Yomiuri reported today that Land and Transportation Minister Akaba met with his ROK counterpart in Hokkaido yesterday. The two officials agreed to promote bilateral tourism and cultural exchanges in the private sector in the face of the continued decline in the number of Korean travelers to Japan. The two officials, however, were reportedly not able to identify specific measures to reactivate tourism and other exchange programs. 

In a related development, Sankei and Nikkei took up remarks made yesterday in a Tokyo symposium by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga, who noted that he has detected a slight change in Seoul’s approach toward Tokyo. He was quoted as saying: “South Korea has apparently come to the conclusion that this cannot be sustained and we need to have some kind of dialogue.”