56th Hiroshima anniversary is marred by PM's planned visit to war dead shrine

The 56th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was marred by continuing controversy over the proposed visit by the Japanese Prime Minister to a shrine that honours Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals.

Survivors of the bombing that instantly killed 140,000 people joined with peace activists yesterday in urging Mr Junichiro Koizumi to cancel the visit to Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th - the anniversary of Japan's second World War defeat.

The Prime Minister, who joined 50,000 people at a memorial ceremony in Hiroshima's Peace Park, has enraged Japan's Asian neighbours with his pledge to make the visit, despite Yasukuni's association with Japan's fascist past.

The annual ceremony in Hiroshima, which was obliterated by a single bomb dropped from a US war plane at 8.15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, has become a global symbol of the horror of war and the hope for peace.

Visitors from all over the world heard the Mayor of Hiroshima, Mr Tadatoshi Akiba, pledge to keep the memory of the day alive among Japan's younger generation.

The names of almost 5,000 people who died in the last year from the effects of radiation were added to the city's list of victims, bringing the total to almost 222,000.

Mr Koizumi later repeated that he was "still pondering" the decision to go to Yasukuni and said he had "no intention of glorifying or justifying the war".

Since taking office in late April he has repeatedly said he wanted to pay his respects to those who died whose sacrifice laid the foundations of Japan's modern-day prosperity.

The Shinto shrine venerates the roughly 2.5 million people who died in a century of conflicts up to the end of the second World War, including Gen Hideki Tojo and other Japanese leaders, who were convicted and hanged as Class-A war criminals.

However, the call from survivors, who carry huge moral weight in Japan because of their horrific experience, will add yet more pressure on him to reconsider.

China as well as North and South Korea have strongly denounced Mr Koizumi's proposed visit.

A number of senior government figures, including the Foreign Minister, Mrs Makiko Tanaka, and the former general secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mr Hiromu Nonaka, also have come out against the visit.

To add to the Prime Minister's woes, a weekend conference in Hiroshima on the elimination of nuclear weapons criticised Japan's "complacency" and "lack of leadership" on the issue of disarmament.

Arms controls experts and peace activists from all over the world singled out the US missile defence programme for especially fierce criticism, saying it was in danger of "starting a new arms race".

A former Canadian foreign minister, Mr Lloyd Axworthy, said he was "deeply and strongly opposed" to the plan, Asahi newspaper reported. Tokyo's official position on the programme remains vague, with Foreign Ministry staff merely repeating the official line that they "understand" the US position.

A new national memorial honouring Japan's war dead, free of the controversial connotations of Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, should be established, the governor of Aichi prefecture said yesterday.