In a new effort to intervene in any attempts to remove North Korea from the United States' state sponsors of terrorism list, a Diet panel adopted a multipartisan resolution earlier this week urging its biggest ally to avoid such a move.
The latest chapter in the increasingly anxious relationship between Japan and the U.S. comes after a poll by the Cabinet Office last week showed that 20 percent of Japanese no longer think relations between the two are good, up 12 percent from a similar poll taken in October 2006.
Tensions between the two allies were evident during Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's tepid visit to Washington last month. North Korea and the abductions issue dominated discussions between Fukuda and President George W. Bush, as did the failure of Fukuda's ruling coalition to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean refueling mission, which was supporting antiterror operations in and around Afghanistan.
But there were additional reasons to expect a stiff meeting between the two leaders on Nov. 16.