A group of Taiwan aboriginals have arrived in Tokyo to voice
opposition to the Japanese Prime Minister's visits to a Tokyo war
shrine.???
The 50 group members are relatives of Taiwan aboriginals who
were enshrined at Yasukuni after being drafted into the Japanese
military and dying during the war.
The members want their relatives' names removed from memorial
plaques there because they object to what they see as murderers and
victims being honored in the same place.
Group leader May Chin says the group also wants Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi to stop visiting the shrine instead of
just giving "oral apologies."
"As a politician, especially a high-ranking official such as
Prime Minister Koizumi, he should face the history of the damnation
of Taiwan. He should not only give oral apologies, he also needs to
take action and not visit the shrine anymore," he said.
About 28-thousand Taiwan war dead are enshrined at Yasukuni
under Japanese names they were forced to assume.
(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2005)