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Cablegate: Japanese Morning Press Highlights 08/16/06

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 004637

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DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA;
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION;
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE;
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN,
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR;
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA

SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 08/16/06

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Index:

Yasukuni aftermath:
1) China, ROK constrain criticism of Prime Minister Koizumi's Aug.
15 Yasukuni Shrine visit
2) United States sees Yasukuni visit as a "domestic issue"
3) However, there is concern in Washington about icy state of
Japan's relations with China
4) Business leaders fear that buoyant Japan-China economic relations
may now turn cold
5) Government took secret opinion poll prior to decision on
Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visit
6) 258,000 people visited Yasukuni on Aug. 15, biggest crowd in six
years
7) Cabinet, ruling parties not all supportive of Koizumi visit to
Yasukuni Shrine

Foreign policy agenda:
8) Government planning post-Koizumi administration push to repair
ties with China, South Korea, starting with summit meetings at APEC
or other forums
9) Japan, Russia working out cooperation plan for responding to
earthquake, tsunami in northern territories

Political issues:
10) Yasukuni issue certain to be main campaign issue in upcoming LDP
presidential race
11) Former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato's parental home
destroyed by fire that may have been arson

Articles:

1) China, South Korea toning down criticism of prime minister's
Yasukuni visit, placing emphasis on Koizumi successor

YOMIURI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
August 16, 2006

China

Tetsuya Suetsugu, Beijing

In its protest against Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni
Shrine on Aug. 15, the Chinese government singled out Koizumi, while
underlining its eagerness to improve relations with Japan under the
post-Koizumi administration to be inaugurated in September. China
expects that if it tries to minimize the negative impact of the
prime minister's Yasukuni visit and not to cast a damper on the
current trend toward improving bilateral relations, the next prime
minister would refrain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing called in Ambassador to China
Yuji Miyamoto to the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing yesterday
and criticized Koizumi's Yasukuni visit, targeting only the prime
minister: "Prime Minister Koizumi ignored the people's strong
opposition." By singling out Koizumi for its criticism, he tried to
minimize the damage to be caused to relations between Japan and
China.

Emphasizing the stance of placing importance on relations with
Japan, Li added: "We urge the Japanese government and leader to make
efforts to put Japan-China relations back on a normal development

TOKYO 00004637 002 OF 008


course." This remark is intended to tacitly ask the next prime
minister to refrain from visiting Yasukuni as the precondition for
improvement in bilateral ties.

South Korea

Kyoji Fukushima, Seoul

In a speech at the ceremony for the anniversary of the birth of
South Korea on Aug. 15, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said:
"Japan must reflect on its past conducts with its whole heart." He
did not refer to Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine
but just reiterated the need for Japan to take measures to settle
such issues as Yasukuni Shrine, the Takeshima/Dokdo islets, and
school textbooks.

The draft speech is composed of about 150 lines, including policy
toward North Korea, negotiations on a free trade agreement with the
United States, and domestic issues. On relations with Japan, only
six lines were devoted to that topic, in contrast to its response
when the prime minister visited the shrine in October 2005.

According to a South Korean government official, the president gave
importance to relations with the post-Koizumi administration with
just a month to go before Koizumi steps down. The official said that
his reference to Yasukuni and Takeshima/Dokdo issues is in a sense a
message to the next prime minister.

2) US says "Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni is domestic
Japanese issue"

SANKEI (Page 2) (Full)
August 16, 2006

Washington, Takashi Arimoto

White House Deputy Press Secretary Dina Perino told reporters about
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine: "We
understand that there are complicated historical issues in Asia. We
hope that the region will resolve them with concerted efforts."
Perino then revealed Washington's view, stating, "The prime
minister's Yasukuni visit is an internal Japanese matter. The US
will not interfere with this issue."

In their meetings with US President George W. Bush, Chinese
President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Roh Moon Hyun have
criticized Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, but the President has never
come around to them. Bush has hedged, saying, "Friends getting along
with other friends brings benefit to us as well."

3) US concern broadening about Japan's icy ties with China, ROK over
Prime Minister Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine; US urges
dialogue to resolve issue

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpt)
August 16, 2006

In the aftermath of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's paying homage
at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of the
war, concern is spreading widely in the United States, as well as in
parts of Asia, that the icy relations between Japan and China and
between Japan and the Republic of Korea will continue.

TOKYO 00004637 003 OF 008

President Bush has already expressed his expectation that bilateral
dialogues between Japan and China and between Japan and South Korea
will go forward. The Bush administration, now pressed by the Middle
East situation and by busily occupied with anti-terrorist measures,
wants to avoid complicating its Asia diplomacy by a worsening of
Japan-China, Japan-ROK relations, in view of the need to respond to
such issues as the North Korea missile and nuclear programs.

4) Prime Minister Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine: Business leaders
concerned Japan-China relations will become cold both politically
and economically; Next administration urged to improve situation

YOMIURI (Page 9) (Excerpts)
August 16, 2006

Following Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine
yesterday, business circles are increasingly concerned that the
visit will negatively affect the increasingly close economic
relations between Japan and China. According to informed sources,
many business leaders want the next administration to improve
relations with China and South Korea.

For Japan, China is now its second-largest trade partner, following
the US. The Finance Ministry's statistics show substantial growth in
bilateral trade, with exports to China in the first half of fiscal
2006 reaching 4.9552 trillion yen, up 26.1% over the same period in
the previous year and imports at 6.5219 trillion yen, up 16.2% over
the same period.

JFE Steel and Toyota Motor have recently started joint venture
companies in China. Oji Paper has obtained approval to build a large
paper plant in Jiangsu Province. Retailers, such as Isetan
Department Store and Ito-Yokado, are steadily expanding their
outlets.

However, there is a strong concern about the possibility of
worsening political relations with China affecting major projects
involving the government, such as bilateral talks over the
development of gas fields in the East China Sea and the high-speed
railway system Japan is now trying to sell to China, as a spokesman
for a Japanese trading company put it.

Nobuo Yamaguchi, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, noted, "Building good relations with neighboring countries
is a major task for the next administration." Many business leaders
thus hope the post-Koizumi administration will make efforts to
repair relations with China.

The next administration is also urged to rebuild trade strategy
toward Asia.

5) Government carried out secret opinion polls prior to Prime
Minister's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine; Careful preparations
aiming at avoiding strong reactions

YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full)
August 16, 2006

It was learned yesterday that the government prior to Prime Minister
Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, secretly
carried out two opinion polls as part of the careful preparations

TOKYO 00004637 004 OF 008


for the event. The aim seemed to have been to avoid as best as
possible negative reactions from the public.

A commercial pollster was entrusted with carrying out the polls,
with only one question: "What do you think of the Prime Minister
paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15?" The result of the
first poll showed that the approval rate was just slightly above the
disapproval rate.

When the Prime Minister saw the report of the first poll in late
July, he ordered that another poll be taken. Just prior to that, the
memo of late former Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita of the Imperial
Household Agency had revealed that the Showa Emperor was displeased
that Class-A war criminals were enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. There
thus was a possibility of a growing mood of caution about the Prime
Minister making a shrine visit, and a possible backlash against him.


The Prime Minister seemed to have made the judgment that by
commissioning another poll, he could tell the level of impact of the
Tomita memo on public views. In the second poll, compiled in early
August, those opposed greatly exceeded those who supported the
visit.

Upon hearing the results, the Prime Minister set a policy course of
positively explaining his real intentions for visiting Yasukuni by
the 15th.

6) 258,000 visit Yasukuni Shrine to pay homage on Aug. 15, most
since 2000

MAINICHI (Page 25) (Full)
August 16, 2006

Approximately 258,000 people visited Yasukuni Shrine (shrine's
estimate) on Aug. 15, the day that Prime Minister Koizumi came to
pay homage to the war dead. This was the highest number of daily
visitors that the shrine has recorded since 2000, when such record
keeping started. The public affairs division of the shrine
explained, "We can't deny the influence of the Prime Minister's
paying homage that drove up public interest."

On Aug. 15, 2001, two days after the Prime Minister visited the
shrine, the visitors that day reached 125,000, a rise of
approximately 40,000 persons from the previous year. Visitors coming
on that day in 2002, 2003 and 2004 ranged from 50,000 to 85,000.
There was a large-scale event in 2005 (60th anniversary of the end
of the war) attended by many related groups, so the number of
visitors jumped to 205,000. This year, the numbers were even higher
than last year even though a light rain fell in the morning.

7) Objections to Prime Minister's Yasukuni visit also erupting from
cabinet, ruling parties; Historical views spotlighted as political
challenge

ASAHI (Page 3) (Full)
August 16, 2006

Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15 has
brought into the forefront again the weighty issue of "history" to
politicians in both the ruling and opposition parties, including
members of the Koizumi cabinet, not to mention the prime minister

TOKYO 00004637 005 OF 008


and the chief cabinet secretary. How should Japan improve its
strained ties with other Asian countries over this issue, and how
should it address the issue of historical views? In response to the
visit, objections have been erupting from opposition party members,
as well as from cabinet ministers and senior ruling party members,
highlighting that no consensus has yet to be built on historical
views even 61 years after the end of World War II.

In order to maintain favorable relations with Asian countries, how
should Japan resolve the thorny historical issue? Finance Minister
Tanigaki has taken the typical position of postwar mainstream
conservatism, for when he announced his candidacy for the Liberal
Democratic Party election, he ruled out the possibility of visiting
the shrine if elected prime minister.

In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Tanigaki said: (1) There is the
question that Japan must improve its strained relations with
neighboring countries; and (2) No settlement has been reached on the
issue of Yasukuni enshrining Class-A war criminals and ways of
honoring the war dead. Later, Tanigaki said:

"The issue of enshrinement of Class-A war criminals is tantamount to
a boned stuck in the throat. There might have been some legal
problem with the judgments handed down at the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East, but Japan accepted them as a political
settlement measure."

Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yosano, who calls for
separately enshrining Class-A war criminals, has a historical view
similar to Tanigaki's. He said:

"The Tokyo War Crimes Trials was indisputably an abnormal situation,
but it was an important arena in order for Japan to show
internationally that the issue of Japan's culpability for the war
has been settled. Since Japan totally accepted the judgments at the
Tokyo Trial under the Treaty of San Francisco, it is quite natural
for the government to legally interpret them as being war
criminals."

In contrast, Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe takes the view that
"judgment should be entrusted to historians."

In a NHK TV program last night, Foreign Minister Aso stated:

"It is impossible to change the fact that Japan was allowed to
return to the international community because it accepted the
rulings at the Tokyo Trial. ... It is apparent that Class-A war
criminals did not violate Japanese law."

The New Komeito has underlined the stance of expecting the
post-Koizumi administration to alter the current policy line. In
reference to the prime minister's Yasukuni visit, Party head Kanzaki
said: "It is quite regrettable," but adding:

"I think that in China and South Korea, there is a feeling of
resignation on the Koizumi administration, but these countries
expect the post-Koizumi administration to make efforts to improve
Japan's Asia diplomacy."

The opposition camp lashes out at the prime minister's historical
view itself. Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) Secretary General
Yukio Hatoyama commented:

TOKYO 00004637 006 OF 008

"Should a person who has the same views as Prime Minister Koizumi on
Yasukuni Shrine and history become prime minister, Japan's relations
with China and South Korea will unavoidably become more strained."

Japanese Communist Party Chairman Shii said:

"The prime minister picked the day of reflection on the nation's
past military aggression and colonial rule as the day for his last
visit to Yasukuni Shrine as prime minister. This fact has made the
problem more serious."

Social Democratic Party President Fukushima remarked:

"He might be trying to change August 15 from the day of vowing for
peace into the day of vowing for death of the country."

8) MOFA aims for summits with China, South Korea before year's end,
following inauguration of post-Koizumi administration: Such settings
as APEC eyed

YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full)
August 16, 2006

Following Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine
yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) began coordination
to hold summits with China and South Korea. The aim is for the next
administration to normalize ties with both countries shortly after
its inauguration. With Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe, who is most
likely to succeed Koizumi, in mind, MOFA is eyeing the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APECS) forum summit to be held in Hanoi in
November and the ASEAN+3 summit scheduled for December as venues for
such talks. During a symposium on exchange between Japan and China
on Aug. 3, Abe indicated a desire to resume summits with those
countries, saying, "It is necessary to pursue constructive
discussions through direct dialogue so that individual issues will
not affect the development of overall relations between Japan and
China." He has visited Yasukuni Shrine every year on Aug. 15, but he
did not go this year. The dominant view is that it is a message
giving consideration to China and South Korea in view of his
becoming prime minister, as a close aide to him put it. The same
source also said that since Abe already visited the shrine in April,
he has "made his trip for the year." Some, therefore, took the view
that Abe wants to pave the way for resuming summits with China and
South Korea by forgoing another Yasukuni visit before the end of the
year.

A senior MOFA official yesterday indicated his ministry's intention
to make a change of administration an occasion to normalize
bilateral ties with both countries. Judging that it would be
difficult for top leaders to mutually visit each other's country in
view of public opinion in China and South Korea, MOFA wants to use
international conferences as the setting for summit meetings.

The Chinese side has also indicated a desire to resume summits with
Japan at an early date, with President Hu Jintao stating during his
meeting with Japanese Ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto, "I hope I
can visit your country at an appropriate time if conditions are
met." South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon on
Aug. 9 visited Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe and told him, "It is
abnormal that Japan and South Korea are unable to hold a summit."


TOKYO 00004637 007 OF 008


9) Northern Territories: Japan, Russia to cooperate on earthquake,
tsunami observation; Expert meeting likely to be as early as autumn

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NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
August 16, 2006

The governments of Japan and Russia will cooperate on earthquake and
tsunami observation in the Northern Territories. They will hold an

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expert meeting as early as this fall to work out specific measures
for the realization of an observation system by the end of next
year. Both countries want to minimize damage from such disasters by
improving the accuracy of forecasts based on latest data on the
ground in the region. The aim is also to find a breakthrough in the
stalemated talks on the Northern Territories, by piling up
cooperative activities.

There are no observation bases on the four northern islands where
Japan can obtain data on geological conditions. Since facilities
there are also insufficient compared with Japan's, it is of urgent
necessity to improve disaster-prevention measures. Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and President Putin during the G-8 Summit (St.
Petersburg Summit) in July agreed that the two countries would
cooperate on quake and tsunami measures in the area centered on the
Northern Territories.

In addition to jointly collecting and sharing quake data, Tokyo and
Moscow will consider the possibility of improving local observation
equipment and experts holding regular meetings and mutually visiting
related facilities. They thus want to minimize damage from quakes
and tsunami by swiftly determining the epicenter and magnitude of a
quake and the possibility of tsunami.

Tokyo views that improving observation data will make it easier to
forecast the impact of an earthquake in the region on Hokkaido and
Tohoku. The advantage for Russia is that it will be able to use
Japan's observation technology introduced on the Northern
Territories in other parts of the country.

Behind the background of the two countries' cooperation on
earthquake measures is the shared awareness that international
cooperation is important in dealing with natural disasters and has
deepened following the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004.

10) LDP presidential race: Yasukuni unavoidably becoming campaign
issue; Urgently need to close rifts with China, South Korea over
prime minister's shrine visits

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Excerpts)
August 16, 2006

The Chinese and South Korean ambassadors called at the Foreign
Ministry yesterday afternoon to each register a strong protest
against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine
yesterday morning, the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II.
The two ambassadors had repeatedly called on the prime minister to
refrain from visiting the Shinto shrine for the reason that the
shrine honors Class-A war criminals. With Koizumi's visit to
Yasukuni on Aug. 15, repairing diplomatic ties with Beijing and
Seoul has now become a task of pressing urgency. It is now certain
the Yasukuni issue will become a major campaign issue in the Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election in September.


TOKYO 00004637 008 OF 008


"For better or worse, should debate on the Yasukuni issue not be
conducted during the presidential election campaign, the public will
not be fully satisfied, " said former LDP Secretary General Koichi
Kato. This view is widespread in the LDP. How should Japan console
the souls of the war dead, whether the Class-A war criminals should
be removed from Yasukuni, whether a new war memorial should be
built, and how to perceive the history of World War II will all
likely become issues for debate in the LDP presidential election.

11) Koichi Kato's home in Tsuruoka City burned down; Man believed to
have set fire to the house

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Excerpts)
August 16, 2006

At around 5:55 p.m. yesterday, a fire broke out at the two-story
wooden house of former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary
General Koichi Kato's mother in Daito Town, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata
Prefecture. The house and Kato's local office burned down. A man
believed to have stabbed himself was found collapsed in front of the
house. Police are now investigating to find out if the man stabbed
himself after setting fire to the house. The man incurred burns on
his face and the inside of his mouth, and he is unconscious. Police
will question him after he becomes conscious.

Kato had repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's
visits to Yasukuni Shrine, making such remarks, "The prime minister
should not visit the shrine, " and "It is a big mistake to think
that paying homage at the shrine is a matter of the heart. This is a
diplomatic issue." Yesterday when Koizumi visited Yasukuni, Kato was
appearing on some TV programs. The prefectural police are carefully
investigating links to his remarks on Koizumi's Yasukuni visits.

According to police, smoke went up from the inside of the house when
the fire started. The man is believed to be in his 50s and 60s. A
firefighter found him on the premises. He was taken to a hospital.

SCHIEFFER

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