With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush to be held Saturday outside Washington D.C., Japan hopes to set in motion full-scale efforts to build fresh ties under the new U.S. administration.
Since Bush's inauguration in January, the U.S. has underscored its alliance with Japan in its Asian policy, while U.S.-China relations have chilled considerably from those under his predecessor, Bill Clinton.
Despite such hopes, Tokyo-Washington ties over the past several months have not entirely been smooth.