Mr Nakasone is to arrive in Bangkok on Saturday afternoon to hold talks with Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

'Bilateral and regional issues will be on the agenda, but we may have to refer to the issue of last year's protest at the airport as a number of Japanese tourists were in trouble,' the official said.

Demonstrators opposed to the previous government's ties to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra occupied the capital's international and domestic airports for more than a week from late November to early December.

Mr Nakasone heads Sunday to Cambodia for talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen. He will head the same day to Laos before returning to Tokyo on Monday.

Japan, Asia's largest economy, considers Southeast Asia a key area of influence to balance off often rocky ties with China and the two Koreas. -- AFP