The Japanese government has sent an official for the first time to a ceremony in western Japan to promote the country's claim to disputed islands in the Sea of Japan.
The islands are known in Japan as Takeshima. South Korea controls them.
Aiko Shimajiri, the Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary in charge of the Takeshima issue, attended the annual event in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, on Friday afternoon. She is the first Japanese government official to do so.
The South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry warned on Thursday that it may take countermeasures if a government official attends the ceremony.
Some South Korean media outlets are speculating that Japan's government intends to elevate the importance of the prefectural event.
Others say the event may cause bilateral ties to worsen before President-elect Park Geun-hye is inaugurated on Monday.
Government spending is a classic remedy for weak growth. But it is one Japan has tried over and over - pouring roughly $2 trillion into concrete and steel since 1990 in a vain effort to resuscitate the economy, now in its fourth recession since 2000.
Economists warn that, without reforms to lift Japan's long-term growth potential, more such spending will produce only a temporary jolt that swells a government debt already worth more than double national output.
"The impact should be substantial but also a short-term one," said Tomo Kinoshita, chief economist at Nomura Securities in Tokyo. Kinoshita estimates that every 10 trillion yen of spending would add only about 11 trillion to GDP.
But even getting that sort of bang for the buck will be difficult, because so much has already been built. Though Abe swept to power promising to wield a new broom, his Liberal Democratic Party's decades-long addiction to concrete has left Japan bristling with reminders of the pork-barrel policies that have helped establish its political dominance since 1955.
The world's 61st largest country, Japan has 1.2 million km (745,000 miles) of roads, the world's fifth-largest network. It has 680,000 bridges, almost 10,000 tunnels, 250 bullet trains and 98 airports. Government critics have long derided many as white elephants - unnecessary, costly and environmentally harmful.