News Analysis: Abe's ears likely to be bent by Obama on critical regional issues during U.S. tour

With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's week-long tour to the United States being confirmed to kickoff in April, political pundits here believe that while the trip is being heralded by Abe's administration as a momentous occasion, it will likely see the prime minister's ear bent somewhat by U.S. President Barack Obama over a number of highly pressing issues Tokyo needs to deal with.

Officials from the prime minister's office and local media confirmed Tuesday that Abe's week-long tour to the U.S. has been set and according to Abe's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the prime minister, besides visiting Washington, will also visit Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles during his trip that is scheduled to last for eight days.

Suga said that Abe's trip to the United States that will see him hold talks with President Barack Obama on April 28 at the White House, was significant in as much as last April Obama was invited to Japan as a state guest and the return invitation is a testament to the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Abe, during his tour will also address the U.S. Congress, marking the first time a Japanese politician has done so and Abe's administration has, through local media sources, highlighted the significance of this event and the fact that the Japanese prime minister will in fact be addressing a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Obama will host Abe for talks and a state dinner on April 28, officials here confirmed, with the occasion being held in honor of the visiting prime minister and on the sidelines of the trip both side's foreign and defense ministers are expected to hold so- called "two-plus-two" meeting, sources close to the prime minister said.

Political pundits here have said that in the run up to the 70th anniversary of the end of Word War Two, the visit is a particularly poignant one as Washington, once a staunch enemy of Tokyo during the warring years, is eager for Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to make all out efforts to mend diplomatic ties that Japan has damaged with its closet neighbors.

These include countries like China and South Korea who both suffered at the hands of Japan's brutal militarism before and during the WWII, with Japan having yet to fully face its actions squarely and apologize and admit its culpability for its wartime atrocities.

Revisionist moves lately to alter historical perceptions by Abe 's administration, including, but not limited to, dabbling with the landmark Kono Statement, which admits and apologizes for Japan 's forcible conscription and coercion of comfort women during WWII, denying factual atrocities like the Nanjing massacre in China and attempting to rewrite historical textbooks both in Japan and the United States, have also contributed to the strained ties.

Despite possible recent embryonic signs of easing tensions between Japan and China, Japan's neighbors, including China, South Korea as well as the broader international community will be looking to Abe's talks with Obama keenly, as it is widely believed that the U.S. president will strongly urge Abe to adhere to the wording of Japan's 81st prime minister, Tomiichi Murayama, who, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war's end, offered what has become an internationally-accepted benchmark for Japan's apology for its wartime atrocities.

In addition, notable political watchers here believe that the U. S. president will once again take issue with Abe's ill-advised trip to the war-criminal honoring Yasukuni Shrine in 2013 and advise the prime minister to refrain from making future visits and recommend his ministers and lawmakers do the same.

Such trips to the notorious war shrine rightly draw the ire of Japan's neighbors, as the shrine, a psychical Imperialist symbol in Japan, honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.

Obama will also want to clarify the current situation unfolding in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture, between the central and local government, regarding a widening rift over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, currently located in the densely populated region of Ginowan on the main island of Naha, to the coastal region of Henoko, also on Okinawa island.

A four-year plan inked between Japan and the U.S. to relocate the base has already been severely hampered by increasing local resistance, the latest of which saw the local government in Okinawa on Monday instruct the Defense Ministry to suspend its underwater reclamation operations for the planned construction of the new base.

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said that if the regional defense bureau refuses to halt its drilling operations off the coast of Henoko, in Nago City, the prefectural government may rescind a permit granted to the defense ministry by his predecessor.

Onaga is a staunch opponent to the planned construction of a new U.S. Marine base involving the reclamation of land from the sea in Oura Bay in Henoko and has described the actions of the defense ministry as "utterly deplorable" and insisted the regional bureau remove a number of giant concrete slabs weighing up to 45 tons each, that it sunk into the sea to tether floating "no entry" signs around a drilling zone for the base's construction.

Prefectural officials said the giant concrete slabs have endangered a coral reef located outside of the demarcation zone and expressed concern Monday that more damage may have been caused within the "no entry" zone. They demanded the defense ministry do its utmost to restore the damage they have done to the marine life there.

But on Tuesday the central government gave permission for the regional defense bureau to continue drilling as part of preparations for the U.S. base's construction, sparking protests from local civilians, as the rift between the prefecture and the central government widens day-by-day.

Such a rift has been a constant source of irritation for Washington and political analysts here said they believe Obama will lean heavily on Abe to do more to gain the consent and support of the local people of Okinawa for the base move, which comes as part of a broader plan to realign U.S. troops in Japan.

Abe will also likely hear from Obama about the latter's hopes to expedite the hugely-delayed U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations that involve 12 countries, but despite multiple rounds of talks, look nowhere near to being concluded.

Japan and the United States, who together account for 80 percent of GDP in the Pacific trade framework, have been unable to resolve issues of intellectual property, food and automobile tariffs among other things.

Abe's tour to the United States will likely conclude with the two sides reaffirming their economic and security alliance and commitments to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, but, as observers here have attested, Washington will be closely watching its smaller ally for improvements this year to how it's been handling pertinent regional issues, including its territorial disputes and misperceptions and revisions of its history, with particular regard to Abe's upcoming war statement. Endi