Japan's Nationalist Movement Strengthens

Lawmakers Find Ways to Draw Young Supporters Who Favor a More Assertive Foreign Policy; 'We've Been Too Complacent'

TOKYO—Nationalist politicians and activists are wielding new clout in Japan, straining the country's ties with China and South Korea, and creating headaches for policy makers in Tokyo.

Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine—a place strongly associated with the country's imperialist past—on Wednesday, the first such visits since the Democratic Party of Japan took power three years ago. The visits further inflamed a dispute with South Korea; South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who upset Japanese officials with his visit to an islet contested by the two nations, said in a speech Wednesday that Japan must resolve issues from the ...

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