The number of Japanese people who oppose the controversial visits to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine by the country's prime minister rose to over 50 percent, polls by major national newspapers showed Monday.

A weekend survey conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper showed that as compared with a survey in January, opponents to such visits grew 7 percentage points to 54 percent, while supporters dropped 14 percentage points to 33 percent.

Another survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper showed a similar result, with 53 percent saying they were against such visits to the war shrine by the next prime minister, up 18 percentage points, as compared with a survey in June. Respondents in favor of the visits declined 21 percentage points to 28 percent.

According to the Mainichi survey, 54 percent of the polled also said they oppose a visit to the shrine by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's defeat day of World War II, while 36 percent expressed support.

Koizumi has visited the Shinto shrine for five times since taking office in April 2001. His visits have stirred up strong indignation among Asian people who suffered from atrocities of Japanese aggression before and during the WWII.

"Besides the strained relations with China and South Korea, the discovery of the memo explaining Emperor Hirohito's discomfort with Class-A war criminals honored at Yasukuni apparently influenced the outcome," the Mainichi said.

Last week, the Nihon Keizai published excerpts of a memorandum by late Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita, which confirmed that Emperor Hirohito opposed enshrining notorious wartime leaders in 1978 and refrained from visiting the temple because of the enshrinement.

The Nihon Keizai solicited 966 valid answers through telephone interviews from Friday through Sunday. The Mainichi survey was carried out on Saturday and Sunday and received 1,065 valid answers.

Source: Xinhua