Cablegate: Daily Summary of Japanese Press 08/07/06

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

(2) Hiroshima City's requests to Foreign Ministry criticizes missile
defense as step leading to space nuclear proliferation

(3) Japan to develop quiet supersonic transport with dream on board

(4) Yasukuni Shrine part-2: Emperor being used for political
purposes; Both rightists and leftists trying to serve their own
interests; Thorough discussions on essential arguments needed

(5) Yasukuni (Part 1): Emergency representative council meeting
follows revelation of emperor's memo; "We must tell the public that
the enshrinement was not Matsudaira's independent decision" "Let's
watch the situation calmly. Separation of memorial tablets is not an
option"

(6) Editorial: Abe visits Yasukuni Shine secretly; Diplomatic,
political controversies will never be resolved this way

(7) Editorial: Abe's visit to Yasukuni taken as natural act on
behalf of the war dead

ARTICLES:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
August 6, 2006

The Defense Agency has found it difficult to make a report on North
Korea's recent firing of ballistic missiles. The agency wanted to
release the report by Aug. 5, a month after the missile launches.
However, the United States, a core in the role of gathering and
analyzing intelligence on missiles launched, has asked Japan to
abstain from releasing a detailed report. North Korea fired a total
of seven missiles, but Japan and the United States differ in their
respective analyses of those lunched missiles when it comes to their
types. The agency is expected to release the report in mid-August at
the earliest or afterward.

"If that is the case, we don't have to be in a hurry." So saying,
Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga gave instructions
to senior officials at his office on Aug. 4. The defense chief then
made up his mind to move down the agency's scheduled release of the
report out of consideration for the United States frowning on
disclosing missile data in detail.

A US early warning satellite in a geostationary orbit was the first
to pick up North Korea's recent firing of missiles including a newly
developed long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. The United
States does not share all of its satellite intelligence with its
allies since its satellite intelligence is classified as top secret.
The United States provided Japan with its satellite data. One US
official, however, says it is meaningless to release such a report,
reiterating that the United States cannot spill the beans.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force was on the alert, staging an
Aegis-equipped destroyer in the Sea of Japan for North Korean
missiles. The on-stage MSDF destroyer also detected and tracked the
launched missiles. The Defense Agency is making a report without

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

touching on US secrets.

Japan and the United States differ in some of their analyses. This
is one of the reasons why the Defense Agency is taking time to
release the report.

"North Korea launched two Rodong missiles and four Scud missiles."
With this, the United States, in late July, provided the Defense
Agency informally with findings from its analysis of six missiles
excluding the third-launched Taepodong-2 missile. The United States
has concluded that the first and sixth missiles were
intermediate-range missiles of the Rodong type, and that the second,
fourth, fifth, and seventh ones were short-range missiles of the
Scud type.

This analysis, however, differs from Japan's. According to the
Defense Agency's analysis, the first one was a "new Scud missile"
with a range longer than the conventional Scud-C missile that ranges
about 500 kilometers. The Defense Agency's Defense Intelligence
Headquarters (DIH) monitored radio waves at its six facilities in
Japan. In addition, the DIH also took account of human intelligence
(HUMINT) from North Korea's neighbors, such as China and Russia.

Furthermore, China and Russia reportedly discovered that North Korea
had fired more than 10 missiles, not seven. A senior official of the
Defense Agency also admitted to that possibility. However, the
United States is negative about the firing of more than 10 missiles
including a new Scud missile. So the Defense Agency will not specify
the missile types in detail.

Some Defense Agency officials have raised a question about North
Korea's "complete failure" to launch the Taepodong-2 missile. The
United States has only said the engine burned for 40 seconds,
disclosing nothing in detail about its data including its angle or
landing point. "There's almost no data," one commentator on military
affairs noted. "It's too early to conclude that North Korea failed
to launch the Taepodong-2, unless we find out whether the
Taepodong-2 was equipped with a guidance system," the critic added.

(2) Hiroshima City's requests to Foreign Ministry criticizes missile
defense as step leading to space nuclear proliferation

AKAHATA (Page 2) (Full)
August 7, 2006

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and city assemblyman Hiroyuki Fujita
handed a set of requests for peace to Parliamentary Secretary for
Foreign Affairs Kiyohiko Toyama on August 6 in Hiroshima City.

The proposals criticized America's self-centered implication of the
first-strike use of nuclear weapons and its development of new
nuclear weapons as going against the trend of the eradication of
nuclear weapons. The requests also urged the Japanese government to
pursue diplomacy actively for eradicating nuclear weapons under its
constitution and to fulfill it's responsibility of preventing war
for the world tomorrow by conveying the memories, voices, and
prayers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the world, especially to the
United States.

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

The requests also touched on the Japanese government's plan to
introduce a missile defense system. The requests read, "Hiroshima
strongly fears that the missile defense plan will destabilize the
global nuclear weapons system further, resulting in a new nuclear
arms race in space."

In response, Toyama said: "I will convey the requests to the
(foreign) minister. Because they are comprehensive, we will respond
to you in writing."

Hiroshima City has annually made requests to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The
city did not submit any requests to the MHLW this year because
Minister Jiro Kawasaki was absent.

(3) Japan to develop quiet supersonic transport with dream on board

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Top play) (Full)
Eve., August 5, 2006

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will start next fiscal
year to develop a quiet supersonic transport (QSST) plane prototype.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(MEXT) will earmark necessary costs in its budget estimate for next
fiscal year.

An airplane flying at supersonic speed brings about a sonic boom,
which damages houses with their windowpanes breaking. So the
Concorde, now mothballed, could not fly at supersonic speed over
continents.

Last September, JAXA's experimental mini-supersonic plane
demonstrated test flights in Australia and successfully reduced its
air resistance. Next fiscal year, JAXA will try to overcome the
sonic boom.

JAXA'S experimental plane holds down the sonic boom to half the
level of the Concorde's as a QSST plane that can fly at supersonic
speed anywhere. It has an overall length of 13 meters and will make
20-30 test flights at Mach 1.4 or faster. JAXA will complete its
QSST development by 2012. Its research cost is estimated at 20
billion yen.

In the meantime, a US venture firm has unveiled its project to
commercialize a 12-seater QSST plane by 2013. JAXA would like to
make its prototype's debut before the US model.

JAXA envisions international cooperation with France and other
countries for its dream plan to build a QSST plane with a seating
capacity of 300 around 2025.

(4) Yasukuni Shrine part-2: Emperor being used for political
purposes; Both rightists and leftists trying to serve their own
interests; Thorough discussions on essential arguments needed

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 25) (Excerpts)
August 4, 2006

Many of those who are against the prime minister's visit to Yasukuni

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

Shrine are taking the Tomita memo cautiously.

Hideki Chimoto, professor of modern Japanese history at Tsukuba
University, made a cautious remark on statements made by experts
since the media report on the discovery of Tomita memo, "Apparently,
there is an aspect of those who are in favor of separating Class-A
war criminals from Yasukuni Shrine making statements for political
purposes." Since the media reported the contents of the Tomita memo,
many of those who are against the prime minister visiting Yasukuni
said, "See, we told you so!" Chimoto is skeptical about making such
remarks, saying, "They are not looking at the memo in an overall
context."

Paving the way for the Emperor's visit to Yasukuni

Chimoto suspects that those who are calling for separating Class-A
criminals from Yasukuni Shrine might want to do so in order to
reinstate the Emperor's own visits there, and not just to bring
about prime ministerial visits there. They want to properly
characterize the position of Yasukuni in the framework of the
state."

Minoru Zushi, executive director of the Tokyo administrative office
of the "Association to File a Lawsuit against the Prime Minister's
Visit to Yasukuni Shrine as a Violation of the Constitution," takes
a similar view to that of Chimoto.

Zushi is concerned about statements made by Koga and others since
the discovery of the Tomita memo: "Their statements are like the
legislative arm of the state calling on the executive arm to defend
Yasukuni Shrine. It is very dangerous. Mr. Koga and others probably
think that even if the prime minister visits Yasukuni Shrine, it
would be meaningless unless the emperor visits it. For them, it is
important to pave the way for the emperor to visit Yasukuni Shrine,
even at the cost of removing the Class-A war criminals."

Chimoto, himself a member of a bereaved family, has a stock
argument: "Those who are in favor of removing the Class-A war
criminals, such as Mr. Koga, and Prime Minister Koizumi say that
Yasukuni is a simply a facility to commemorate the war dead. But a
spokesman for Yasukuni Shrine said that it is a facility to console
the souls of the war dead and to throw light on their hidden virtue.
It means that Yasukuni is a facility to praise those who died for
the emperor." "See you at Yasukuni!" were the words used to send
soldiers off to their deaths. The state cannot serve as an entity to
console the souls of the war dead. It is the role of bereaved
families and those who were close to the war dead to console thenm.
The state should self-reflect on the mistakes it committed."

Koichiro Tomioka, a literary critic, said: "Both rightists and
leftists in sending messages tend to view the emperor's remarks in
ways that suit them. This has given rise to a strange situation." He
continued, "Media companies that have been critical of the emperor's
involvement in politics now say that the prime minister must
reconsider his Yasukuni visits because the emperor made those
remarks. Or conservative people say the emperor could not have
possibly made such remarks."

Tomioka views that Japan has imposed all responsibility for the war

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

on Class-A war criminals. He said, "The essential problem is that
neither the emperor nor the state has been proactive in taking an
overall view of the war."

"I heard that when sentences were handed down on Class-A war
criminals, the emperor seriously thought of abdicating. But the
situation did not allow him to do so. If such a situation is taken
into account, it is hard to understand in what context the emperor
made those remarks. Discussions are going on, mixing up the
emperor's public capacity with his personal feelings."

(5) Yasukuni (Part 1): Emergency representative council meeting
follows revelation of emperor's memo; "We must tell the public that
the enshrinement was not Matsudaira's independent decision" "Let's
watch the situation calmly. Separation of memorial tablets is not an
option"

MAINICHI (Top play) (Abridged)
August 6, 2006

Yasukuni Shrine has been keeping an ostensible silence since a
newspaper scoop revealed on July 20 a memorandum quoting the Showa
Emperor's (Hirohito) displeasure with the enshrinement of Class-A
war criminals at the shrine. Eight days later, on July 28, Yasukuni
Shrine's chief priest Toshiaki Nambu, shocked by the revelation of
the memo, called an emergency meeting of the representative council,
the shrine's top decision-making body, to secretly discuss
countermeasures. The meeting began at 3:00 p.m.

The council meets twice a year: to approve the annual budget in
March and the settlement of accounts in June. Priests conduct shrine
rituals and the representative council endorses operational policy,
priests' personnel affairs, and the enshrinement of the newly
recognized war dead.

At the meeting, Nambu, clad in a traditional Shinto costume, asked
the representatives to actively discuss the shrine's stance. Nambu
also handed the representative copies of the shrine's diaries
detailing how the shrine had reported its decision to enshrine
Class-A war criminals to the Emperor. The council's minutes were
stamped "top secret."

The meeting was attended by seven of the 10 representatives,
including a former supreme court chief justice, who had once ruled
that cash offerings from state coffers was constitutional in
response to an Ehime lawsuit, a former Health and Welfare vice
minister, who was in charge of procedures for the enshrinement of
Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine, and a son of a former army
minister. Two were absent from the meeting. Japan War-Bereaved
Association Chairman Makoto Koga has resigned as chair or the
representative council. His successor remains undecided.

The shrine's No. 2 priest Tatebumi Yamaguchi explained:

"In 1966, the Health and Welfare Ministry sent us a list of names
for enshrinement, Mr. Kazuo Aoki proposed swift enshrinement in a
representative council meeting in 1970, and his proposal was
approved. On October 6, 1978, chief priest Nagayoshi Matsudaira made
the same proposal and it was again approved."

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

Aoki was a member of the Hideki Tojo wartime cabinet as the Greater
East Asia minister. Aoki was detained as a possible Class-A war
criminal but he was never indicted. Once he became head of the
representative council, he arranged to have the executed Class-A war
criminals elevated to Shinto deity (eirei) status.

The chair of the representative council opened the July 28 meeting.

Former Takushoku University President Shiro Odamura then said: "We
should tell (the public) that the enshrinement was not something
that chief priest Matsudaira did by himself.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Toru Miyoshi chimed in: "They
died for their country. People today have no right to say they must
be removed from Yasukuni Shrine."

Kyoto Sangyo University Prof. Isao Tokoro asked: "Doesn't the
emperor's envoy come to the annual festival with the emperor's
message?" The question was intended to confirm if the ritual had not
changed, even after the emperor himself stopped visiting the shrine.
The shrine replied that there was no change in that part of the
ritual. Some members indicated that the reason for the shrine's
reason for rejection of separation of memorial tablets of the war
criminals was too difficult for people to understand, and that the
recent memo's contents had shocked the bereaved families.

At around 5:30 p.m., chief priest Nambu summed up the meeting: "We
don't know anything about the memo. Commentators are expected to
raise all sorts of questions, so let's just watch the situation
quietly. We will not remove the Class-A war criminals from the
shrine, and that policy will not change. We will not be China's beck
and call."

Yasukuni Shrine is waiting for a chance to fight back regardless of
the growing argument to separate the Class-A war criminals from the
war dead enshrined there.

(6) Editorial: Abe visits Yasukuni Shine secretly; Diplomatic,
political controversies will never be resolved this way

ASAHI (Page 3) (Full)
August 5, 2006

It has been revealed that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe visited
Yasukuni Shrine this spring.

Abe, though, has not officially announced the visit. In a press
conference yesterday, too, he just said: "Since this issue might
develop into a diplomatic or political problem, I have no intention
to say whether I went or not or whether I paid homage there."

Abe is zealous about paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine. He strongly
supports Prime Minister Koizumi's visits there. A visit to the
shrine by a chief cabinet secretary - a pivotal post in the cabinet
- will unavoidably turn into a diplomatic and political problem.
Probably with the aim of avoiding such a situation, he made an
unannounced visit to the shrine.

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

Even so, the people who expected him to pay homage at the shrine
wanted to know about his visit. Abe, though, in order to overcome
the two issues, might have felt it necessary to wait for the shrine
visit to be reported later by the media.

As admitted by Abe, his visit to the shrine is developing into a
controversial political and diplomatic issue. This is not an issue
to be silently brushed off. As the frontrunner in the Liberal
Democratic Party presidential race, he has the responsibility to
explain himself on this matter.

Should Abe become prime minister, there is a strong possibility that
the issue of his paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine will never go
away. In such a case, will he try to weather each storm by the same
means he resorted to this time?

Is that means even possible for a prime minister, who is always
surrounded by a large number of security police and whose every
action is under close watch by the media?

This is indisputably what Prime Minister Koizumi has been doing over
the past five years. Should Abe assume office as prime minister and
visit the shrine in the same way, public views will continue to be
split over its propriety, and relations with China and South Korea
will remain strained.

Those politicians who will lead Japan after Koizumi steps down are
urged to present a clear-cut way out of the current unfortunate
situation. It is inconceivable that a covert visit using a kind of
loophole can be a prescription for resolving the problem.

It was revealed recently that the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) ceased
visiting Yasukuni Shrine because of his displeasure at the
enshrinement of Class-A war criminals there.

Finance Minister Tanigaki, another candidate for the LDP
presidential election, has clearly said that he would refrain from
visiting the shrine. The ruling party is now debating the notion of
separating the Class-A war criminals from the shrine, and there is
even a plan to establish a new memorial for the war dead Serious
political efforts are underway in search of ways to resolve this
issue and reconstruct Japan's strained relations with China and
South Korea.

Former Industrial Bank of Japan President Masao Nishimura, who is
and Abe's uncle, noted in an article, "What is expected of the next
prime minister," written for the July edition of the monthly Ronza,
written just before he passed away suddenly:

"The logic to justify the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni
Shrine, where the souls of Class-A war criminals are enshrined,
might be acceptable among we Japanese but it is totally unacceptable
in the international community. Fully aware of the issue of war
responsibility, the next prime minister should give priority to a
pragmatic diplomatic approach, instead of ceasing paying homage at
the shrine because of complaints coming from China and South
Korea."

We expect Abe to face up to this issue squarely.

TOKYO 00004434 008 OF 009

SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

(7) Editorial: Abe's visit to Yasukuni taken as natural act on
behalf of the war dead

SANKEI (Page 2) (Full)
August 7, 2006

It has been learned that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe visited
Yasukuni Shrine this April. Abe has certain feelings toward the war
dead, and it is quite natural for him to express such feelings. The
visit is also quite a reasonable act as a cabinet minister. The
visit should not be taken up as a central issue of the Liberal
Democratic Party presidential election campaign.

Abe arrived at the shrine in a formal morning coat in the early
morning of April 15, prior to the annual spring celebration. He
entered his name in the shrine's visitors book along with his title
of chief cabinet secretary and offered a tamagushi - a spring from
the sakaki tree, which is sacred in Shinto - using his own money. He
then stepped into the sanctuary and prayed for the souls of the war
dead. In a lawsuit against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for his
visits to Yasukuni in a similar way, the Supreme Court handed down a
judgment against the plaintiff calling for confirmation that the
visits are in violation of the Constitution. There is no problem
with Abe's visit to the shrine.

Even so, Abe's Yasukuni visit undoubtedly sent a strong message to
China. In a speech at the LDP headquarters last April, Chinese
Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi said that Japan, after then Prime
Minister Yoshihiro Nakasone's official visit to the shrine on Aug.
15 in 1985, had concluded with China a "gentleman's agreement" under
which the prime minister, the chief cabinet secretary, and the
foreign minister would never pay homage at Yasukuni. The existence
of such a gentleman's agreement itself is quite disputable, and the
Japanese government has not recognized it.

The fact that Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe visited the shrine, in
addition to visits by Prime Minister Koizumi, represents the
Japanese government's denial of the agreement.

Abe commented: "I would like to continue to feel that I can pray for
the souls of the war dead and pay my respects to them." But he
added: "Since this issue might develop into a diplomatic or
political problem, I have no intention to say whether I went or not.
The issue should not be made more serious."

Ruling party members have come up with various responses. LDP
Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe emphatically said: "Since religious

SIPDIS
freedom is secured under the Constitution, there should be no
problem no matter who pay homage at the shrine. The dominant view is
that the issue should not be turned into a political problem. There
will be no impact on the election campaign." But former Secretary
General Koichi Kato said: "The chief cabinet secretary is a cabinet
member representing the government. I did not want him to go. Mr.
Abe has rejected the judgments at the Tokyo Tribunal of War
Criminals, so the situation is serious."

As expected, South Korea has fiercely reacted to Abe's Yasukuni
visit, a spokesman at the Chinese Foreign Ministry claiming: "It is

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/07/06
Part-1
INDEX:
(1) Defense Agency faced with difficulties in making report on North
Korea's missile launches; US frowns on public disclosure

very regrettable." Chinese Ambassador Wang came up with this cynical
criticism: "It is the tradition of Oriental persons to do in a
modest way what their neighbors dislike."

It is necessary to discuss the Yasukuni issue domestically, but
politicians and the media must consider which countries will be
pleased if the issue is made into a diplomatic problem.

SCHIEFFER

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