TOKYO—U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with senior Japanese leaders on Sunday to express sympathy with Japan's people and support for its economy after last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami. That came after she reiterated the Obama administration's support for a free-trade deal with South Korea in meetings earlier Sunday with senior officials in Seoul. On the second stop of a weekend trip to Asia, Ms. Clinton announced in Tokyo a public-private partnership to help Japan's economic prospects and sounded a note of optimism about the Japanese business community's ability to rebound in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake on March 11. The disaster has seriously disrupted supply chains and electricity supplies in Japan and threatens to knock the wind out of a budding economic recovery. "We are very confident that Japan will recover and that it will be a very strong economic and global player for years and decades to come," Ms. Clinton told Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan after arriving from Seoul earlier in the day. For his part, the Japanese leader voiced a "sincere appreciation" for U.S. military efforts to provide aid to disaster evacuees and also for advice from U.S. nuclear experts sent to Japan. Five weeks after the quake, Tokyo has struggled to contain radiation being emitted from a nuclear power plant that was damaged by tsunami waves. Separately on Sunday, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said it expects to stabilize the reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi facility within six to nine months. Mr. Kan also said he was encouraged by Washington's decision on Friday to end travel advisories which had cautioned Americans to avoid Japan in the wake of the nuclear crisis. The U.S. kept a ban on travel within 50 miles of the plant, but lifted a general advisory about travel to Japan. It also ended a voluntary evacuation for families of U.S. Embassy employees in Tokyo. The State Department said in its latest advisory that radiation measurements "outside a 50-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant are low and do not pose significant risks to U.S. citizens." Japan has seen a rapid decline in the number of foreigners visiting since mid-March, something that has come as a major blow to its tourist industry and threatens to harm its broader business climate. Japanese government and business leaders have criticized such fears of radioactive contamination as an overreaction. Tokyo lies about 200 kilometers south of the crippled power plant. --

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