China and Japan’s Useless Posturing

There is never a good time for Japan’s leader to visit the Yasukuni shrine, a controversial memorial to Japan’s war dead. For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have gone this week is especially inflammatory.

Ever since 14 war criminals were “enshrined” at Yasukuni in 1978, visits by Japanese officials have rightly infuriated Japan’s neighbors, who suffered brutal occupation during World War II. That’s why Japanese emperors have not set foot in the Tokyo shrine ever since, and why Abe did not go during his first stint as prime minister in 2006-2007 nor since returning to office a year ago. He deserved praise for this restraint, more than he ever received from leaders in Beijing and Seoul.