Nationalists flock to secret memorial to 7 war criminals

Seven of Japan's most notorious war criminals executed 62 years ago are remembered on the anniversary of their deaths and the day of Japan's surrender by visitors to a secretive temple.

The temple overlooks the coastal resort of Atami, 110 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, and is becoming a focal point for a new generation of nationalists.

At the end of a track and through a grove of towering bamboo, the priestess of the Koa Kannon temple says it is a place to contemplate peace, but the photo on the altar is of General Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime minister who sanctioned the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A painting in an adjoining building shows armed Japanese soldiers standing guard over a group of Chinese labourers. Burnt-out candles show that worshippers have been here recently, and a pack of cigarettes and a small bottle of sake have been left as offerings.

On December 23, 1948, the seven men were executed at Tokyo's Sugamo Prison, and their bodies were transported to Yokohama for cremation before their ashes were scattered from an aircraft at sea. The Allied occupation authorities hoped to ensure their burial site could never become a rallying point for the extreme right.

That effort failed, and more people are beginning to ask questions about Japan's imperial past.