Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in Brazil on Tuesday on the first leg of a three-country trip that will also include Mexico and the United States.

Brazil is home to one the largest Japanese communities outside Japan, and hundreds of thousands of Brazilians of Japanese descent live in Sao Paulo, the center of most Japanese investment in Brazil.

Koizumi planned to spend most of Wednesday in Sao Paulo before heading to Brasilia, the capital, for a meeting on Thursday with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In Mexico, Koizumi is expected to sign a free-trade agreement with President Vicente Fox.

He's to then travel to U.N. headquarters in New York, where he is expected to lobby for a permanent seat for Japan on the United Nations Security Council. The council's five permanent members with veto power are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. Japan, Germany, India and Brazil also have sought seats on a reorganized council.

Koizumi also plans to address the U.N. General Assembly and meet with President Bush.

Source: Agencies