Shoppers jam the streets in Tokyo's Ginza district. China topped a list of countries with which the Japanese public most want to improve relations, according to a poll.[AFP]

Tokyo - China topped a list of countries with which the Japanese public most want to improve relations, according to a poll.

The United States, Japan's ally, was second, followed by South Korea, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

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China has replaced the US as Japan's top trade partner, as Beijing has emerged as a global economic powerhouse.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in September, has worked to improve bilateral ties by visiting China and South Korea shortly after he took office.

The Sino-Japan ties were significantly damaged under former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who repeatedly visited a war shrine in Tokyo, angering Beijing and Seoul, which refused to hold bilateral summits with him.

After South Korea, Europe -- excluding the United Kingdom -- was followed by India, according to the poll.

Russia and the United Kingdom were named as the sixth and seventh nations with which the Japanese believe Tokyo should put most effort into improving relations, the Nihon Keizai said.

The telephone survey was conducted from Friday through Sunday and received 872 valid responses.