Supporters of the shrine worship—right-wing Japanese—constitute only a small portion of Japanese society. Their votes can hardly influence the voting results. The important thing for the Japanese now is the economic impact of the global financial crisis.

Democratic Party hopeful Hatoyama has reiterated his stance against the shrine worship many times. Recently, he stressed that he would not visit the shrine if he won the election.

In fact, neither Aso, nor his predecessor Abe visited the shrine as the sitting prime minister either. However, that doesn't mean Japan has formed a tradition specifically excluding prime ministers from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, Feng said.

Indeed, many Japanese people have different understandings about the role their country played in World War II as opposed to that of other Asian peoples—which is, in some ways, understandable, given the propaganda they were subjected to.

But to countries that were invaded by Japan during World War II, August 15 represents a date that commemorates their suffering. And to most Japanese people, it marks the end of an unspeakable period of history they would much rather forget.

In recent years, more and more Japanese have learned about what really happened because of increasing communication with other Asian countries—especially through trips to countries including China.

Had the door of communication been shut, the truth of history could easily have been covered up by right-wing Japanese propaganda, Feng noted.

Recently, many Japanese politicians like Hatoyama have called for the building of a new worship location not dedicated to those who perpetrated war crimes during World War II.

In this way, they hope to maintain the tradition of showing respect to those who died for their country, while not hurting their neighbors' feelings.