Japanese PM to attend Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

Toyako: Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will be attending the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, he said on Sunday.

"There are many athletes going from Japan so it's natural that I want to cheer them on," he told a joint news conference in Hokkaido with US President George W Bush.

He stressed that the Olympics must be viewed as a sporting and not a political event.

"There is no need to involve politics. Even if China has various problems, they are in the midst of making efforts to improve them," he added.

Fukuda made the comments at a meeting with Bush ahead of a G8 summit to be held from July 7-9.