TOKYO - Japan's Information Technology Minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, left for the United States, Singapore and Malaysia last night for a series of meetings, government officials said.

Motegi, also in charge of development of Okinawa, Japan's poorest prefecture, headed for Los Angeles on Friday for talks with US officials on a plan to launch an information technology college on the southern Japanese island.

Washington has expressed support for the island, which was devastated in the deadliest battle between Japan and the United States in World War II, and now houses more than two-thirds of the estimated 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan.

To meet Pak Lah

Motegi will then fly to Kuala Lumpur to hold talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday next week to discuss "cooperation in the information technology and other science fields," the officials said.

He will move to Singapore on Wednesday to hold talks with Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong before returning to Tokyo on Thursday next week. - AFP