The landslide election win by Japan's opposition Democratic Party over the ruling conservatives raises hopes in Asia that the often tense relationships with Tokyo's leaders will give way to improved regional ties.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama, expressing hope of strengthening relations between the Asian neighbors.
In a 20-minute phone conversation with Hatoyama, Lee said he believed South Korea and Japan "can open a new era," while Hatoyama replied the two countries should cooperate "more closely," Lee's office said in a statement.
China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate response to the election result, saying it would respond when it was ready.
A Chinese academic said the Democratic Party's spectacular win — official results were still being tallied but the party captured more than 300 of the 480 seats available — means it is in a position to break new ground on Japan's image in Asia.
"The power shift might bring some hope for Japan to refresh their understanding of the world because the DP has a psychological advantage in not having to 'adhere to their ancestors' as the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) used to have to do," said Shi Yongmin, a researcher from the China Institute of International Studies and a Japan expert.
But Shi warned the Democratic Party was going to "experience a hard time" re-establishing Japan's understanding and relations with Asia.
Although Japan gave the Democrats a landslide win, most voters were seen as venting dissatisfaction with the Liberal Democratic Party and the status quo more than endorsing the policies of the opposition. The Liberal Democrats governed Japan for virtually all of the past 54 years.
China and Korea, Japan's closest Asian neighbors, have often had major diplomatic clashes with Japan's leaders, particularly over issues dealing with historic disputes involving Japan's wartime past.
Annual visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine — which honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals — by Japanese leaders were a constant source of friction for Beijing and Seoul. Both view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's conquest in Asia, including invasion and occupation of China and Korea during most of the first half of the 1900s.
South Korean President Lee's office quoted him as saying that issues of history "are very difficult and fundamental matters ... But I think we can go hand in hand and walk together toward the future if we share a correct" view of history.
South Korea's main newspapers expressed similar hopes but said it still remains to be seen whether Hatoyama's government could resolve long-running disputes stemming from Tokyo's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945.
"During the reign of the LDP, relations between Seoul and Tokyo never transcended the problems arising from the legacy of Japan's World War II atrocities," the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial. "It remains to be seen whether the DP will be able to break the cycle of error committed by previous Japanese administrations when it comes to dealing with the country's wartime atrocities."
Despite the diplomatic friction, Japan's economic power — it is the world's second largest economy behind the United States — means it can't be ignored.
"The political relations between China and Japan won't bring too much impact on their economies. The countries are now part of the global industry chain. Their economies will be decided by economic law more than politics," said political analyst Shi.
The sentiment was echoed in Seoul, where an editorial from the mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said the two countries "must still rectify remnants of their unfortunate history, but are indispensable to each other given their geographical proximity and shared respect for a free democracy and market economy."
"Japan's historic transition of power should serve as an opportunity to upgrade bilateral relations," it said.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
