When Gen Nakatani arrives in Seoul on Tuesday, he will be the first Japanese defense minister to visit South Korea in nearly five years, signaling that growing regional security risks are trumping the disputes over territory and history that have blighted relations between the two countries.
Nakatani's trip comes days after South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she is willing to hold her first bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Park will host Abe in two weeks for the resumption of annual trilateral summits with China and South Korea that ground to a halt in 2012 amid standoffs between Japan and both countries over territorial and history-related disputes.