Among the 17-member cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, two other ministers also indicated the possibility of visiting the shrine on the anniversary.

Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani said, ''I am still considering it. But if I go it will be on Aug. 15,'' while Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Toranosuke Katayama said, ''If I am in Tokyo, I will pay homage at the shrine.''

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said he will visit the shrine before or after Aug. 15.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had earlier said he would not visit the Shinto shrine this summer as he already paid a visit in April.

Three ministers have already visited the shrine. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe visited it on Tuesday and Financial Services Agency head Hakuo Yanagisawa went on Wednesday.

Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, said he visited the shrine at the end of July.

Takebe said his visit was an official one as a minister, while Yanagisawa and Takenaka said they went in a private capacity.

Last year, five ministers paid a visit to the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in the war, and Koizumi and four other ministers paid visits prior to the anniversary.

Eight ministers who have so far said they are not making a visit on Aug. 15 are Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, education minister Atsuko Toyama, welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi, transport minister Chikage Ogi, Environment Minister Hiroshi Oki and Nobuteru Ishihara, minister in charge of administrative reform.

Kawaguchi said, ''I have long expressed my feelings for the war dead in my own style. I would not do it in the form of visiting Yasukuni.''

National Public Safety Commission (NPSC) Chairman Jin Murai and Koji Omi, minister in charge of issues for Okinawa and the Northern Territories, have not yet clarified their plans.

Asked about establishing a new national facility to commemorate Japan's war dead, which has been discussed under an advisory panel to Fukuda, Hiranuma said, ''Personally, I think it unnecessary to have another place to commemorate the war dead besides Yasukuni, which has tradition and history.''

Omi simply said, ''There is no national consensus on the issue.''

But Ishihara, son of conservative Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, said, ''No state should impose religions on people. It may be a good idea to have a facility which everyone can visit naturally.''

Yasukuni Shrine, established in 1869, honors about 2.5 million Japanese who have died in wars since the mid-19th century. Since 1978, Yasukuni has also enshrined seven Class A war criminals tried and hanged after World War II, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

Koizumi paid homage at the shrine on Aug. 13 last year and April 21 this year, provoking angry responses from domestic critics and Asian neighbors such as South Korea and China.