Bush opens Asia trip in Japan

Foreign protestors carry placards in protest of US President George W. Bush's visit to Japan, in Kyoto yesterday. Bush arrived in Japan at the start of a week-long trip to Asia, during which he will attend the Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea.. PHOTO: AFP

After a refueling stop at a military base in Alaska, the US president headed for Kyoto, where he was to tour Japan's most-visited Buddhist temple on Wednesday before holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Bush was to give in Japan what aides described as the keynote speech of his trip, praising China for loosening controls on its economy and urging Beijing to follow up by giving its citizens greater political and religious freedom.

The president was then to travel to South Korea and attend an Asia-Pacific summit there, make an official visit to China and become the first sitting US president to travel to Mongolia before heading back to Washington.

At home, he faced his worst poll numbers ever, anger over the unpopular war in Iraq, and a CIA leak investigation that led to the indictment and resignation of a senior aide and is still swirling around his White House.