"For the moment, all is forgiven, and no questions need be asked," says the mass-circulation centrist Asahi Shimbun.

This is only the first step in uncovering the truth

Sankei Shimbun

Being reunited 24 years after they were "swept away" is enough to be getting on with. But, the paper adds, "tough questions remain".

How were the five spirited away? How did they live? And can they shed light on the fate of other abductees?

"These and other questions will most likely haunt the five, and their families, in the days to come," the paper says.

Terrible hardships

Tokyo's right-leaning Sankei Shimbun is likewise torn between the joy of the moment and worries over the truth of the past.

The abductees have been forced to go through "terrible hardships" and will doubtless be given a warm welcome by their relatives.

"The Japanese people share this feeling," the paper says.

The important thing, though, is to remember is that this is "only the first step in uncovering the truth".

But the paper warns one should not expect much truth in the short term. The returnees have left their children behind and are therefore "not really in a position to speak their mind".

Hitomi Soga, whose mother is still among the missing

The government should understand this and keep asking them whether they would like to return for good.

"It should persist in such efforts," the paper says, adding that North Korea's assertions that other abductees "died" should also be probed.

Centrist Yomiuri Shimbun looks at the issue from the point of view of the Japanese administration.

While welcoming the return, the government intends to continue pressing Pyongyang for more details on the abductions.

"The abduction issue isn't settled yet. Things start from now," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is quoted as saying.

The paper dwells on the difficulties in establishing the true wishes of the five.

It quotes a foreign ministry official as saying they "might have been brainwashed".

"In such a situation, the government is relying on the families to determine their wishes," the official says.

"The abductees need time to go back to North Korea and talk with their children."

Government dilemma

But an editorial in the same paper is unhappy with government caution.

"We urge the government to press Pyongyang to uncover the whole picture of the abduction cases in a more determined manner," it says.

We have to talk with them about exactly what happened

Mainichi Shimbun

Nor, the paper adds, are abductions the only issue on which Japan should press Pyongyang in forthcoming talks on the normalisation of ties.

"Japan should seek clear explanations on issues concerning the security of Japan, East Asia and the world, such as North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons," the paper says.

Tokyo's centrist Mainichi Shimbun worries in turn about the duration of the visitors' stay.

Although Pyongyang allowed the five to visit on condition they return "one or two weeks later", a group of MPs want them to stay longer.

"We have to talk with them about exactly what happened," one is quoted as saying.

But the foreign ministry is opposed to this view, "apparently because they don't want to raise the ire of Pyongyang before the diplomatic normalisation talks", the paper says.

"We will face a serious dilemma unless the five people return to North Korea as scheduled," a ministry official comments.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.