A visit on Monday by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a Tokyo shrine where 14 Class-A war criminals are honoured alongside 2.5 million war dead suggests little has changed in the way he views relations with China.
Mr Koizumi is in the most powerful position of any Japanese leader in the past 15 years, after a landslide victory in elections last month. Some had hoped he would use this newfound political capital to mend fences in Asia, but those hopes now appear misplaced.
'This is certain to have an unwelcome impact on foreign relations,' said Masaya Shiraishi, a professor of international relations at Waseda University in Tokyo. 'There will also be strong words and various demands made [of Japan] at the November Apec meeting,' he added, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
Adding insult to injury, more than 100 lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, underscoring the unbridgeable chasm in views between Japan and the rest of Asia on the issue.
Mr Koizumi, whose visit this week was his fifth since he took office in 2001, insists he pays homage at Yasukuni not to glorify war, but to pray for peace.
The shrine occupies a special place in the hearts of many Japanese who lost loved ones in wars dating to the 19th century.
For Chinese, however, it is a reminder of the rampant nationalism that helped fuel the Japanese Imperial Army's rampage across Asia more than 60 years ago. With South Korea, China regards visits to the shrine by Japanese politicians as insensitive and insulting.