Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe visits Theresa May at her country retreat in Aylesbury | Pool photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth/Getty Images Brexit Files Insight Japan’s message to Theresa May: Wait your turn British prime minister wants a trade deal with Tokyo, but the Japanese want to finish talks with the EU first.

North Korea's decision to fire a missile over northern Japan on Tuesday morning was not the backdrop Prime Minister Theresa May would have wanted for her three-day trip to Japan this week.

May is there to plug post-Brexit global Britain and to discuss with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe prospects for a bilateral trade and investment relationship. On that front, the mood music ahead of the trip is not encouraging.

Japanese officials have already played down the chances of Tokyo coming forward with any assurances on a trade deal with the U.K. The country is instead prioritizing full implementation of a landmark trade deal with the EU, which it agreed in principle last month.

The message from Tokyo: Wait your turn.

One message that has trickled out from aides close to May is that the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which gained political support in July, could be used as a basis for a future trade deal between Japan and the U.K.

That might sound great on paper — no need to start trade negotiations from scratch when there is a ready-made template — but May’s pitch to the Japanese may not yield much. Japan is reluctant to conduct trade talks with the U.K. before it is clear what sort of relationship Britain will have with the rest of Europe — something that is likely to take years. Indeed, the future of Japan's massive car manufacturing operations in Britain hinges directly on the U.K.'s access to the EU single market.

“The Japanese government must react to a sense of crisis among businesses and do the utmost to gather information and analyze it, and support Japanese firms based on the recognition that Britain’s exit from the EU has a direct impact on them,” was the less than diplomatic statement from Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura on Monday.

May’s visit comes as her team of Brexit negotiators begin the third round of talks on Britain's exit from the EU in Brussels. A trade deal with Japan will depend as much on progress there as it does on what the prime minister has to say in Tokyo.

This insight is from POLITICO's Brexit Files newsletter, a daily afternoon digest of the best coverage and analysis of Britain’s decision to leave the EU. Read today’s edition or subscribe here.