Since both Washington and Tokyo agree that increasing the number of exchange students in both countries is important to bolstering bilateral ties, Roos emphasized that providing incentives will be key to encouraging them to study abroad.

Translations of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s remarks on Japan’s wartime sex slaves posted on Facebook by a women’s group have provoked heated reactions from all over the world. All Japan Obachan Party, a group set up by Osaka-based middle-aged women in November, translated Hashimoto’s recent remarks into seven languages…and posted them on the online social-networking service.

"In Japan, we do not see poster art anymore and its cultural relevance is fast diminishing," says Yusuke Matsuoka, Director, Arts and Cultural Exchange at the Japan Foundation, who brought the exhibition to India.

Increasingly noisy nationalist movements in both countries seem to consider the other country their ancient enemy, with citizens leading sometimes violent anti-Japanese or anti-Chinese protests and national leaders, including the heads of state, promoting confrontation over diplomacy.

Yet China’s economic power and the many positive ways its economy influences the region have not brought diplomatic advantage. Indeed, its regional relations are in a worse state than for two decades. With Japan they remain so fraught over the contested Diaoyu/Senkaku islands that armed conflict is a serious possibility.

The blowback from the Yasukuni visits came immediately. South Korea canceled its foreign minister’s visit to Tokyo this week, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated, “As long as Japan does not face up to the history of its aggression, it cannot embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbors.”

"Flower diplomacy" is bridging political and religious gaps in Tokyo, as wives of foreign ambassadors in Japan meet each month for a flower arranging session and dinner at various ambassadors' residences. They will share their work at the "Flowers Connect the World" exhibition on April 22 in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

The Japanese government presented two former baseball players with the People's Honor Award recently, causing a sensation in the country. The two winners were Shigeo Nagashima in his late 70s and Hideki Matsui who has just retired. Once a player and coach of a famous Japanese professional baseball team Yomiuri Giants, Nagashima is one of the most celebrated baseball players in postwar Japan