Sunday’s Yomiuri took up Prime Minister Abe’s ongoing tour of the three Baltic states, plus Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania, conjecturing that he is keen to enlist cooperation from these states to ratchet up the pressure on North Korea. The tour is also intended to increase Japan’s presence at the eastern edge of Europe, as China is set to expand its economic clout there by promoting its “One Belt, One Road” transcontinental trade promotion initiative.

Sunday’s Nikkei focused on Abe’s trip to Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, insisting that the visit was intended to dispel the image that the Abe administration is taking a soft line toward Russia. Given that the three Baltic states have been critical to Moscow historically, the paper said Abe is hoping to deflect possible criticism in Europe that Tokyo is too conciliatory toward the Putin administration.