Hundreds of people protested outside the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, calling on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize for his country's treatment of people from other Asian countries during World War II.

Tuesday's protest comes days before the prime minister is scheduled to visit California, as part of weeklong trip to the United States that includes a State Dinner at the White House. Korean Americans and Chinese Americans at the protest chanted and waved signs. They spoke in both English and Cantonese and held high the South Korean flag.

"It's never too late to apologize because the insult and the wound that had been inflicted by Japan will not be forgotten until there is an apology," said Peter Li, retired professor of East Asian history at Rutgers University.