Tokyo - Japan welcomed the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama on Friday

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama he was "really pleased" at Obama's win and wanted to congratulate him "from the heart," the Kyodo news agency reported.

Hatoyama made his remarks shortly after arriving in Beijing for talks with China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak.

"We will share President Obama's goal (for nuclear disarmament) and highly evaluate his leadership," government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano said.

Opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki said Japan must be at the forefront of the movement to abolish nuclear weapons and that the award of the prize to Obama was "really something about which we should be glad," the Jiji news agency reported.

Japan is the only country to date to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. (dpa)