KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark will push for closer economic ties when she holds talks today with her Japanese counterpart Yasuo Fukuda today.
However New Zealand's competitive farming and food sector could remain a stumbling block for Japan, which retains a raft of subsidies, import quotas and high tariffs on agricultural products.
Miss Clark arrived in Tokyo yesterday on the first leg of a five day trip that also includes a visit to South Korea.
Miss Clark said with global shortages in some food categories and a general rise in prices, closer relations were one way for Japan, which imports over 60 per cent of its food, to secure a supply of high quality products.
Australia had already begun free trade negotiations with Japan and New Zealand could not afford to be left behind.
The obvious next step for the two countries would be a study on the benefits of a free trade agreement, but Japan had so far resisted the idea.
The issue of Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean and New Zealand's desire to see an end to the country's "scientific" whaling programme would also be discussed.
"We've always seen the scientific whaling on the scale it's been, as keeping the door open for commercial whaling because the produce is not just collected for scientific specimens it's collected to be put in the freezer to be put on the supermarket shelf in Japan."
Miss Clark said whales were hunted almost to extinction last century and the "great mammals" should be conserved.
Greenpeace Japan yesterday called on Miss Clark to propose a joint non-lethal research programme in the Southern Ocean as a replacement for Japan's current whaling hunt.
But Miss Clark said at present Japan appeared "wedded" to its existing programme, although she was hopeful some change could be achieved at next month's International Whaling Commission meeting in Chile.
The pair will also discuss regional political issues, including Myanmar, and greater environmental co-operation.
The trip is Miss Clark's first state visit to Japan - New Zealand's third largest export market - in three years and is likely to be her last foreign trip ahead of this year's election.
Yesterday Miss Clark visited the Toshogu Shrine at Nikko, near Tokyo, which has long standing links with New Zealand.
The shrine, built by the Tokugawa Shoguns and one of the most famous in Japan, was gifted a white horse - which is viewed as sacred and carries out ceremonial duties - from New Zealand in 1972. Since then it has received three replacements, the last gifted by Miss Clark in 2005.
Tomorrow Miss Clark will give a keynote speech to the inaugural Japan-New Zealand Partnership Forum - a high-level business event aimed at refocusing Japanese attention on New Zealand.
(Grant Fleming travelled to Tokyo with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation)
- NZPA
