Debate continues over Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's statement last month that Japan is "a country of gods with the Emperor at its center."
The mass media jumped on Mori for the comment, saying he was trying to revive the militarism of Imperial Japan. Opposition lawmakers said Mori was unfit for his job. Waves of critical comments came from officials of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and the Japan Communist Party.
To quell the confusion, Mori was forced to explain his remarks -- once before the full House of Councilors and then at a special news conference. He made these points: