Sen. Daniel Inouye is on a five-day Defense Appropriations trip to Japan to look into a number of key issues in the region.

Topics to be covered on the trip include the Chinese-Japanese dispute over the Senkaku Islands, the distribution of American marines throughout the Pacific and U.S. trade.

Inouye, who arrived in Japan Tuesday, will meet with members of the National Diet, Japan’s answer to Congress, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

— Michael Levine