Japanese Lawmakers Urge Secular Shrine For War Dead

According to yesterday’s Shanghai Daily, an organization of 135 members of Japan's Parliament have asked the government to build a non-religious memorial to Japan's war dead to replace the controversial Yasukuni Shrine which is also a Shinto Temple. The shrine's Book of Souls lists the names of 2,466,532 Japanese and former colonial soldiers killed in Japan's various wars since the middle of the 19th century. (Wikipedia.) A number of court suits have challenged Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro's visits to the current shrine as a violation of Japan's separation of religion and state. Also China has objected to Junichiro's visits to the shrine because it also honors 14 convicted Japanese war criminals.