Japan plays down territorial dispute with China over Diaoyu Islands
To protect its business interests, Tokyo is trying hard not to inflame the situation with Beijing
The notion that a territorial row between China and Japan is escalating appears to be lost on the Japanese side of the equation.
Despite reports this week that China is planning to carry out a thorough geographical survey of the disputed Diaoyu Islands - known as the Senkakus in Japan - little public attention is being paid to the dispute.
Over the past five days, only one of the main Japanese newspapers published an editorial that even mentioned China - a rather oblique piece in the Asahi newspaper calling on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe not to divide other nations in Asia to win backing for Tokyo's policies towards Beijing.
"I don't think that a survey is such a serious problem for Japan as it would have no tangible effect on Tokyo's effective control of the islands," said Masafumi Iida, a China analyst at the National Institute for Defence Studies. "It is possible that there will be no official response at all."
Abe's visit this week to Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, where he is said to be trying to drum up regional support to counter China's growing territorial claims, is being reported in the Japanese press, along with the trip to China by former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, but in a very understated and almost reticent manner.
"The Japanese government is trying very hard not to inflame the situation with China and is publicly stating that the issue should only be solved through legal channels," said Koichi Ishiyama, a professor of journalism at Toin University of Yokohama.
"And I am sure that they are putting pressure on the Japanese media to not play up the situation surrounding the islands," he said.