FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013 file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second from left, follows a Shinto priest to pay respect for the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Diplomats from China and Japan are invoking the evil Lord Voldemort from the bestselling "Harry Potter" series in their feud over the war shrine. China said the shrine glorifies Japan's militaristic past. Writing in The Telegraph, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom said: "If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul." (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)
January 06, 2014 - 2:01 PM
TOKYO - As if Harry Potter isn't popular enough, the evil Lord Voldemort from British author J.K. Rowling's bestselling children's series has been dragged into the feud between Japan and China over the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.
China and South Korea say the shrine, which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited recently, glorifies Japan's militaristic past.
Writing in The Telegraph last week, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Liu Xiaoming, said: "If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul."
A horcrux contains part of Voldemort's soul, and all seven horcruxes must be destroyed to kill him.
In response, Japanese Ambassador Keiichi Hayashi wrote in the same newspaper that fears of rising militarism in Japan are unfounded given the country's postwar record of commitment to peace.
Instead, Hayashi said that China risks playing "the role of Voldemort in the region by letting loose the evil of an arms race and escalation of tensions."
News from © The Associated Press, 2014