But we also know that expectations from important politicians always vary from the position held by those who are expecting. For Koizumi, for example, many expected that he would have shown some form of mature leadership, if not always, then at least, at the time he gets ready to leave the office.

This is particularly true with sensitive issues like his visiting a Shinto shrine in Tokyo that pays tribute to all Japanese who died in WW II, including those who were hanged, or who served prison terms, after they were found guilty of war crimes by an international tribunal that was formed following World War II.

Koizumi himself, on the other hand, might have decided that a mature leader, of true quality, in his own understanding, was the one who always sticks to what had been said and committed earlier. During the 2001 presidential elections of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Koizumi had pledged that if he assumed the post of prime minister he would visit the Shinto shrine on August 15, the day Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. It should be noted that, according to a long held tradition, the president of the main ruling party also assumes the post of prime minister.

But, as August 15 is also a symbolic day in many ways not only for Japan, but also for Japan's next-door neighbours like China and South Korea, Koizumi, until his very last visit, avoided going to the shrine on that very day, though he made the visit a yearly ritual. Now, as he prepares to leave office, he might have thought that the time had come for him to show the qualities of a mature leader by sticking to what he had committed to five years ago. And he went ahead by visiting the controversial shrine on August 15.

Speaking at a press conference soon after the morning visit, Koizumi adopted a much more defiant attitude by saying that he had done so because he was convinced that those who oppose his shrine visit would, anyway, criticize him and make a great fuss about the problem. As was expected, both China and South Korea reacted angrily to the visit, and made their displeasure plain and clear. It was the first time in 21 years that an incumbent prime minister had visited the shrine on the symbolic day. The last prime minister to do so was Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985.

A rational question that can be asked in this context is what did Koizumi really gain by going to a controversial shrine that honours, among others, convicted war criminals that many in China and Korea see as being the instrumental figures behind the sufferings of their people when the Imperial Japanese army moved eastward in the name of creating a Great East Asian Co-prosperity Region. Korean slave labour in Japan, the massacre of Nanjing and the creation of the puppet kingdom of Manchukuo -- all were the natural outcomes of that move of which even many in Japan too do not feel proud of.

Koizumi had all along claimed that he makes regular visits to the shrine to pray for those who had given their lives for Japan, and also to express his firm commitment not to go to war again. But the problem with Yasukuni is much deeper than what such comments might suggest. Yasukuni is primarily a religious installation, and the Japanese constitution makes the separation of religion and politics clear. Koizumi and all other Japanese leaders who cherish the desire to defy a long held position of understanding and accommodating the feelings of others are also perfectly aware of this reality. That was why Koizumi was careful to avoid the religious touch when he went to the shrine on August 15.

After signing the visitors' book as "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi," he entered the main hall of the shrine accompanied by a Shinto priest in traditional robes. But when it came to offering prayers, Koizumi did not adopt the traditional Shinto style and bowed just only once. This hide and seek game was essential to avoid a possible controversy that he might have foreseen could jeopardize further an already complicated issue.

But if he was successful in avoiding the religious controversy, the same cannot be said of the political fallout over the shrine visit. Each time Koizumi visited the shrine during the last five years, the visit triggered protests in China and South Korea. To express their displeasure the two countries suspended, with Japan, mutual visits by their respective leaders. This has, no doubt, been the greatest of all obstacles that Koizumi encountered during his tenure. He might wonder what prompted China and South Korea to take the issue, that he considers to be Japan's internal affair, so emotionally. At the post-shrine visit press conference he even blamed outsiders for trying to intervene in a matter of his heart, and for attempting to make that a diplomatic issue.

But what Koizumi had forgotten to take into account was the fact that there are people still alive in Japan's neighboiring countries who had seen their homes burned and loved ones killed in the Japanese invasion, a fact that they probably would never be able to forget. The passage of time might heal some of the wounds, but the deep scar is bound to bleed again should there be incidents bringing back the pain in their ravaged hearts.

So, for many in China and the Korean peninsula, this very personal matter of heart is what counts, and seeing the country that caused such pain trying to gloss over the past by paying blanket tributes to all the war dead, including those responsible for the crimes must have been more painful than Koizumi's feeling irritated by what he considers unacceptable attitude of outsiders.

Thus, the drift has almost reached to the point where it is no longer possible to bring the two sides closer again. Koizumi, aware of this tragic reality, probably decided, since his time was already running out, to make a positive contribution in healing the wound. It was wiser to show to his own people that he always means what he says. Hence, keeping a commitment that he made five years ago became so important to him at the fag end of his tenure.

The task of improving relations with two of Japan's key Asian neighbours will now lie with whoever succeeds Koizumi next month as prime minister. The front-runner, Shinzo Abe, has already expressed strong support for the shrine visit, and he even made a secret visit to the shrine in April. But we all know politicians, at times, act differently when they are in the position of power. Should this happen with the successor of Koizumi; it would be better not only for China and South Korea, but for Japan as well.