By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Tokyo
**Japan has said it does not expect that a visit by an exiled Uighur activist that has angered China will affect relations between the two countries.**A spokesman said Rebiya Kadeer was invited by civil society organisations rather than the government.
He said he did not think she would meet any officials.
China accuses Mrs Kadeer, leader of the World Uighur Congress, of inciting ethnic violence earlier this month which left more than 190 people dead.
Mrs Kadeer, who lives in exile in the US, denies the allegation.
She says she had come to Japan to tell people about what she described as the terrible conditions being endured by the Uighur minority in north-west China.
China’s government expressed strong dissatisfaction that the leader of the World Uighur Congress had been allowed into the country to carry out what it called anti-China separatist activities.
But a spokesman for Japan’s foreign ministry, Takeshi Akamatsu, said relations between the two countries should not be damaged.