ANALYSIS - History may haunt Asia less under Japan Democrats

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's opposition Democratic Party will seek to keep bitter wartime memories from fraying ties with Asian neighbours if it takes power in this month's election, but the ghosts of the past are unlikely to be easily laid to rest.

And while tight economic ties between Japan and China make getting along essential, any new government in Tokyo faces the tough challenge of responding to Beijing's rising global clout.

The opposition, which polls show have a good shot at ousting the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an Aug. 30 election, have put priority on building mutual trust with Asian countries such as China and South Korea, often marred by the legacy of Japan's past militarism.

Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama has said he would not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine for war dead while Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are honoured there, and the party has pledged to push for a new, non-denominational memorial.

"If the prime minister does not visit the shrine, at least half of the burden of history will be lifted. There are residual issues on both sides ... but they are nothing like as emotional as the Yasukuni shrine," said Lam Peng Er, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute in Singapore.

"It is a new beginning, a fresh start."

Japan's ties with China and South Korea chilled markedly during then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2001-2006 tenure when his visits to Yasukuni outraged Beijing and Seoul, which see the Shinto shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

But the need to put Sino-Japanese relations back on track given vital economic links prompted all three of Koizumi's successors, including nationalist Shinzo Abe and incumbent Taro Aso, to refrain from paying respects at the controversial shrine.