Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi paid homage yesterday at a Tokyo shrine for war dead that is viewed by critics as a symbol of Japan’s militaristic past, drawing swift and angry protests from China and South Korea. Japan’s relations with its neighbours have already chilled because of Koizumi’s annual visits to Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals are honoured along with 2.5 million war dead.

Koizumi – clad in a dark suit rather than the traditional Japanese garb he has worn on some past visits – bowed, put his hands together in prayer and stood silently in front of an outer shrine for a moment before striding back to his car in front of a crowd that had gathered in a drizzling rain. Koizumi did not enter an inner shrine as he has in the past and Kyodo news agency said he later told his coalition partner that he had made the visit as “one individual citizen.” Japanese media said the low key atmosphere appeared to be an attempt to mute the expected backlash. Chinese ambassador to Japan Wang Yi, however, called the visit a “grave provocation to the Chinese people”. “The Chinese government is resolutely opposed to visits to the Yasukuni shrine by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at any time, in any form,” Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.

Japan’s embassy in Beijing advised Japanese nationals to stay away from areas where there was potential for anti-Japan demonstrations, such as those that swept China earlier this year. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon summoned Japanese ambassador Shotaro Oshima to complain. “We strongly protest the visit to Yasukuni shrine despite our request and strongly urge that it is not repeated,” Ban said. About 15 protesters gathered near Japan’s embassy in Seoul and one man tried to shred the Japanese flag with his teeth.