JINAN, China — Shinzo Abe's trip to China as prime minister in October 2006 was dubbed "the ice-breaking trip" to mend diplomatic relations damaged by predecessor Junichiro Koizumi. Then came Premier Wen Jiabao's "thawing-ice visit" to Japan last April.
Now relations have reached what Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda described as "the coming of spring" during his first official trip to China from Thursday to Sunday.
Relations between the region's two powerhouses were chilled during the five years Koizumi was in office because of his annual visits to contentious Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines convicted Class-A war criminals.