Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and his family arrived in Taiwan Monday for a four-day private visit. Upon his arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Aso was greeted by John Feng, Taiwan's representative to Tokyo, and Tadashi Imai, Japan's representative to Taipei. Aso was seen chatting animatedly with Feng, but did not respond to press inquiries about his itinerary in Taiwan, nor did he make any public speeches. He shook hands with some Japanese visitors at the airport. Accompanied by his wife, daughter and personal aides, Aso left the airport for Taipei shortly after his arrival. According to a report carried in the Monday edition of the Japanese Sankei Shimbun, Aso is visiting Taiwan at the invitation of Taiwanese friends. The report quoted Aso as having told the Japanese Diet that during his visit he would look at Taiwan's political development. This is Aso's first trip to Taiwan since he stepped down as premier last September after his party lost a parliamentary election to the Democratic Party of Japan in August 2009. Aso, who served as Japan's prime minister from September 2008 through September 2009, last visited Taiwan in April 2003 in his capacity as head of the then- ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy coordination council. During that visit, he attended a seminar with politicians from Taiwan's then-ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Only two other retired Japanese prime ministers have ever visited Taiwan. The late Japanese Prime Minister Take Fukuda visited Taiwan in March 1992, and former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori visited Taiwan in December 2003 and again in November 2006. 