What is Japan up to?

From August 12th to 14th, former Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba led a cross-party parliamentarian delegation to China's Taiwan region. The visit sparked serious protests from China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned Japanese politicians "not to forget the lessons of history" and to stop sending the wrong signals to separatists. The visit came against a rising tide of high-level interactions between Japan and the Taiwan region in recent months, reneging on Japan's repeated commitments not to have official relations with the region. What are they up to? Why such timing? Is this the shape of things to come?