Japan plans to develop a prototype of an advanced fighter jet in the hope it will spur the United States to review a ban on selling F-22 fighters, a news report said Tuesday.

The house and office of a politician critical of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a war shrine burned down today, police said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine reviled by critics as a symbol of militarism, triggering a further erosion in Japan’s ties with its neighbours just a month before he leaves office.