TOKYO (AFP) -- Japanese and South Korean leaders are hoping to keep tension under wraps Wednesday when a Japanese province marks its claim over islands administered by South Korea.

Relations between the neighbors have nosedived since the western Japanese prefecture of Shimane last year designated February 22 as "Takeshima Day" to mark its "rule" over the uninhabited island chain which Seoul calls Dokdo.

The move sparked furious protests in South Korea, where memories are still vivid of Japan's bloody 1910-1945 occupation.

But now that the actual day has come around, even Japanese members of Parliament representing Shimane are declining to take part in the festivities, sending representatives instead.

Analysts said Japan showed it was hoping to repair relations with democratic South Korea, while it is pessimistic on ties with communist China that have also been strained by wartime memories.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who both rarely hold back at riling China, declined invitations to the ceremony, prefectural official Yoshiki Ishihara said.

"I think it is better to deal with it calmly," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said about the day.

South Korea is also playing down the day, with only right-wing groups calling for protests.

"Our government regards the Takeshima Day as an event held by a local community. Unless there is any new reaction from Japan's central government, the South Korean government has no reaction nor comments on that," said Hwang Hyon Tak, spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Japan.

In a faint sign of fresh friction, Japanese media reported that a South Korean couple in their 60s landed on the islets Saturday by fishing boat with plans to start living there.

The islets -- some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Japan's Shimane and 215 kilometers east of South Korea's port city of Uljin -- have no permanent population.

But the symbolism is great: February 22 marks the anniversary of a 1905 declaration that the islands were part of Shimane prefecture following Japan's military defeat of Russia.

The war, the first time an Asian nation had defeated a European power, emboldened Japan which five years later seized the Korean peninsula.

"This is a historical issue for South Koreans. The only thing Japan can do is to keep silent so as not to provoke the South Korean general public," said Yoshihide Soeya, professor of international politics at Keio University.

He said Japan was pursuing a more conciliatory approach to South Korea than to China in part because Seoul was a democracy.

"It is easier to have empathy to a democratic country than to a one-party dictatorship," Soeya said.

But Japan also has little to win by drawing attention to the Takeshima dispute, said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor of international politics at Waseda University.

"The reason why Japan's policy towards South Korea seems a bit softer than its policy towards China is partly because the Takeshima islands only have fishery resources, not natural gas reserves like in the East China Sea where there is a territory disputed with China," Yamamoto said.

The dispute also shows the fragility of ties, he said. South Korea and China both called off summits last year with Koizumi due to his repeated visits to Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japanese war dead including war criminals.

"Unless Japan solves issues linked to its history, I would say the Takeshima issue could flame up again with a very tiny catalyst," Yamamoto said.