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RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 6708
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 8793

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 000749 
 
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: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
 
Index: 
 
(1) Prime Minister Koizumi's failure to attend rally calling for 
return of Northern Territories creating stir in Russia; Perhaps 
he intends to leave issue on back burner? 
 
(2) GSDF's 10-year participation in UN PKO on Golan Heights; 
UNDOF commander says, "They are the best ambassador" 
 
(3) Japan enters into final coordination with other countries 
over timing for GSDF pullout from Iraq 
 
(4) World is being divided in two; Japan needs to discuss what 
image to project as a state 
 
(5) ITC launches investigation into Toyota on suspicion of 
violating US patent, aiming perhaps to constrain Japanese 
automakers; Move could become source of bilateral trade dispute 
 
(6) Yamaguchi-gumi commands majority of gangsters nationwide 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Prime Minister Koizumi's failure to attend rally calling for 
return of Northern Territories creating stir in Russia; Perhaps 
he intends to leave issue on back burner? 
 
ASAHI (Page 7) (Full) 
February 10, 2006 
 
By Akiyoshi Komaki, Moscow 
 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's failure to attend a national 
rally calling for the return of the Russia-held four islands off 
Hokkaido on Feb. 7 is creating a stir in Russia. Some have raised 
the view that Koizumi may have excluded the Northern Territories 
issue from his priority issues since he has been busy devoting 
foreign policy attention to Asia. Koizumi attended annual rallies 
in 2002, 2003, and 2004. He did not take part in last year's 
rally because of his cold, but he sent his proxy to deliver his 
message. However, he did not send even a proxy to this year's 
rally. 
 
Russia's Independent Newspaper wrote in its edition on Feb. 8: 
"It is strange that Prime Minister Koizumi, who takes the time to 
visit Yasukuni Shrine, did not attend the national rally." 
 
The Kommersant Daily pointed out in yesterday's edition: "For 
Koizumi, complicated relations with China are far more important 
(than the northern territorial issue). Understanding that there 
will be no improvement in the territorial issue, he has no desire 
to spend any time on the matter." 
 
(2) GSDF's 10-year participation in UN PKO on Golan Heights; 
UNDOF commander says, "They are the best ambassador" 
 
YOMIURI (Page 6) (Slightly abridged) 
February 10, 2006 
 
By Michiro Okamoto 
 
Ten years have passed since the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) 
 
TOKYO 00000749  002 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
dispatched its troops for the first time to the United Nations 
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights. UNDOF 
undertakes the task of supervising the implementation and 
maintenance of the ceasefire between Syria and Israel. A GSDF 
battalion has engaged in the transport duties as part of logistic 
support. The troops currently stationed there is the 20th unit to 
be dispatched. Their activity is inconspicuous, but their 
continued performance in their duties as part of PKO have set the 
basis for the present-day international contributions by the Self- 
Defense Forces (SDF), for instance, assistance to Iraq 
reconstruction. This reporter visited the GSDF unit on the Golan 
Heights in the midst of the severe winter. 
 
The day was cloudy and a cutting wind was lashing at my face. A 
GSDF member wearing a blue helmet was driving a bulldozer to 
smooth the dirt road. This was to ensure the smooth traffic of 
ceasefire monitoring vehicles. I saw the intruder prevention 
fence along the ceasefire line (set in 1974) on the Israeli side 
a few hundred meters away. 
 
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel captured the Golan Heights 
in the southwest of Syria. Lying on the east side is the 
disengagement zone, which is the major sphere of GSDF activity. 
The area was wasteland running 75 kilometers from north to south 
and extending 200 meters to nine kilometers in width. In the 
northern Golan is Mt. Hermon (2,814 meters), covered with snow. 
At times explosions from demining echoed across the area. 
 
Under criticism that sending SDF personnel abroad was the same as 
deploying troops abroad to do battle, and after much debate on 
the question of carrying weapons, Japan in spite of the fears, 
dispatched GSDF personnel to the Golan Heights. Then UNDOF 
Commander Kosters told me: "I'd like to see SDF personnel come as 
full-fledged soldiers." 
 
Incumbent UNDOF Commander Sharma gave high praise to the GSDF 
unit, noting: "It is essential. Japan has sent its best 
'ambassador.'" The total distance of transport by the GSDF unit 
has come to about 2,620,000 meters - equivalent to circling the 
earth 65 times. The gross weight of transport reaches 23,000 
tons. 
 
In recent years the Japanese troops' role has become increasingly 
important. That is because with a surge in the construction of 
private houses, some parts of the area have become blind spots 
for ceasefire monitoring. So patrolling has become more 
important. Helping the patrol is the gravel path leveled by 
Japanese troops. The distance of the leveled road exceeds 350 
kilometers. 
 
Some 880 SDF personnel experienced the participation in the Golan 
PKO. Masahisa Sato, who had headed the first GSDF unit to the 
Golan Heights, later headed the advance unit to Iraq and was 
stationed in Samawah. All those SDF personnel have now been 
central to SDF troops to be dispatched abroad. 
 
There are challenges for them to tackle, however. For example, 
the SDF cannot take part in policing training for camps because 
of the restrictions relating to the right to collective defense. 
Masaki Maejima, a member of the logistic staff now working for 
the headquarters, said soberly: "Ten years of experience could be 
taken as a big step forward, but it has only been 10 years." 
 
TOKYO 00000749  003 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
 
(3) Japan enters into final coordination with other countries 
over timing for GSDF pullout from Iraq 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
February 10, 2006 
 
Japan has now entered into the final phase of coordination with 
other countries over when and how to recall its Ground Self- 
Defense Force troops currently deployed in the southern Iraqi 
city of Samawah. The government plans to complete the pullout of 
all those Samawah-based GSDF members during Prime Minister 
Koizumi's remaining term of office as president of his ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party. The government would also like to start 
the GSDF's withdrawal from Iraq during the first half of this 
year. However, the situation there remains sensitive when it 
comes to whether four government-set preconditions for the GSDF's 
pullout-such as progress in Iraq's political process-will be all 
met within that timeframe. 
 
Japan paying attention to Britain's moves 
 
Britain is leading Japan and other multinational force members 
with its timetabled pullout of troops currently deployed to 
Iraq's southeastern districts including Samawah. 
 
On Jan. 11, Brittan's Defense Secretary Reid met with Japan's 
Defense Agency Director General Nukaga in London. In the meeting, 
Reid said: "That country's southeastern districts are 
comparatively safe. There's no need for our and Australian troops 
to keep staying there any longer." With this, Reid told Nukaga 
that the time for Britain's troop pullout was drawing near. 
 
Reid also showed the British military's pullout plan. The British 
defense minister told Nukaga that Britain would move its troops 
to Basra or elsewhere in Iraq's southeastern province and would 
flexibly pull them out of Iraq while watching how Iraqi security 
forces will maintain public security in that country. Nukaga told 
Reid that the GSDF would be closely in touch with the British and 
Australian forces. 
 
According to Japanese government officials, Britain has told 
Japan that it would like to spare troops for Afghanistan and 
other regions. "They cannot afford to keep troops in a safe 
place," one Japanese government official said. 
 
On Jan. 23, working-level officials from the governments of 
Japan, Britain, Australia, and the United States also met in 
London. In that meeting, a British official revealed a plan to 
"complete the pullout of troops in May at the earliest." This 
British pullout plan is premised on Iraq's establishment of 
government as scheduled. It will take a couple of months to 
withdraw troops, so Britain is expected to begin its troop 
pullout in March. 
 
Senior officials in the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the Cabinet 
Secretariat have stressed that the British government has yet to 
 
SIPDIS 
make a formal decision on that pullout plan. "That meeting was 
not at a level for the government to make a decision," one 
official recounted. This official also said the four countries 
were prying into each other. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000749  004 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
In setting a timetable for the GSDF's withdrawal from Iraq, 
however, Japan cannot ignore the British military's moves in that 
country. "They're likely to come under attack when withdrawing," 
a senior official of the Foreign Ministry explained. This 
official went on: "GSDF personnel are almost unarmed. But in the 
case of British forces, their troops are fully armed and they 
have enough troops. So the GSDF has no choice but to move 
together." 
 
In response to the British military's moves, the government is 
now already seeking behind the scenes to recall the Samawah-based 
GSDF contingent while looking into Japan's overseas troop 
dispatches in the past, such as the GSDF's withdrawal from East 
Timor. The government is simulating when and how to withdraw the 
GSDF troops from Iraq. 
 
Iraq yet to establish government, Tokyo urged for difficult 
decision 
 
The Japanese government has set four preconditions for the GSDF's 
simulated withdrawal from Iraq. One of these preconditions is how 
other Iraq-based multinational force members will move. Another 
key factor is progress in Iraq's political process. "We will 
continue to help Iraq with its people's nation-rebuilding 
efforts," Koizumi told reporters on Feb. 2. "That's important," 
he added. 
 
The second precondition factored in by the government is public 
security, which is synchronized with progress in the political 
process. Nukaga, in his meeting with Reid, noted that how a full- 
fledged government will come into existence is closely linked to 
public security. 
 
On Jan. 20, Iraq announced the outcome of its recent national 
election. Iraq's major groups-representing the Shiites, Kurds, 
and Sunnis-have just kicked off their talks to establish a new 
government of Iraq's own. One Japanese government official 
predicts Iraq's establishment of a new government into March even 
at the earliest. 
 
However, the British military might begin its troop pullout in 
March. A high-ranking official of the Japanese government says, 
"We can't withdraw until the new government becomes stabilized." 
As it stands, the Japanese government will be urged to make a 
difficult decision. 
 
The fourth and last precondition set by the Japanese government 
is progress in Iraq's reconstruction. The GSDF wound up its water 
supply service a year ago. A government official thinks the GSDF 
has "fulfilled its role to a certain extent." 
 
At the same time, however, what to do about Japan's new 
contribution to Iraq's reconstruction after the GSDF's withdrawal 
is also likely to become a key. That is because "the United 
States wants the GSDF to leave its footprints in Iraq somehow," a 
senior official of the Foreign Ministry says. On Jan. 17, US 
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld met with Nukaga. "All countries are 
reluctant to train local security forces, so it would be 
appreciated if Japan will do so," Nukaga later quoted Rumsfeld as 
saying in that meeting. Nukaga answered, "It's legally 
impossible." 
 
 
TOKYO 00000749  005 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
The United States has also asked Japan behind the scenes to 
participate in a "provincial reconstruction team" (PRT) that is 
made up of armed forces and civilians for Iraq's public security 
and reconstruction. However, Japan is reluctant to consider the 
PRT initiative. A senior official of the Foreign Ministry has 
voiced concern, saying: "We must carefully nail down the United 
States' intention, or our relationship we have established 
through the Self-Defense Forces' deployment could worsen." 
 
(4) World is being divided in two; Japan needs to discuss what 
image to project as a state 
 
YOMIURI (Page 11) (Excerpts) 
February 9, 2006 
 
By Yukio Okamoto, head of Okamoto Associates 
 
US President Bush last week delivered his State of the Union 
address. The speech seemed to have parts that received applause 
from only members of the Republican Party, more so than in usual 
years. Bipolarization is apparently in progress in the US. 
President Bush is losing his power base, which has made it more 
difficult for him to unite the American people. 
 
The US is wounded. In particular, its foreign policy is seriously 
hurt. The opening of the Iraq War, based on wrong information, 
the abuse of inmates at Iraqi prisons, and the treatment of 
detainees at the Guantanamo security facility are shaking the 
moral fiber of American diplomacy. A chastened American thus has 
taken no action in the face of the massacre of hundreds of 
thousands of people in Sudan. 
 
Bipolarization is also going on in all corners of the world. 
Though the reasons may be different, the climate and conditions 
exist in many countries for treating anti-American actions in a 
matter of fact way. Examples include the victory of the Islamic 
militant group Hamas in the recent Palestinian election, Iran's 
drive to become a nuclear state, and the suppression of human 
rights in Burma. 
 
In South Korea, key government positions are now filled with 
officials from a generation that was persecuted during the 
military-regime period. One senior US official observed that 
South Korea is rapidly breaking away from the US because this 
generation saw the shadow of the US behind the military regime at 
the time." 
 
The US is no longer able to form an international order on its 
own. On the other hand, China and India have emerged at 
tremendous speed. According to the World Bank's statistics, China 
ranks second in the world in terms of purchasing power parity, 
and India is in fourth place. The extraordinary amounts of 
natural resources and energy needed by these two countries, both 
of which have enormous populations, have brought about a sharp 
rise in crude oil prices. In particular, China is trying to 
corner natural resources all over the world, including crude oil 
in the Middle East and mines in Africa, backed by its foreign 
currency reserves, which stand at a pronouncedly high level in 
the world. 
 
Having spent much energy on its integration, Europe's drive to go 
out into outside the region has declined. The rise of China and 
 
TOKYO 00000749  006 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
India is beginning to bring an end to the age of the US and 
Europe in the true sense of the term. 
 
The free-market economy and globalization have created winners, 
such as the US, China and India. But there also are many losers 
in Latin America, Africa, and Europe. The multilateral trade 
talks (Doha Round) aimed for trade liberalization remain stalled. 
The divide between successful countries and those that are not is 
widening due to the emergence of free competition and information 
and technology (IT), a powerful tool. 
 
Religion is also accelerating the bipolarization. The religious 
right in the US and the Russian Orthodox Church are becoming more 
conservative. The expansion of Islamic extremists is not only 
intensifying tension in the Middle East but also having a major 
impact on the world. Such factors have served as a cause of 
racial disturbances in Europe. 
 
What image of the state and basic policy should Japan pursue amid 
such a trend? We need to discuss what image of the state we would 
like to pursue over the mid- to long-term. To that end, there are 
lots of matters to attend to, including becoming a mid-size and 
high-performance country or starting up human exchanges with 
China with an eye on 10 years hence. This is no time to engage in 
petty disputes. 
 
Yukio Okamoto: Former prime ministerial assistant. 60 years old. 
 
(5) ITC launches investigation into Toyota on suspicion of 
violating US patent, aiming perhaps to constrain Japanese 
automakers; Move could become source of bilateral trade dispute 
 
YOMIURI (Page 8) (Full) 
February 10, 2006 
 
The International Trade Commission (ITC) on Feb. 8 started 
investigation into Toyota Motors regarding the technology it has 
applied to its hybrid cars, which employ both an electric motor 
and an engine. The investigation is based on Article 337 of the 
US Tariff Act, which regulates unfair trade practices. The move 
is likely to become a new source of trade friction between Japan 
and the US. The investigation was launched in response to a 
complaint filed by Solomon Technologies, a machinery 
manufacturer. It is viewed as being aimed to check Japanese 
automakers, such as Toyota, which are expanding their business 
performance in the US through brisk sales of hybrid cars. 
 
Sales of fuel-saving hybrid cars are sharply increasing in the US 
auto market in the wake of a rise in gasoline prices, leading to 
an increase in the shares of Japanese automobiles. 
 
There is a preliminary calculation that the sales of hybrid cars 
will increase to 780,000 units, four times the current level, by 
¶2012. General Motors, the largest automaker in the US, and Ford 
Motors, plan to manufacture hybrid cars on a full scale, centered 
on sports utility vehicles, but they are far behind Toyota. 
 
While the two major US automakers are suffering a long-standing 
sales slump, Toyota has tried to increase local production in 
order to avoid the recurrence of Japan-US auto friction. As part 
of such efforts, it has decided to manufacture the hybrid version 
of Camry sedans in the US. 
 
TOKYO 00000749  007 OF 007 
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 02//06 
 
 
However, since it is difficult to locally manufacture the 
complicated hybrid system, it has to rely on imports for the 
procurement of key parts. For this reason, if the ITC has ruled 
that Toyota is guilty of infringing on a US patent, it will have 
to take a second look at its strategy for the sales of hybrid 
cars on the North American market. In addition, since Toyota has 
transferred the hybrid technology to Nissan Motors and Ford 
Motors, the outcome of the ITC 's investigation will likely 
affect the hybrid car strategies of other companies. 
 
(6) Yamaguchi-gumi commands majority of gangsters nationwide 
 
MAINICHI (Page 28) (Full) 
February 10, 2006 
 
It was learned yesterday from the National Police Agency's 2005 
report on gangs that the membership of Yamaguchi-gumi is about 
27,000 (an increase of 700 from the previous year) or about 50.1% 
of the entire membership of organized groups of gangsters. Since 
the boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi was replaced last August, the 
largest organized group of gangsters in Japan has increased its 
membership, such as absorbing other gangs. The NPA is alarmed 
that Yamaguchi-gumi has expanded its membership. 
 
The entire membership of all gangs totaled about 43,000 at the 
end of 2005 (drop of 1,000 from year before). When adding the 
quasi-membership of gangsters to the full membership, the number 
of gangsters was about 86,300 (drop of 700 from the previous 
year). The number of gangsters was on the increase from 1996 
until last year, when it declined for the first time in ten 
years. 
 
The number of Yamaguchi-gumi members including quasi-members of 
about 19,300 (increase of 900 from a year earlier), however, 
increased last year to about 41,000 or 47.5% of the whole. The 
membership of Yamaguchi-gumi has continued to expand from 36.2% 
of the whole in 2001. 
 
The number of full- and quasi-members of the three major 
organized groups of mobsters -- Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, 
and Inagawa-kai -- totaled about 63,000 (increase of 1,700 from 
the previous year) last year. The membership of 63,000 is 
equivalent to 73% of the whole membership of gangsters. 
 
According to the NPA, the activities of organized mobsters have 
become diversified, with activities including taking protection 
money from shopkeepers, billing fraud, and wiretapping. 
 
In addition, the full- and quasi-memberships are almost always 
the same numbers. The NPA sees the gangs thus as disguising their 
activities. 
 
SCHIEFFER