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By Julie Pace The Associated Press TOKYO » Facing fresh ques- tions about his commitment to Asia, President Barack Obama will seek to convince Japan's leaders Thursday that he can deliver on his se - curity and economic pledges, even as the crisis in Ukraine demands U.S. attention and resources elsewhere. The ominous standoff be - tween Ukraine and Russia is threatening to overshadow Obama's four-country Asia swing that began Wednes - day. He may decide during the trip whether to levy new economic sanctions on Mos- cow, a step that would signal the failure of an international agreement aimed at defusing the crisis. But at least publicly, Obama will try to keep the fo - cus on his Asia agenda, which includes reaffirming his com- mitment to a defense treaty with Japan, making prog- ress on a stalled trans-Pa- cific trade agreement and fi- nalizing a deal to modestly in- crease the American military footprint in the Philippines. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and Obama had a long talk at a private din - ner Wednesday evening and looked forward to a fruitful meeting Thursday "so that we can jointly send a mes - sage to the rest of the world that the Japan-U.S. alliance is unshakeable and strong." Obama opened the first state visit by an American president to Japan in nearly 20 years with the dinner at Tokyo's famed sushi restau - rant Sukiyabashi Jiro. The restaurant is run by 88-year- old Jiro Ono, whose meticu- lous technique was detailed in the 2011 documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi." Abe told reporters Obama praised the meal as "the best sushi he had had in his life." On Thursday, Obama will meet with Japanese Emperor Akihito, have a news confer - ence with Abe and attend a banquet at the Imperial Pal- ace. He also plans to visit the Meiji Shrine, which hon- ors the emperor whose reign saw Japan emerge from over two centuries of isolation to become a world power. Obama's stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines serve as something of a do-over after he canceled a visit to Asia last fall because of the U.S. gov - ernment shutdown. The can- cellation provided fresh fod- der for those in the region who worry that the White House's much-hyped pivot to Asia is continually taking a backseat to other foreign and domestic priorities. "I think the president will want to make clear that this commitment will be unaf - fected by developments in Ukraine and other global events," said Jeffrey Bader, Obama's former Asia direc - tor. "Countries want to hear that the U.S. presence is in fact steady and strong as China rises." While China is not on Obama's eight-day itiner - ary, leaders in Beijing will be closely watching the presi- dent's tour. Obama's advis- ers insist the trip — and the White House's broader Asia policy — is not designed counter to China's growing power, and they say the pres - ident is not asking Asian na- tions to choose between alle- giance to Washington or Bei- jing. Still, Obama faces a par- ticularly tricky balance in To- kyo, which is locked in a tense territorial dispute with China over islands Japan oversees in the East China Sea. The U.S. has a defense treaty re - quiring it to come to Japan's defense if it is attacked, and Obama is expected to reaf- firm his commitment to that agreement. Ahead of his ar- rival, he told a Japanese newspaper that the treaty does apply to the island dis- putes and he opposes "uni- lateral attempts to under- mine Japan's administration of these islands." "Disputes need to be re- solved through dialogue and diplomacy, not intimidation and coercion," Obama said in a written response to ques - tions from Japan's Yomiuri newspaper. A Chinese government spokesman responded that China has "indisputable sov - ereignty" over the islands and that "the so-called Ja- pan-U.S. alliance" should not harm China's territorial rights. "The U.S. should respect facts, take a responsible at - titude, remain committed to not taking sides on terri- tory and sovereignty issues, speak and act cautiously and earnestly play a constructive role in regional peace and stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. FOreign relaTiOns Obama talks security, economy with Japan Carolyn Kaster — the assoCiated Press President Barack obama and Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe depart sukiyabashi Jiro sushi restaurant Wednesday in tokyo. By Brady Mccombs The Associated Press salT laKe CiTY » This week's fatal shooting of a gang mem- ber by a U.S. marshal in- side Salt Lake City's federal courthouse during the man's trial has put the spotlight on his relatively unknown street gang. Siale Angilau, 25, was a member of "Tongan Crip Gang," a group composed of young men of Tongan, Sa - moan and other Pacific Is- land descent who have been pulling off robberies and as- saults in the Salt Lake City area since the late 1980s fol- lowing a model set by a gang established years earlier in Inglewood, gang experts say. Utah has one of the country's largest communities of peo - ple of Polynesian descent. The gang ascribes to the larger "Crip" culture, wear- ing blue paraphernalia and viewing red-clad "Bloods" as rivals. In addition to Utah and California, the gang has a presence in Alaska, the FBI reports in its most re - cent gang threat assessment issued in 2011. They bully kids into join- ing, knock out convenience store clerks with one punch and operate with bravado predicated on their size and strength, said retired Sgt. Ron Stallworth, the former gang intelligence coordina - tor for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Each rob- bery and assault earns mem- bers "juice" or "street cred" and elevates their stature in the group, federal prosecu- tors say. "They've been out of con- trol for a number of years," said Stallworth, who re- tired in 2005. "They've al- ways had a reputation for vi- olence. They are extremely violent now." A n g i - lau was one of 17 people named in a 2010 indict - ment accus- ing Tongan Crip mem- bers of as- sault, con- spiracy, robbery and weap- ons offenses. He was the last defendant in the case to stand trial, with previous defen- dants being sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison. Authorities say Angilau grabbed a pen Monday and rushed the witness in an ag - gressive manner, triggering the U.S. marshal to shoot him several times. The wit- ness also was a member of the gang. Angilau's attorney and a former high school football coach said they were sur - prised by Angilau's actions, calling him a kind man who always treated them with re- spect. Angilau is among a large community of Utah residents of Polynesian descent in the Salt Lake City area. Origi - nally drawn to Utah by Mor- mon missionaries in the 19th century, the state today has nearly 37,000 people who identify as being native Ha - waiian and Pacific Islander, Census figures show. That's more than every state other than California, Hawaii and Washington. Members of the original Tongan Crips were born and raised in the Los Angeles area but are ethnically Poly - nesian, said Alex Alonso, who's researched LA gangs for more than two decades. Their families immigrated to the United States from the Kingdom of Tonga, a Polyne - sian sovereign state, in the 1970s, primarily living in poor inner city areas. gangs Courthouse shooting sheds light on 'Tongan Crips' Angilau By eric Tucker The Associated Press WasHingTOn » The Jus- tice Department is encour- aging nonviolent federal in- mates who have behaved in prison, have no significant criminal history and have already served more than 10 years behind bars to ap - ply for clemency, officials an- nounced Wednesday. The initiative is part of a broader Obama admin- istration effort to trim the nation's prison population, ease sentencing disparities arising from drug posses - sion crimes and scale back the use of strict punishments for drug offenders without a violent past. The goal is to create a larger pool of eligi - ble prisoners the Justice De- partment can recommend to the president to consider for shorter sentences. Deputy Attorney Gen - eral James Cole laid out half a dozen criteria for clem- ency that the government will consider in evaluat- ing future inmate applica- tions. The announcement is aimed primarily at drug prisoners, especially those sentenced under old guide - lines that resulted in signifi- cantly harsher penalties for people caught with crack co- caine than for those who pos- sessed the powder form of the drug. But it also applies to federal inmates impris- oned for other crimes, pro- vided they meet the same criteria. "These defendants were properly held accountable for their criminal conduct. However, some of them, simply because of the oper - ation of sentencing laws on the books at the time, re- ceived substantial sentences that are disproportionate to what they would receive to- day," Cole said. "Even the sentencing judges in many of these cases expressed regret at the time at having to im - pose such harsh sentences." To be eligible for consid- eration, inmates must be deemed nonviolent, low-level offenders with no gang ties, and must have spent at least 10 years behind bars and re - ceived a harsher punishment at the time of sentencing than they would have got- ten for the same crime to- day. It's not clear how many of the tens of thousands of drug offenders currently imprisoned would be viable candidates for consideration. COurTs US weighs clemency for inmates jailed for 10 years By Mark sherman The Associated Press WasHingTOn » The Su- preme Court on Wednes- day rejected a plea to make it easier for victims of child pornography to collect money from people who view their images online, throwing out a nearly $3.4 million judgment in favor of a woman whose childhood rape has been widely seen on the Internet. Two dis - senting justices said Con- gress should change the law to benefit victims. The justices said in a 5-4 ruling that a 1994 federal law gives victims the right to seek restitution from of - fenders, but only to the ex- tent that the victim's losses are tied to the offenders' actions. In this case, Doyle Randall Paroline was held liable by a federal appeals court for the entire amount of the woman's losses, though his computer con - tained just two images of her, among more than 150 illicit photographs. The case involved a woman known in court pa - pers by the pseudonym "Amy." Her losses for psy- chological care, lost income and attorneys' fees have been pegged at nearly $3.4 million, based on the ongo - ing Internet trade and view- ing of images of her being raped by her uncle when she was 8 and 9 years old. She said she was "sur - prised and confused" by the decision, according to a statement her law yer posted online. Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court that the appellate judges went too far when they said that Pa - roline was responsible for all of the woman's losses, with- out determining how much harm he caused her. Ken- nedy said federal judges have to figure out the right amount, but he provided only "rough guideposts for determining an amount that fits the offense." A federal judge now will work out what Paroline should pay the woman. The ruling steered a mid - dle ground between the woman's call for full restitu- tion and Paroline's claim that there was no relationship be- tween his conduct and the woman's losses, so that there should be no award of restitu- tion. The case turned on the interpretation of the federal law granting restitution to victims of sex crimes, includ - ing child pornography. Justices Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan joined Kennedy's opinion. Chief Justice John Rob - erts, joined by Justices An- tonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, said the restitution law as written should mean that Amy gets nothing. In a separate dissent, Justice So - nia Sotomayor said she would have upheld the full award. Both Roberts and Soto- mayor said Congress can rewrite the law to make it clearer. The U.S. Sentenc- ing Commission has recom- mended that lawmakers elim- inate confusion among fed- eral judges about the right way to calculate restitution. "The statute as written al- lows no recovery; we ought to say so, and give Congress a chance to fix it," Roberts said. Advocates for child por - nography victims argued that holding defendants lia- ble for the entire amount of losses better reflects the on- going harm that victims suf- fer each time someone views the images online. The threat of a large financial judgment, coupled with a prison term, also might deter some peo - ple from looking at the im- ages in the first place, the ad- vocates said. "It's significant that the Su- preme Court said that based on this harm, you have a right to restitution," said Mai Fer- nandez, executive director of the National Center for Vic- tims of Crime. "But there's no guarantee that she'll be able to collect the full amount that's owed to her." Fernan - dez also said Congress should write a clear formula into the law to make it easier to force offenders to pay. Had the woman prevailed at the Supreme Court, courts would not have had to deter - mine exactly how much harm any one defendant caused her. 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