2010 - May 16 - Foreign Minister of Japan instituted Takeshima Issue to the Foreign Minister of South Korea.

"Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada offered support Sunday to his South Korean counterpart over the March sinking of the warship Cheonan and urged him to show "restraint" in dealing with Japan over a set of Korean-controlled islets that both sides claim." (17 May, 2010 Japan Times)

... It's really good to see he does his job this time.

Japan supports Seoul's patience in ship's sinking
Okada praises response to incident, sees link to isle dispute, six-way nuke talks, future FTA (17 May, 2010 : Japan Times)

As for the issue of the rocky disputed islets, which Japan calls Takeshima and South Korea calls Dokdo, Okada said he told Yu that he wants South Korea to be "cautious" and "restrained."

The two countries have long been at odds over the sovereignty of the islets as well as the name of the body of water they're in — the Sea of Japan.

Okada and Yu agreed they should make efforts to ensure the issue doesn't sour bilateral ties.

More detailed from AP

Japan asks S. Korea to halt activities related to disputed islets+
( May 17. 2010 : AP)

SEOUL, May 17 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada asked his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung Hwan on Sunday to halt activities, including geological surveys, related to South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, a diplomatic source told Yonhap News Agency on Monday.
"In explaining his country's position, Foreign Minister Okada asked Foreign Minister Yu to halt activities related to Dokdo," the source was quoted as saying.
"Specifically, (minister Okada) mentioned geological survey in waters around Dokdo," the source said.
In response, Yu reiterated the government's stand that Dokdo is South Korean territory historically, geographically and in terms of international law.
Okada and Yu held bilateral foreign ministerial talks following a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting with China in Gyeongju on Saturday.
The (South) Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute conducted a geological survey from April to May 10, which it has said was expected to be useful when building facilities around the islets known as Takeshima in Japan.

In Korean

“오카다 외상, 유외교에 직접 요청”
(May 17, 2010 : Choson online)

오카다 가쓰야(岡田 克也) 일본 외무대신이 지난 16일 경주에서 열린 한.일 외교장관회담에서 유명환 외 교통상부 장관에게 지질조사를 비롯한 한국 측의 독도 관련 활동을 자제해 달라고 요청한 것으로 17일 확인됐다.

Among almost all the fierce and "uncontrolled emotional" comments, I was very impressed with one of the comments from the Choson online site above.

이 정수(greens22)

독도문제는 감정적으로 대처할 문제가 아니다. 독도가 '대한민국'의 영토라는 역사적 고증을 체계적으로 제시해야한다. 그게 우리정부에 없다. 일본정부는 '논리적'으로 독도가 일본 영토임을 '과학적, 역사적'으로 입증하고 있다. UN국제사법재판소에 제소하면 100% 한국이 진다. 한국사를 모르는 사람들이 독도는 우리땅이라고 외쳐봐야 그건 '코메디'에 불과하다.[2010.05.17 18:39:26]

At least one out of 24 Korean knows Korea's claim on Takeshima/Dokdo is not based on a systematic historical investigation. Korean academics need to study the historical documents not a priori/deductively, but inductively, or no one except for fanatic pro-Korean would ever be convinced.