It is taking longer than expected to set a date for a promised trip to Japan by Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2005

It is taking longer than expected to set a date for a promised trip to Japan by Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2005, and with Moscow's apparent reluctance to offer to resolve a long-standing territorial dispute to Japan's liking, the visit appears to still be far off. One critic has urged the government to try new tactics, saying Putin's visit might otherwise be delayed possibly until the fall or early winter. But a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said earlier this month, "We're not going to take (fresh) action for now." Another senior official said: "Our counterparts say (Putin) is not ready (for a summit in Japan). It means there is almost nothing we can do." Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura recently expressed displeasure at what he terms a "backward-looking" attitude taken by Russia toward Putin's visit, saying to reporters, "I wonder what on Earth they are doing?" But Toshihiko Ueno, a Japanese expert on Russian politics, has urged the government to stop simply repeating the old, uncompromising call for the return of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan and instead hammer out new rhetoric that can nudge Putin into visiting Japan soon. "Russia is currently ready to keep pace with countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany as well as China, but not with Japan," said Ueno, a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. "It looks down on the level of Japan's diplomacy." Putin agreed with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in November that he would pay his first visit to Japan since 2000 in early 2005.