Minister Gives Hayden Panettiere The OK To Return to Japan 8/13/08

Actress Hayden Panettiere has been given the all-clear to return to Japan after an arrest warrant was issued for her following an anti-whaling protest there last year (07).

Last November (07), the Heroes star joined animal rights activists in a protest against the slaughtering of dolphins in the historic whaling town of Taiji, Japan prompting local authorities to issue a warrant for her arrest.

But Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura has personally welcomed the actress back to the country, telling her she has nothing to fear.

Panettiere tells HollyScoop.com, "I think they did it (issue an arrest warrant) to pretty much scare us from coming back.

"I went and had a meeting with the Foreign Minister and he said I was welcome anytime. Very kind man. Very welcoming, and he said I was his most welcome guest, so there's a shocker."

And the actress cannot wait to return: "The culture is such that it's one of the kindest, most polite, most welcoming cultures you can ever run across."