VZCZCXRO8354
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #0560/01 0320817
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010817Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8082
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RHMFIUU/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/COMPATWING ONE KAMI SEYA JA
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 6977
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 4321
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 7382
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 4423
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 5533
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0309
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 6496
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 8624

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 000560 
 
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 02/01/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Battle over DFAA-caused bid-rigging scandal: Minshuto 
(Democratic Party of Japan) gaining momentum with error by 
"opponent" -- government, ruling parties 
 
(2) Call for review of memorandum on questions emerging in 
government, ruling camp 
 
(3) Koizumi diplomacy-Its light and shadow: Japan, US, China 
locked with instability (Part 3): Japan bent on alliance with US; 
Washington tough, soft in its strategy toward Beijing 
 
(4) Editorial: Process of making decision on resumption of US 
beef imports cannot be seen 
 
(5) Editorial: The job-offers-to-job-seekers ratio has improved 
to 1 
 
(6) Editorial: Time to get back to original point of recycling 
law 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Battle over DFAA-caused bid-rigging scandal: Minshuto 
(Democratic Party of Japan) gaining momentum with error by 
"opponent" -- government, ruling parties 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Almost full) 
February 1, 2006 
 
A bid-rigging scandal involving the Defense Facilities 
Administration Agency (DFAA) has added fuel to the ongoing battle 
between the ruling and opposition parties. The largest opposition 
party Minshuto confirmed at its executives meeting yesterday a 
policy line to grill the government and the ruling coalition on 
what it calls a set of four issues: US beef imports shipped 
without regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) 
contamination, the Livedoor stock scam, earthquake-resistance 
data fabrication, and bureaucrat-initiated bid-rigging at DFAA. 
It will relentlessly pursue the government and the ruling 
coalition, taking advantage of frequent "errors on the part of 
its opponent --the government and the ruling camp." Alarmed by 
this move, the ruling coalition suddenly decided to review during 
the current session of the Diet the law for the prevention of 
bureaucrat-initiated bid-rigging practices. In this review 
process, a new set of penalties will be established and its 
coverage will be expanded. The ruling camp is desperate indeed to 
dodge public criticism. 
 
"In the recent question-and-answer session in the Diet, I 
mentioned the light and shadow of the Koizumi reforms. In 
addition to light and shadow, there is darkness, too." Speaking 
in this way, Minshuto head Seiji Maehara lost no time in touching 
on the bid-rigging scandal involving the DFAA at a press briefing 
yesterday. 
 
Maehara stated, "Industries and bureaucrats sing the joys of this 
world, while the public at large makes a fool of themselves. This 
pattern of the society represents the darkness of the Koizumi 
administration." Speaking of the Livedoor scandal, he firmly 
noted: "Depending on how it will evolve in the days to come, a 
new phase of darkness could emerge." 
 
TOKYO 00000560  002 OF 008 
 
 
 
Similarities between Minshuto proposal and ruling coalition 
proposal 
 
The ruling parties are desperate to minimize the impact of the 
bid-rigging scandal. The working team to discuss the law for the 
prevention of bureaucrat-initiated bid-rigging, chaired by former 
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, assembled its first meeting 
and agreed to submit a bill to revise that law to the current 
Diet session, aiming to get the bill enacted. Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi also stressed the need for a quick response 
before reporters: "We must take even more strict measures to 
prevent a recurrence." 
 
Revising the law would be a step for the ruling coalition to 
resist Minshuto's pursuit. What the Liberal Democratic Party 
(LDP) cited in the working team meeting as items for discussion 
include: 1) establishing a rule to punish public servants having 
a hand in bid-rigging; 2) expanding the scope of activities 
regarded as being involved in bid-rigging; and 3) expanding the 
requirements for demanding money as compensation from public 
servants from gross negligence to negligence. There are many 
items overlapping with Minshuto's bill, which was submitted to 
last year's special Diet session but was killed. 
 
The New Komeito decided at a general meeting of its Policy 
Research Council to defer its approval of the bill to revise the 
Defense Agency (JDA) Establishment Law. The bill has nothing to 
do with the DFAA-involved bid-rigging case, but the party judged 
it necessary to receive a full account of the case. A certain 
lawmaker in the LDP who has distanced himself from the prime 
minister said: "The tide has changed." 
 
Minshuto's pursuit less effective 
 
Minshuto has yet to find an effective way of pursuit. Yoshihiko 
Noda, chair of Its Diet Affairs Committee, proudly stated at a 
meeting of Diet members: "We have succeeded in delaying for three 
days the start of deliberations on the budget bill for the next 
fiscal year." But there would be no serious impact of the three- 
day delay, given the rumor that the term of the current Diet 
session will be extended widely. 
 
"Minshuto has no punch. If it feels uneasy about its being called 
the forces of resistance, it could not grow into a party tough 
enough to take the reins of government," People's New Party 
President Tamisuke Watanuki said outspokenly in a speech at a 
meeting of Minshuto's Hatoyama group. 
 
(2) Call for review of memorandum on questions emerging in 
government, ruling camp 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 1, 2006 
 
In response to the opposition parties' criticism of the 
government for the discrepancy between the written government 
reply and the government response to the US beef imports, some in 
the government and the ruling parties are beginning to call for 
the review of the memorandum-based questioning system, under 
which Diet members can question the government about its 
position. Bureaucrats who form written government replies, 
however, have been irritated by the opposition parties' offensive 
 
TOKYO 00000560  003 OF 008 
 
 
by using this memorandum-based questioning system. Give this, the 
move to throttle questions is likely to spread. 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe yesterday instructed Deputy 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Masahiro Futahashi to form a written 
government reply in close cooperation with relevant ministries 
and agencies, as well as by scrutinizing the contents. It is a 
general rule that the government will answer to the memorandum on 
questions in seven days. This rule, however, meets this criticism 
that the written reply tends to be affected by sectionalism. 
 
In the LDP, Tadamori Oshima, chair of the Lower House Budget 
Committee, asked Lower House Steering Committee Chairperson 
Genichiro Sata to "discuss rules to be applied to a case where 
the situation changed from when the written reply had been 
created." LDP Upper House Caucus Secretary General Toranosuke 
Katayama told reporters, "Some rule is necessary," noting that 
some lawmakers in the opposition bloc are too prolific. 
 
The largest opposition party Minshuto's (Democratic Party of 
Japan) President Seiji Maehara criticized the government: "An 
attempt to limit (the submission) of memorandum on questions is 
tantamount to suppressing the seat of politics. 
 
The number of the submitted memorandums on questions in 2004 
totaled 439, three times or more the number five years ago. Last 
year the number dropped to 266 as a result that at a board of 
directors meeting under the Lower House Steering Committee, the 
ruling and opposition parties agreed to use the system in 
accordance with the purpose of the system. 
 
(3) Koizumi diplomacy-Its light and shadow: Japan, US, China 
locked with instability (Part 3): Japan bent on alliance with US; 
Washington tough, soft in its strategy toward Beijing 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 1, 2006 
 
On Jan. 10, a total of four research institutions from Japan, the 
United States, and China held a closed-door security seminar in 
the historical east-coast city of Philadelphia, where the 
Declaration of Independence was drawn up. 
 
Seminar participants there exchanged views over lunch. In that 
session, a Chinese researcher on Japan from the Shanghai 
Institute for International Studies (SIIS) raised a question: "In 
California, the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and the US 
Marine Corps (USMC) started joint training exercises. Is that 
training not intended to land on the Senkaku islands?" 
 
On the West Coast, with the North American Continent in between, 
Japan and the United States conducted their first bilateral joint 
training at a USMC base in California from Jan. 9, the day before 
the seminar, to Jan. 27, with a scenario to defend a remote 
island. China was nervous about the realignment of US forces, 
with which Japan and the United States are integrating US Forces 
Japan (USFJ) and Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF). SIIS was seen 
as one with the Chinese government, not as a pro-Beijing think 
tank. 
 
In February last year, Tokyo and Washington set "common strategic 
objectives" when embarking on their talks about USFJ realignment. 
Their joint press release at the time incorporated a passage that 
 
TOKYO 00000560  004 OF 008 
 
 
urges the peaceful settlement of problems over the Taiwan Strait 
through dialogue. China reacted negatively. Beijing took it that 
Japan and the United States threatened to defend Taiwan in the 
event of an armed conflict between China and Taiwan. 
 
Dan Blumenthal, former senior director for China at the US 
Department of Defense and currently a fellow at the American 
Enterprise Institute (AEI), reads China's aim: "China has been 
criticizing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni 
Shrine. That's no more than a tactic. The biggest obstacle to 
China's regional ambition is a strengthened alliance between 
Japan and the United States." 
 
US policy toward China is complex. In short, the US Department of 
State's stance differs from the Pentagon's. Foggy Bottom wants to 
establish a "strategic partnership" with Beijing against the 
backdrop of increasingly interdependent US-China economic ties. 
The Pentagon, however, is alert to China's military expansion as 
a "future threat." 
 
Late last year, Thomas Donnely, an AEI fellow and a 
neoconservative controversialist with clout on the Bush 
administration's security policy, came up with a paper, in which 
he advocated a "quartet alliance" of the United States, Britain, 
Japan, and India. Today, India, a one-time friend of the former 
Soviet Union, is the world's largest democracy with a population 
of nearly 1.1 billion. Washington is trying to win over India as 
a strategic partner that will bolster up the international order 
of freedom, Donnely said in his paper. 
 
Containment was the basis of US strategy toward the Soviet Union 
in the East-West Cold War era. In the US government, no one 
openly says the United States will apply it to China now. In 
March, however, President Bush will visit India for the first 
time. Prime Minister Koizumi visited India in April last year, 
and Foreign Minister Aso also visited that country in January 
this year. Donnely sees the four-nation alliance as a reality. 
 
On the diplomatic front, the United States has been working on 
China to become a responsible member of the international 
community. In the military arena, however, the United States is 
exploring containment. That could be US strategy toward China. 
Against that move, China is seeking rapprochement with the United 
States while trying to alienate Japan and the United States. 
Japan, standing between the United States and China, is saddled 
with the Yasukuni problem, which stands in the way of Japan's 
diplomatic approach to China. Japan has now chosen to strengthen 
its bilateral alliance with the United States and to back up the 
United States' military strategy. 
 
In the process of strengthening the alliance, the SDF's role will 
expand and its new equipment will increase. In November last 
year, a group of defense-related lawmakers with the ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party visited the United States. They were 
invited to major munitions companies, such as Lockheed Martin 
Corp. and the Boeing Co., where they were exposed to their sales 
promotion of advanced satellite-based missile defense systems and 
a new fighter jets. 
 
"Japan has been urged to buy so many weapons from America," one 
LDP executive said. "In the end," he added, "Japan might be 
treated as a burden to America that may have been getting along 
with China." 
 
TOKYO 00000560  005 OF 008 
 
 
 
(4) Editorial: Process of making decision on resumption of US 
beef imports cannot be seen 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 5) (Full) 
February 1, 2006 
 
The public wants to know as to whether there was some kind of 
political consideration in the process of making a decision to 
resume imports of US beef. The government is responsible to make 
clear that point. 
 
At a Budget Committee session of the House of Representative, 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's 
statements swayed back and forth. 
 
The farm minister was unable to give an affirmative answer to the 
question of whether the government's decision to lift a ban on US 
beef imports violated the Cabinet decision. He then apologized, 
noting, "The government did not give sufficient explanation to 
the Lower House. I feel responsible for that." 
 
It is only natural for Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) to 
pursue the government for its fuzzy answers. 
 
The government promised in a formal document submitted to the 
Diet on Nov. 18 to dispatch officials to the United States to 
check US meatpackers before allowing the resumption of beef 
imports, but it did not keep that promise. 
 
The government decided on Dec. 12 to lift the ban on US beef 
imports. On Dec. 13, a joint inspection team made up of the 
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry 
of Health, Labor and Welfare launched inspections for the first 
time on US beef processors. The first US beef shipment arrived on 
Dec. 16 before the inspections were wrapped up. 
 
The government explained the reason for failing the 
implementation of the Cabinet decision that because it had 
learned after the Cabinet decision was made that effective 
inspections were impossible before resuming beef imports. We 
wonder if the government's explanation is true. 
 
When thinking of debates on the issue of whether to resume US 
beef imports at the Food Safety Commission and talks between 
Japan and the United States, we dare say that there was a tacit 
understanding that inspections of US meat processing facilities 
should be conducted after resuming beef imports. It seems to 
imply that the wording "before resuming imports" was inserted in 
the informal document in process of making the Cabinet decision. 
We would like to know why that wording was ignored. 
 
The US government formulated an export control program and it 
gave prior explanations to meatpackers wishing the resumption of 
beef exports. To that end, the US prepared a stamp for Japan- 
bound beef, and some US meat processors held road shows last 
year. The government might have thought that it would be possible 
to check at least these US meatpackers before lifting the ban on 
beef imports, if it had to open the market before the end of 
¶2005. 
 
The Japan-US summit was held last Nov. 16 in Kyoto. The question 
unavoidably arises that the government hastened the resumption of 
 
TOKYO 00000560  006 OF 008 
 
 
beef imports as a present to President Bush and in doing so, 
broke its promise to send an inspection mission to the US. 
 
The government should provide a detailed explanation about the 
background of its decision to remove the ban on imports of US 
beef and it should answer questions sincerely. 
 
The government recently appears to be putting an end to the 
earthquake-proof data falsification scam and Livedoor scandal by 
answering from the sidelines. It should not downplay the issue 
involved in food safety. Consumers are unlikely to be convinced 
by that. 
 
(5) Editorial: The job-offers-to-job-seekers ratio has improved 
to 1 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 1, 2006 
 
The seasonally adjusted ratio of job offers to jobseekers for 
December 2005 increased 0.01 from the previous month to 1, 
according to a report released by the Health, Labor and Welfare 
Ministry. The ratio has reached 1 for the first time in 13 years 
and 3 months since September 1992. The Internal Affairs and 
Communications Ministry also announced that the unemployment rate 
for December fell 0.2 to 4.4% and that the rate for the year 2005 
also dropped 0.3 to 4.4%. 
 
The statistics clearly confirmed the improved job market on the 
back of the economic recovery. The job-offers-to-jobseekers ratio 
fell below 1 following the burst of the economic bubble. The 
ratio plunged to 0.46 in May and June 1999 due to widespread 
employment adjustment. 
 
The ratio began taking a steady upturn in later half of 2003, and 
it kept soaring, averaging 0.83 in 2004 and 0.95 in 2005. The 
ratio exceeded 1 from the mid-1960s through the early 1970s and 
between June 1988 and September 1992 - the bubble period and its 
aftermath. In view of such records, the figure 1 recorded in 
December 2005 is quite good. 
 
Exports and consumption are back on a recovery path. The output 
of generally all industries, from automobile to home appliances 
to steel, is also increasing. With the return of manufacturing 
industries to Japan, capital investment has also been active. 
 
Growing businesses resulting from strong performance and the 
imminent retirement of baby-boomers have prompted corporations at 
last to hire more employees. Although the employment structure 
has significantly changed and the environment surrounding 
employment has improved from a macro-economic perspective, a 
variety of disparities have emerged. Customized measures are 
necessary. 
 
Disparities between local areas are particularly evident. For 
instance, Aichi Prefecture, where the automobile industry has 
been robust, marked 1.61 in December 2005, the highest in all 47 
prefectures. Mie Prefecture, which has many liquid crystal 
plants, recorded 1.50, far greater than the national average. 
Tokyo also marked 1.54 owing to the new information-related 
services industry. 
 
In contrast, Okinawa's ratio was 0.41, the lowest in the nation. 
 
TOKYO 00000560  007 OF 008 
 
 
Many prefectures in Hokkaido and the Tohoku and Kyushu regions 
also fell below 1 possibly because they lagged behind in 
promoting new industries in place of downsized public works 
projects. 
 
Those low figures are also ascribable to corporate efforts to 
hire more part-time workers and temporary staffers to reduce 
costs. The rate for fulltime workers was 0.6, markedly lower than 
part-timers' 1.41. The issue of NEET (young people not in 
education, employment or training) remains serious, as well. 
 
The central and local governments and corporations need to work 
more closely in taking comprehensive steps for, for instance, 
helping people find jobs, improving vocational training, and 
giving equal treatment to fulltime and part-time workers. 
 
(6) Editorial: Time to get back to original point of recycling 
law 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 5) (Full) 
January 31, 2006 
 
The government's council in its final draft on revising the 
Containers and Packaging Recycling Law sidestepped a proposed 
measure to make it obligatory to charge for plastic shopping 
bags. Taking this occasion, we should get back to the original 
point of the law and step up efforts to cement new bonds between 
regions eager to have Japan become a recycling-oriented society. 
 
Although the council gave up imposing legal requirements, the 
direction is now set to obligate retailers to charge for shopping 
bags, in effect. The final draft specified: "We will take some 
legal steps to restrict retailers from distributing bags free of 
charge. 
 
Specifically, the central government will give guidelines on 
reducing the distribution of plastic or paper bags and let 
retailers report on the state of implementation of the measure. 
For those who do not fully follow the guidelines, the government 
plans to take such measures as issuing recommendation or an 
order, as well as making announcement. 
 
It appears that the issue of correcting the differentials in 
recycling-cost burdens between local governments and retailers 
has now involved consumers. 
 
The draft urges consumers to completely separate the burnable 
containers and packaging from non-burnable ones and remove stains 
from such in a thorough way. The government panel proposes that 
the use of recyclable containers as "resources" or "materials" 
will bring down costs. 
 
The draft suggests that local governments and retailers should 
equally share the money saved through such rationalization 
efforts. 
 
We would like to expect local governments and residents to 
voluntarily make efforts to reduce plastic shopping bags while 
charging is made mandatory in effect. The final draft appears to 
be sending the message of "getting back to the original point of 
the law." 
 
The original point is "role-sharing" among residents, 
 
TOKYO 00000560  008 OF 008 
 
 
corporations, and local governments. Its aim is to reduce 
container and packaging garbage, which account for 60% of all 
garbage produced across the nation. The legislation and recycling 
moves are only part of such efforts. 
 
It is imperative to apply the brakes to the consumption and 
abandonment of large volumes of plastic shopping bags, setting 
aside the issue of who bears bag costs; otherwise, the three 
parties will be pressed to pay for it in the future. 
 
In order to avoid paying the price, we now need to be aware of 
the necessity for the three parties in cooperation to create 
valuable resources by using garbage, the initial goal of the law. 
The three parties should properly share the roles and strengthen 
their ties by utilizing the law. 
 
A ban on manufacturing, selling and distributing without charge 
of shopping bags under law is expected to produce some effect in 
the short run and in volume terms. But only this measure is not 
enough to create a recycling society. It is also imperative for 
residents, companies, and local governments who are aware of the 
importance of not to produce and buy goods that will end up in 
the garbage to voluntarily join hands with each other. 
 
We expect the revised law will present the principle and 
mechanism of containing garbage more clearly than future options 
for cost burden sharing. 
 
SCHIEFFER