Cablegate: Daily Summary of Japanese Press 05/31/07

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RUALSFJ/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
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RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 3761
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RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7239
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3297
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4452

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 002430

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 05/31/07

INDEX:

(1) Farm Minister Matsuoka's suicide: Life was dedicated to
agriculture and forestry policies through use of power and money

(2) Follow-up on Abe cabinet-Collective self-defense (Part 5):
Premier aiming to accelerate discussion on constitutional revision;
Question is how to obtain understanding inside, outside Japan

(3) US concludes not to disclose names of crewmembers on board
distressed helicopter in Okinawa, based on privacy prevention law

(4) 35 years after Okinawa's reversion to Japan: Prefecture's
dependence on US bases damages the environment

(5) Kyuma referring to MSDF ship mobilized to offing of Henoko tells
Okinawa governor: "Sorry to have caused you trouble"

(6) Initial report by Regulatory Reform Council: J-Green to be
dismantled with its two main operations abolished

ARTICLES:
(1) Farm Minister Matsuoka's suicide: Life was dedicated to
agriculture and forestry policies through use of power and money

ASAHI (Page 31) (Excerpts)
May 30, 2007

A wake for former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister
Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide on May 28, was held at a
temple near his family home in Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture, last
night.

The body of Matsuoka arrived at the home, where his mother lives
alone, last evening. Matsuoka had often told his supporters in Aso:
"The rice growers in Aso are now impoverished," and "I have known
these farmers since my childhood. I fully understand their
hardship."

His family earned a living by growing rice in poor-grade flooded
fields A former teacher of Matsuoka in elementary school noted: "His
family was not rich."

Matsuoka as a boy was quiet and undistinguished. During his years as
an elementary and then junior high school student made little
impression on his classmates. When he was a student at Tottori
University's Agriculture Department, he started to desire to become
a lawmaker, his childhood friend said.

Approach to heavyweights, resorting to money influence from
beginning

In 1969, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries. After serving as Forestry Agency's public relations
secretary, he left the ministry. In 1990, he ran in the general

SIPDIS
election from the former Kumamoto single-seat constituency.

Matsuoka had already paved the way before declaring his candidacy.
Immediately after entering the MAFF, he launched a study group to
support former MAFF Minister Ichiro Nakagawa, who was a heavyweight
in the Liberal Democratic Party's agriculture policy clique in the
Diet, in an effort to deepen ties with Nakagawa and his secretary,
Muneo Suzuki, who is now a House of Representatives member.

TOKYO 00002430 002 OF 008

Susumu Hirose, who runs a stationary shop in Aso, quoted Matsuoka as
having said several months before the election in 1990: "I (as a
bureaucrat) have to move as told by lawmakers. I am determined to
become a lawmaker and get down to agricultural issues."

His slogan in his first election campaign was the "purification of
politics," at a time when public distrust in politics was
heightening after the exposure of the Recruit scandal. He stressed
in the campaign: "If politics is compared to water, the water is too
dirty to drink." Starting with this election campaign, Matsuoka was
labeled as resorting to a bankrolled election strategy.

A supporter of Matsuoka at that time said: "He distributed a set of
soy sauce to each voter in his first election campaign." Another
person concerned said: "He distributed money, calling it a
door-to-door strategy."

Hurls violent words to bureaucrats but brings jobs into electoral
district

When he was still a junior lawmaker, Matsuoka headed a special
action team composed of about 20 lawmakers lobbying for the
interests of farmers.

A former MAFF vice minister said that he still remembers Matsuoka
visiting the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry and hurling
violent words at bureaucrats, such as: "Attend meetings of the
Agriculture and Forestry Division!" As the toughest member of the
farm-policy clique, he gradually enhanced his influence in the
MAFF.

Meanwhile, local residents welcomed Matsuoka as a politician who
"brings in jobs." A project to preserve intermediate and mountainous
areas was carried out in the northern part of Kumamoto. Speaking
before his supporters several years before the project started,
Matsuoka had said: "I will bring jobs (offered by the Green
Resources Agency) into Oguni-machi."

In order for unknown Matsuoka with no local support group to secure
support, there was no other means but to bring about benefits to his
electoral district with agricultural and engineering policies.

He had not expected at that time that the large-project project, of
which Matsuoka had proudly spoken, would come under investigation on
suspicion of bid-rigging.

Matsuoka finally assumed office as head of the agriculture policy
clique in the Diet on September 26 of last year. A former senior
MAFF official said: "Mr. Matsuoka unprecedentedly dedicated himself
entirely to agricultural and forestry policies, though many in the
farm-policy clique tend to shift to other fields. I think he had
strong aspirations to become MAFF minister."

Powerfulness disappeared from his words and deeds starting early
this month, when the suspicion about him deepened. Although Matsuoka
showed up in a meeting of an industrial group on May 11, he
"appeared to be a mere shell of his former self," according to a
former House of Councillors member.

(2) Follow-up on Abe cabinet-Collective self-defense (Part 5):
Premier aiming to accelerate discussion on constitutional revision;

TOKYO 00002430 003 OF 008

Question is how to obtain understanding inside, outside Japan

YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
May 24, 2007

After the press had left the room, Prime Minister Abe began to speak
again: "If I say we can't do this from the aspect of our
constitutional interpretation, Japan may lose its credibility in its
alliance with the United States and in its international
cooperation."

On May 18, the Council for Rebuilding the Legal Foundation of
National Security, a government-sponsored advisory panel of experts,
met for the first time. In the meeting, Abe revealed his long-held
concern about the government's conventional interpretation of the
Constitution.

"Japan has the right of collective self-defense but is not allowed
to exercise the right." This is Japan's position based on the
government's way of reading and interpreting the Constitution. "It's
peculiar from the perspective of international law as well," a
senior official of the Foreign Ministry says, "and it's difficult
for foreign countries to understand such an argument." The advisory
panel is also aware of what is problematical about such a way of
interpreting the Constitution. "Japan's legal system must not be
poles apart from the international community's," says Tokyo
University Professor Shinichi Kitaoka, one of the advisory panel's
members.

Abe has advocated studying four specific cases: 1) whether the
Self-Defense Forces is allowed to fight back if and when US naval
vessels come under attack; 2) whether the SDF is allowed to
intercept US-bound ballistic missiles in its missile defense; 3)
whether the SDF is allowed to use weapons on the spot to guard
foreign troops; and 4) whether the SDF is allowed to conduct
logistic support for foreign troops. Putting together the views of
many advisory panel members, there are some options that will
logically make it possible for the SDF to act in these cases.

The first option for Japan is to apply its right of individual
self-defense. The second option is to create a new constitutional
interpretation that allows Japan to exercise the right of collective
self-defense in part. The third option is to accept the entire right
of collective self-defense that is allowed to United Nations members
under the Charter of the United Nations. The fourth option is to be
based on the notion of collective security, which is for UN members
to work together against a certain country's act of aggression and
recover peace in conformity with a UN resolution. The fifth option
is to employ the notion of policing.

In addition to the four cases, the advisory panel is expected to
discuss many other cases.

One of these four cases is an emergency on the Korean Peninsula. In
that event, the United States charters commercial airliners to
evacuate civilians. A North Korean fighter plane attacks civilian
aircraft bound for Japan with evacuated civilians on board. In this
case, an SDF plane happens to be near that civilian aircraft. Is the
SDF aircraft allowed to protect that civilian aircraft?

Another case is a contingency in the periphery of Japan. In that
event, the SDF inspects ships at sea. Is it possible to allow the
SDF to fire warning shots?

TOKYO 00002430 004 OF 008

The advisory panel will wrap up its discussions into a report this
fall. Abe will then make his final decision.

"This matter is up to a political decision," one of Abe's aides
said, "so we need the ruling parties' approval." The aide continued,
"The panel's report and the prime minister's decision may not
necessarily be the same." This view prevails in the government.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party cannot ignore the standpoint of
its coalition partner, New Komeito, which is opposed to
reinterpreting the Constitution. New Komeito President Ota says,
"The prime minister clearly told me that he would respect the
government's conventional interpretation of the Constitution." With
this, Ota sought to constrain Abe.

Also, Natsuo Yamaguchi, who chairs New Komeito's foreign and
security affairs committee, says: "We must be prepared for
casualties in the Self-Defense Forces. What would their families
say? Can the Self-Defense Forces continue to recruit? To get public
understanding, we need to discuss some kind of brake."

In the first meeting of the advisory panel, Abe raised another
question: "What will Japan in the new era do and not do? It's
important to show the public where the brake is."

Abe thought that he had to show consideration so that he could
obtain broad understanding not only in the government and the ruling
coalition but also in and outside Japan.

On Sept. 6 last year, a get-together party was held at the prime
minister's office. One SDF officer there revealed to then Chief
Cabinet Secretary Abe his earnest feeling: "In Iraq as well, we're
working hard in the national interests of Japan at the risk of our
lives. If something should happen there, we don't want to hear
politicians say they had never told us to go to such a dangerous
place."

Abe answered: "If It's safe, the Self-Defense Forces will go there.
This used to be the government's policy in the past. But now, we've
changed it since the Koizumi cabinet. I don't want you to worry
about that."

The advisory panel's discussion will become an opportunity to
think-from the perspectives of Japan's alliance with the United
States and Japan's international contributions-about how far the SDF
will go and how Japan wants to exist in the international community.
It seems that the prime minister, whose ultimate goal is to revise
Japan's postwar constitution, would like to pave the way for Japan
to participate in collective self-defense and then to accelerate
discussions on constitutional revision.

One LDP lawmaker says SDF activities should be appropriately
stipulated by constitutional revision. Meanwhile, another says
reinterpreting the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right
of collective self-defense will weaken the need to revise the
Constitution.

Former Ambassador to the United States Shunji Yanai, who presides
over the advisory panel, noted two points: 1) it will take time to
revise the Constitution in order for Japan to resolve its own
problems; and 2) although consideration is being given to
reinterpreting the Constitution to resolve problems, it is also

TOKYO 00002430 005 OF 008

meaningful to amend the Constitution and define SDF activities.
Yanai says these options will not dampen the momentum of
constitutional revision.

The question is how to meet international needs and how to answer
the voice of people including those in the SDF. The prime minister
is mounting the stairway to make his decision.

(This is the last of a five-part series.)

(3) US concludes not to disclose names of crewmembers on board
distressed helicopter in Okinawa, based on privacy prevention law

RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 1) (Full)
May 31, 2007

In a regular press conference yesterday, Ambassador in Charge of
Okinawa Affairs Toshinori Shigeie revealed that the United States
informed Japan that it has concluded not to disclose, based on its
privacy protection law, the names of the crew members on board the
US military helicopter that crashed into the campus of Okinawa
International University in 2004. He said: "The US explained to us
that it cannot disclose their names under domestic law." It has
become certain that the Okinawa Prefecture Police's investigation
division, which has been engaged in final coordination while waiting
for a reply to its request from the US, will send papers with the
suspects left unidentified.

On this incident, the three-year statute of limitations on the
charge of violating the aviation hazard action punishment law is to
expire this August. The latest reply from the US has elicited a
fierce reaction even from prefectural police officers. The
investigation division has revealed its intention to continue to
call on the US to disclose the names.

Regarding specific reasons why the US has refused to disclose the
names, Ambassador Shigeie said: "I heard that the policy is based on
the US privacy protection law designed to protect individual
information. I understand that only the defense secretary is
authorized to prevent such information (like soldiers' names)."

According to the Foreign Ministry's Okinawa Office, the Foreign
Ministry made the same request to the US many times, but the US came
up with the same reply each time.

The mechanics who did maintenance on the distressed helicopter and
others were subjected to trial by court-martial and faced punishment
such as demotion or a pay cut. Focusing on this point, Shigeie said:
"The US probably has considered that it exercised the primary
jurisdiction (the right to convene a court on a priority basis)."

(4) 35 years after Okinawa's reversion to Japan: Prefecture's
dependence on US bases damages the environment

ASAHI (Page 15) (Abridged slightly)
May 31, 2007

By Kunitoshi Sakurai, president of Okinawa University

A plan is underway to relocate Futenma Air Station as part of the
realignment of US forces in Japan. On May 18, the government
forcibly conducted a preliminary environmental survey in waters off
the Henoko district with the assistance of a Maritime Self-Defense

TOKYO 00002430 006 OF 008

Force minesweeper tender, an unusual case. Under the Environmental
Impact Assessment Law, the government is required to produce
documents detailing ways to conduct a survey, present them to local
residents and affected municipalities, and conduct a survey
reflecting their views. Conducting a survey ahead of those steps is
a violation of the law. (Defense Ministry officials) damaged coral
in the process of installing the survey equipment three days after
SDF troops scattered the nonviolent local protesters, according to
an investigation by an environmental group.

Okinawa was returned to Japan on May 15, 1972. Over the next 35
years, the government has infused over 9 trillion yen into Okinawa
for promoting and developing the prefecture with the aim of
achieving independent development and eliminating the disparity with
mainland Japan. The government's financial support has largely been
a reward in return for accepting US bases. Although Okinawa accounts
for only 0.6 percent of Japan's total landmass, it is home to 75
percent of US bases in the country. Okinawa residents have been
suffering from noise pollution night and day, as well as from human
rights violations by US military personnel.

They have been plagued by a sense of guilt and self-hatred for
having had a hand in the killing of blameless people by serving as a
logistical support base in unjustified wars. Considering the fact
that the government is aware that Okinawa residents have not
voluntarily accepted the US bases, high subsidies, military land
rents, and base subsidies are essentially the government's way of
compensating them.

Because of the government's promotion and development policy,
Okinawa has ended up with depending more and more on financial
assistance from the central government, moving away from
independence. About 23 percent of Okinawa's finances came from the
central government when it was returned to Japan in 1972. The rate
increased to 40 percent in FY2003. The prefecture's unemployment
rate, too, rose from 3 percent in 1972 to 8 percent in FY2005.
Although prefectural income increased from 61 percent of the
national average in 1972 to 76 percent in FY1986, the rate since
then has been hovering around the 70 percent level.

The government's promotion and development policy has also seriously
damaged the environment. Corporations in mainland Japan take a large
portion of the costs of subsidy-funded public works projects,
leaving only a tiny share of the costs to local firms. Okinawa looks
like a department store of public works projects. The assessment
law, which is supposed to force the government to take
countermeasures, has come to a standstill due to (the Defense
Ministry's) preliminary survey and other factors that ignored a set
of legal procedures.

Forests in the northern part of Okinawa that deserve to become a
World Natural Heritage site are one example of the destruction of
the environment. With unused forest roads built for public works
projects crisscrossing the forests, wildlife peculiar to Okinawa,
such as Okinawa rails, is on the verge of extinction.

Waters around Okinawa are also being reclaimed although there is no
specific demand for it. Okinawa topped the country's list for
landfills in FY2002. As if to symbolize flaws in the assessment law,
new species have been found at the Awase tideland in Okinawa City
after the assessment procedures have been completed. Coral around
Ishigaki Island is also being threatened with a storm of
development. Regardless of concern over red soil runoffs,

TOKYO 00002430 007 OF 008

construction for New Ishigaki Airport is underway following a
large-scale preliminary survey that was conducted in defiance of the
assessment law before the government produced documents detailing
methods of the survey.

As is discussed above, the development of Okinawa over the last 35
years has been a flip side of the prefecture's structure to depend
on US bases. The recently enacted US Forces Realignment Special
Measures Law is a clear example of that. The law that is designed to
subsidize the municipal governments in accordance with the state of
cooperation on the construction of US bases and to apply pressure to
residents of resistance is tantamount to a declaration of policy to
control Okinawa. Our response to this situation is now being
tested.

(5) Kyuma referring to MSDF ship mobilized to offing of Henoko tells
Okinawa governor: "Sorry to have caused you trouble"

RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 2) (Full)
May 31, 2007

(Tokyo)

In a party to encourage House of Representatives member Kousaburo
Nishime held in Tokyo last night, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma met
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima. In reference to a Maritime
Self-Defense Force (MSDF) minesweeper tender mobilized to assist an
environmental impact assessment in preparation for building a
substitute for the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, Kyuma said:
"I am sorry to have caused you trouble." This was the first contact
between Kyuma and Nakaima since they met at the Defense Ministry on
April 25.

The two exchanged words for about five minutes in the party hall.
Some speculate that they discussed how to find common ground over
Nakaima's requests for shutting downing Futenma Air Station within
three years and for revising the government's V-shape runway plan,
as well the environmental impact assessment.

Delivering a speech in the party, Kyuma said:

"Although some say, based on a misunderstanding, that the
government's approach is high-handed, we want such persons to look
at the outcome. Although we will still unavoidably face many
difficulties, we would like to do something that will be highly
evaluated afterward, all the while consulting with the governor."

(6) Initial report by Regulatory Reform Council: J-Green to be
dismantled with its two main operations abolished

SANKEI (Page 2) (Full)
May 31, 2007

The government's Regulatory Reform Council, chaired by Nippon Yusen
Kabushiki Kaisha Chairman Takao Kusakari, yesterday compiled an
initial report. The report called on Japan Green Resources Agency
(J-Green), an independent administrative agency that faced a
criminal investigation over bureaucrat-led bid-rigging, to end its
two major operations. In response to the report, the government has
decided to compile a new three-year regulatory reform program in
late June and reflect the specifics of the program in basic policy
guidelines on economic and fiscal management and structural reforms
for this year. J-Green will thus be dismantled accordingly.

TOKYO 00002430 008 OF 008

Referring to the operations of J-Green, the report noted that
expectations of involvement of a public entity will give rise to
moral hazard and dampen the private sector's motivation. It urged
that new projects should be adopted, based on meticulous
cost-performance analyses and their objectives should be revealed.
It also called on the agency to take a drastic look at its
management system so as to prevent bid-rigging.

The report then concluded that among the agency's three major
operations - access road construction, general consolidation of land
for agricultural use and water resource forest creation, new
projects for the construction of access roads and the consolidation
of farmland should be put on hold and terminated once ongoing
projects end.

Regarding other independent administrative agencies, such as the
Japan External Trade Organization and the Urban Renaissance Agency,
the report called on them to end or outsource part of their
operations, and sell stocks of related companies.

As part of assistance to those who want a second chance, the panel
proposed raising the upper limit to the age eligible to sit the
national government employee examination and easing conditions for
taking child-maternity leaves on a piecemeal basis. Concerning the
promotion of the adoption of an on-line system for medical fee
bills, one focus of deregulation, the report mentioned a drastic
revision of examination and payment operations and urged the
implementation of a complete on-line system by 2011. Meeting the
press after the meeting, Chair Kusakari pledged to further look into
items up for deregulation in the run-up to the compilation of a
report at the end of the year. He stated, "I want to disclose
information in a more lucid manner, by taking up underlying
issues."

Outline of initial report

-- Abolish two main operations of J-Green
-- Revise operations of JETRO and the Urban Renaissance Agency
--7Make it easier to take maternity leave
--7Adoption of a complete on-line system in 2011
--7Revise import-export procedures and port and harbor procedures
--7Look into a firewall separating banks and security houses
--7Raise the upper limit to the age eligible to be hired as national
government employees
--7Revise the farm products, etc., labeling system

SCHIEFFER

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