Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
Since the summit was postponed for a month at Russia's request, it would be diplomatically embarrassing for the Russian government to ask for another postponement on the grounds that this one was based on a personal agreement between Mori and Putin.
If Japan were to ask for a delay in the summit due to a change of government, it could give the impression to Russia and the international community that Japan is not as enthusiastic as it claimed to be regarding the signing of a bilateral peace treaty. On the other hand, a new prime minister could make little progress in solving bilateral issues in a daylong summit.