In a recent book Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was dubbed "The Man Who Turned Diplomacy into Fighting." Even after a diary by a former head of the Imperial Household Agency was revealed, describing Emperor Showa's displeasure over Yasukuni Shrine's decision in 1978 to honor Class-A war criminals, Koizumi has insisted that a visit to Yasukuni remains a matter of the heart for any individual.
Among Japan's postwar prime ministers, one man whose approach to Asian neighbors was virtually opposite of Koizumi's is Nobusuke Kishi. He was a founder of the Liberal Democratic Party faction that Koizumi belonged to and is a grandfather of Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, a leading candidate to succeed Koizumi.
In contrast to Koizumi, Kishi, within a year of becoming prime minister in 1957, made two trips to 15 Asian and Pacific countries to bring messages of reconciliation, thereby making it possible for Japan to secure a revision of Japan's security treaty with America. He became the first Japanese prime minister to visit most of them. The first journey included Burma (now Myanmar), India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Thailand and Taiwan. The second one included then South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines.