May 22 11:42 PM US/EasternTOKYO, May 23 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The government on Friday declared null and void the 1949 government instruction to ban public schools from organizing trips to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine.
In a response to a query by Takeo Hiranuma, an independent parliamentarian, the government said in a document decided at a Cabinet meeting, "It is permissible for schoolchildren to visit Yasukuni Shrine to learn about Japanese history and culture as part of school education."
The Shinto shrine in central Tokyo honors Japan's convicted War Criminals alongside the war dead who fought in the Japanese military.
In 1945, the Allied occupation forces, which took command after Japan's surrender in World War II, banned the Japanese government from forcing citizens to practice any state-sponsored variety of Shintoism and also prohibited it from promoting militarism.
According to the government document, the then vice education minister subsequently issued an instruction prohibiting public schools from having their students visit the shrine or other religious places for the purpose of worshipping on school excursions.
The document said the occupation authority's ban expired after Japan regained its sovereignty when its peace treaty with its wartime enemies took effect in 1952.
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Kisaburo Tokai said in March, "The education vice minister's instruction was drawn up under unusual circumstances shortly after the war's end. Now there is no need to treat Yasukuni Shrine differently from other Shinto shrines."
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