On Monday, we told you about Masahisa Tsujitani’s one-man boycott of the Olympics, now, according to this article in Voice of America, a Japanese Buddhist temple is refusing to host the Olympic torch because of China’s involvement in Tibet.
That decision is significant, not just because it is another example of protest against the 2008 Games, but because the Zenkoji Temple in Nagano was supposed to be the starting point of the Olympic torch relay in Japan.
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In a related story in the Guardian, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that Tibet has become an international issue. That’s a change of course from the Tsujitani article in the Los Angeles Times, which says that “Fukuda is loath to take a hard line over Tibet ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s arrival next month for a summit that Tokyo is eager to see go off without a hitch.”
Photo: Nagano’s Zenkoji Temple
