Obama to Visit Japan from April 23: Source

Tokyo, April 11 (Jiji Press)--U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Japan from April 23, the day before his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a diplomatic source said Friday. The Japanese government is arranging a dinner hosted by Abe on the night of Obama's arrival, the source said. At a cabinet meeting on April 4, the government decided to invite Obama to Japan on April 24-25 as a state guest, but his arrival date has not been fixed. Japan has called for Obama's stay for at least two nights to treat him as a stage guest. At a press conference on Friday, Keiji Furuya, minister handling the issue of North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals, said that the government has sounded out the U.S. side about a meeting between Obama and families of abduction victims. END