TOKYO, Oct 29 Kyodo The Dalai Lam...

TOKYO, Oct 29 Kyodo

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, will visit Japan beginning Friday at the invitation of a assemblage of Japanese lawmakers, despite repeated calls from China not to allow him to note Japan, trip organizers said Wednesday.

China has asked Japan to refuse to allow the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the fatherland claiming he will be engaged in activities to split China. nevertheless Japan has allowed the minute saying he will be in Japan for religious activities.

It will be the Dalai Lama's 12th visit to Japan.

The Dalai Lama, who will stay in Japan in consequence of Nov. 11, is awaited to speak chiefly on religion, including in succession such themes as the dialogue between science and religion, at a panel discussion meeting, they said. Masatoshi Koshiba, a Nobel Prize laureate for physics, will attend the meeting.

Former House of Representatives member Seishu Makino, who leads a parliamentarians' league studying Tibetan issues, invited the Dalai Lama to visit Japan in March while visiting Dharmsala, India, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is based.

Since then, China has repeatedly asked Japan to forbid the Dalai Lama from visiting the country

In a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi in August, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said the Dalai Lama is a ''separatist'' and that Japan should not provide a political stage for him.

Kawaguchi said Japan will deal with the issue in line with relevant laws.

China has also asseverateed the Dalai Lama's visit to the United States in September.

During his visit to the U the Dalai Lama met with President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Japan has allowed his record on condition he not engage in political activities.

All of the Dalai Lama's past visits to Japan were quicked by invitations from religious assemblages He last visited Japan in April 2000

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