BBC News : Japan PM war shrine visit illegal



A court in Japan has ruled the prime minister's visits to a controversial war shrine are unconstitutional.
A number of war criminals are buried at the Yasukuni shrine, which Junichiro Koizumi has visited four times since taking office in 2001.

The district court said that the visits violated laws on the separation of church and state.

But Mr Koizumi said that he found the ruling on his visit "strange" and would go to the shrine again in the future.

"I don't know why it violated the constitution," he said.

Government officials have argued that Mr Koizumi's visits were made as a private citizen, and therefore did not breach the constitutional separation of church and state.
If even the Prime Minister doesn't understand the constitution or political implications for neighbouring countries of visiting Yasukuni Jinja, then what should we expect from other politician or the average Japanese citizen ? Maybe is it just another proof that heads of states are not the brightest elements of a nation.