Shinzo Abe, the leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, should well know that he should shun the Yasukuni Shrine, because it is a place where Japanese Class-A war criminals are honored.

Days after he took office as prime minister in 2006, he visited Beijing to mend Japan's ties with China, which had soured for 17 months because of his hawkish predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to the shrine.

But, to curry favor with fellow conservatives and nationalistic voters, he repeated Koizumi's errors by paying homage at the shrine on Wednesday.