TOKYO - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stretched with a group of ordinary Japanese after an early morning run on Thursday, smiling and chatting to locals on the second day of a visit to Japan aimed at warming ties.

Clad in a black track suit with the logo of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and surrounded by security personnel, the 64-year-old Wen jogged for about half an hour in a park near his hotel in Tokyo, television footage showed.

He then joined a group doing stretching exercises set to music.

"I am Wen Jiabao," he told some women through an interpreter.

"Oh yes, we saw you on television," one of the women replied.

Wen has said he played basketball and baseball as a youth and is known for jogging on foreign visits. He also said he wants to play some ball with Japanese university students in Kyoto during his visit.

The Chinese premier is due to present his theme of a friendly, peaceful China to Japan's parliament later on Thursday.