In article <fZEJa.2977$mH.812@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>, 
"USA" <USA@aol.com> wrote:
:>  However, the VAST majority are IJA soldiers from
:> WW2.  It should reveal something to you of Japan's gradually shifting
:> attitudes about the war that the war criminals were enshrined long after the
:> war's end.
:>
:When were they enshrined?

Japan started to "change" the attitude two days after the San Fransico
treaty came into force (on Apr 30, 1952), by passing the law to protect
the family of war dead or injured.  On Aug 1 1953, the law was modified
and now became applicable to those who were executed by Tokyo and other
tribunals.  The Japanese law does not discriminate those who were tried
in war tribunals regardless of their Class (A, B or C).

Since Yasukuni Shrine has no way of knowing the names of entire two 
million people,  the government (now the Ministry of Health and Labor,
then the ministry of Health) sent the name cards to Yasukuni, which was
continued until 1971.  Yasukuni began to enshrine BC defendants in 1959,
and decided to enshrine Class A people in 1966.  Yasukuni did not enshrine
them because the nationalization of Yasukuni might happen in near future.
Because the law, discussed from 1969 to 1974, did not pass, Yasukuni
finally enshrined them in 1978.

http://www.yasukuni.or.jp/siryou/siryou.html
昭和27年4月28日