Japan is often heralded as a business, a “Japan, Inc.,” rather than a country (that honor of a state-as-a-corporation should really be conferred upon Singapore instead). Indeed, the popular saying associated with Japan in the go-go ’80s and the Japan fear-mongering was “business is war.”

Prime Minister Koizumi’s decision to continue to visit Yasukuni defies that moniker and shows that ideology can trump economics too in Japan (so much for reform or U.S. pressure):

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s swift rejection of a top business group’s call to stop visiting Yasukuni Shrine is likely not the end of the matter.

In a proposal Tuesday on Sino-Japanese relations, Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) opposed the prime minster’s Yasukuni visits and instead suggested the government establish a new secular memorial to honor all victims of war, civilians included.

That night, Koizumi responded in no uncertain terms. He said he would not abide by the proposal, and that the business group was commenting on a strictly political matter. [snip]

“I have clearly rejected that idea on the grounds that it is different from politics,” he said.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. This Yasukuni controversy is really unnecessary and needlessly provides fodder for the ranting nationalists in both China and South Korea.

Japan should assume its rightful place as a great power in East Asia, befitting both its economic stature and its role as the closest U.S. ally in the region. It ought to become a “normal” nation with expeditionary military capability that can serve to preserve the balance of power in the region.

Yet, the continuing insistence on the part of the Japanese Right to honor war criminals of the Great Pacific War fatally hurts this possibility and provides unending excuses for hostile countries in the region to oppose a more active Japanese security and military policy.

The only conclusion one can draw is that some in the Japanese Right really are unrepentant about the Japanese war crimes during World War II.