Dalai Lama to make brief stop in Japan next week

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama will make a brief stopover in Japan when he travels to the United States from India next week, possibly irritating China, which has accused the exiled spiritual leader of masterminding last month's protests in Tibet.

An official for the Dalai Lama's Tokyo liaison office said the Nobel peace laureate may hold a news conference during his April 10 visit.

But there are no plans for him to meet Japanese political figures and he will probably stay in a hotel near the airport outside Tokyo, Tsewang Arya said.

Rights groups have criticized China's crackdown on March's anti-government protests in Tibet, but Japan's comments on the unrest have been guarded, reflecting its eagerness to keep improving ties with Beijing on track.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to visit Japan for six days from May 6, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday, the first visit by a Chinese president to Japan in a decade.

"We have to think hard whether it is appropriate to be outspoken at this time," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told Japanese media last week.

The Dalai Lama last visited Japan in November, when he met an opposition party executive and delivered a speech to a religious forum.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, asked on Tuesday by reporters to comment on the planned stopover, gave a measured response.

"The Dalai Lama has visited Japan many times in the past and each time we have dealt with the situation appropriately," he said. "We'll continue to do so from now on as well."

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; Editing by John Chalmers)