The Japanese Prime Minister arrives in China on a one-day visit today for talks aimed at improving chilly relations between the two countries.
Mr Junichiro Koizumi, who plans a similar visit to South Korea next week, will attempt to quell the anger sparked by his visit in August to a Tokyo shrine where war criminals are honoured along with Japan's war dead.
The Japanese leader also wants to ease concerns about Tokyo's steps toward tighter security ties with America as it rushes to enact a new law to let its military provide non-combat support for a US-led war on terrorism.
It is expected that Beijing will grudgingly accept Japan's military support for US-led operations in return for conciliatory gestures on Japanese wartime aggression. However, analysts say it will be difficult to erase the mistrust among the people of the two countries during a one-day trip.
Like South Korea, China has rebuffed Mr Koizumi's call for a leaders' summit after the August 13th visit to the Yasukuni shrine. Ties had already been frayed by Japan's decision to let the former Taiwan president, Mr Lee Teng-hui, visit for medical treatment in April.
In a symbolic move, Mr Koizumi will kick off his China trip with a visit to the Marco Polo Bridge south-west of Beijing, where Japan used an exchange of fire with Chinese troops in July 1937 as a pretext to launch a full invasion of China.
He will be just the second Japanese prime minister to visit the site. Japanese media are speculating that Mr Koizumi is likely to express remorse for the suffering caused by Japan's wartime aggression. He is also likely to reassure China about moves to expand the legal scope for Japan's military operations overseas within the constraints of Tokyo's pacifist post-war constitution.