But he angered China by continuing to visit Yasukuni shrine for the Japanese war dead.
A Japanese cabinet minister and dozens of members of parliament have visited the Yasukuni shrine for war dead, seen in China and the two Koreas as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court sided with China on Thursday in a fight between Beijing and Tokyo over the custody of a Chinese man accused of an arson attack at the Yasukuni Shrine for Japan's war dead.
Abe has not signalled that Japan will change its fundamental stance on the islands, however, and has not agreed to Chinese demands that he cease visits to Yasukuni shrine for the war dead.
When Mr. Nukaga's delegation met Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan of South Korea later Friday, it criticized a South Korean court's decision on Thursday not to extradite a man accused of an arson attack at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for Japan's war dead, the Foreign Ministry said.
The area was heavily guarded by police as the museum sits on the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine, controversial for deifying the war dead, including Class A war criminals.
NO MATTER that television cameras recently caught his closest aide scouting out Yasukuni Shrine in preparation for a visit.
Many protesters argued that the textbook revision and visits by Japanese government officials to the Yasukuni shrine were grounds for opposing Japan's membership on the UN Security Council.
The party is backed by the Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist organisation that was persecuted during the war by leaders of state Shinto, for which Yasukuni served as the principal shrine.
Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's new prime minister, had pledged before his appointment in April to go to Yasukuni, a controversial shrine for the war dead, on August 15th, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in the second world war.
