanjing Massacre, Yangon slaughter and the razing of Manila. But the shrine's museum lectures visitors that Japan was "forced into war" by the United States, and Japanese soldiers throughout Asia waged an "honorable campaign" to "free Asia from white Europeans".

Abe challenges the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East as "victors' justice" and questions the definition of "aggression" in international law. He says Class-A convicts "are not war criminals under the laws of Japan". Is he trying to say Japan is above the international community led by the United Nations?

Even his aides have said visiting the shrine has been Abe's long-cherished desire, something instilled in his heart by his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, the "Monster of the Showa era" who mysteriously escaped being convicted as a Class-A war criminal at the Tokyo Trials to become Japan's prime minister from 1957 to 1960 and try to "make Japan a normal state". Abe has proudly declared: "I am the son of Shintaro Abe but have inherited the DNA from Nobusuke Kishi."

His written statement says: "It is not my intention at all to hurt the feelings of the Chinese and Korean people." But what else does he expect the victims of Japanese atrocities to feel?

Abe had all along planned to use the expected strong reactions of people in Japan's neighboring countries to his shrine visit to fan passions at home and boost his call to revise the country's Constitution and revive militarism.