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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 000851 
 
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 02/16/06 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) US Ambassador to Japan urges positive approach to US-Japan 
FTA 
 
(2) Minshuto member: Livedoor Horie instructs staff by e-mail to 
send 30 million yen to Takebe's second son 
 
(3) Pinning hopes on post-Koizumi candidates; Beijing accepts 
visits to China by ruling party executives with aim of improving 
relations with Japan 
 
(4) Sozo presents US Consul General with its own US force 
realignment plan 
 
(5) CEFP agrees to set global strategy in May 
 
(6) South Korean Foreign Affairs & Trade Minister Ban joins race 
for UN top post; Ban "expects Japan's support," but Japan says, 
"It's difficult..." 
 
(7) One year since Kyoto Protocol went into effect: Only 19 local 
governments establish surveillance system to check greenhouse gas 
emissions by companies 
 
(8) LDP Constitutional Research Commission Chairman Hajime Funada 
says LDP will come up with second draft constitution including 
many views in the party, new LDP president should show the way to 
constitutional reform 
 
(9) Amakudari is stymieing structural reform 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) US Ambassador to Japan urges positive approach to US-Japan 
FTA 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
Evening, February 16, 2006 
 
Speaking this morning before a meeting of Otemachi Trading 
Company heads, American Ambassador to Japan J. Thomas Schieffer 
took a stance of urging a positive approach toward a US-Japan 
fair trade agreement (FTA) by saying, "If economic liberalization 
advances, it would create new demand and generate more 
employment."  Japan Foreign Trade Council Chairman Sasaki 
(Mitsubishi Trading Company) commented, "Although there are some 
difficult issues such as agriculture remaining between the US and 
Japan, it would be a good to (sign an FTA), taking a mid to long 
term perspective." 
 
(2) Minshuto member: Livedoor Horie instructs staff by e-mail to 
send 30 million yen to Takebe's second son 
 
ASAHI (Top Play) (Excerpt) 
Evening February 16, 2006 
 
In a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting yesterday, 
Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) Hisayasu Nagata said that 
former Livedoor President Takafumi Horie, who has been indicted 
on charges of violating the Securities Exchange Law, had 
instructed a company employee by e-mail on Aug. 26 of last year 
to send money to the second son of Liberal Democratic Party 
 
TOKYO 00000851  002 OF 009 
 
 
Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe: According to Nagata, Horie sent 
 
SIPDIS 
e-mail noting: "Make arrangements to transfer 30 million yen to 
the same bank account as in the previous case. Enter election 
consulting fees as the purpose of the expenditure." Nagata 
demanded that Takebe and his second son should be summoned as an 
unsworn witness. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in the Diet 
building, Takebe rejected the allegation as untrue. 
 
(3) Pinning hopes on post-Koizumi candidates; Beijing accepts 
visits to China by ruling party executives with aim of improving 
relations with Japan 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
February 16, 2006 
 
Groups of lawmakers, including ruling party executives, are 
scheduled to visit China one after another soon with a view to 
improving relations between Japan and China, which have soured 
due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni 
Shrine and other factors. Beijing has decided to accept visits to 
China by senior ruling party members, reversing its previous 
policy. Beijing has also begun exhibiting its stance of pinning 
greater hopes on possible successors to Koizumi than on the 
Koizumi cabinet. 
 
On Feb. 19, Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council 
Chairman Hidenao Nakagawa and his New Komeito counterpart 
Yoshihisa Inoue will visit China. On March 30, representatives of 
seven Japan-China friendship organizations, including former 
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Home Affairs Minister 
Takeshi Noda (who is also chairman of the Japan-China 
Association), and former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, are 
scheduled visit China. Furthermore, talks with Chinese President 
Hu Jintao are scheduled for the group including Hashimoto, which 
will be accompanied by Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi. 
 
Beijing has been reluctant to accept visits by Japanese lawmakers 
since a series of anti-Japan demonstrations last spring. Although 
China accepted visits by Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) 
President Seiji Maehara and Social Democratic Party head Mizuho 
Fukushima in December, visits by senior ruling party members have 
not realized. 
 
China's new stance has raised concerns in Japan. A junior LDP 
member speculated, "By placing Prime Minister Koizumi out of the 
loop, China is trying to affect the post-Koizumi race and Japan's 
public opinion." 
 
Noda delivered a speech in Tokyo yesterday in which he said, 
"When I met with Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, a former 
foreign minister, in Beijing, he told me, 'We cannot expect 
relations with Japan to turn for the better as long as Prime 
Minister Koizumi remains in office. We place expectations on 
Koizumi's successor.'" Noda also said, "The question of paying 
homage at Yasukuni Shrine and policy toward China are important 
factors in considering the successor to Prime Minister Koizumi." 
 
Before the Japan-China Parliamentarian Friendship Association, 
Chinese Ambassador Wang reiterated concern yesterday over visits 
to Yasukuni Shrine by the Japanese prime minister, saying, "Any 
political impediments (to the relationship between Japan and 
China) must be eliminated." During his stay in Japan, the 
Association's Vice Chairman Jing Dunquan held talks with Chief 
 
TOKYO 00000851  003 OF 009 
 
 
Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Feb. 13 and with Foreign Minister 
Taro on the 14th. Those meetings have also sparked speculation 
that the purpose was to size up possible successors to Koizumi. 
 
(4) Sozo presents US Consul General with its own US force 
realignment plan 
 
OKINAWA TIMES (Page 3) (Full) 
February 16, 2006 
 
A group of members of Okinawa political group Sozo (headed by 
Mikio Shimoji), including Acting Representative Hiroshi Goya, 
Secretary General Chohei Maekawa, and Policy Research Council 
 
SIPDIS 
Chairman Morio Toma, held talks yesterday with US Consul General 
for Okinawa Thomas Reich at the Consulate General in Urasoe. In 
the meeting, the group presented its own plan to build a helipad 
on the coastline of Camp Schwab in Nago as part of the planned US 
force realignment. 
 
Sozo's plan is designed to immediately close down the US Marine 
Corps' Futenma Air Station to build a 300-meter-by-300-meter 
helipad at Camp Schwab. The group also explained a plan to 
temporarily shift part of functions of the Futenma airfield to 
Kadena Air Base once its military strength, such as fighters, is 
reduced. 
 
Consul General Reich welcomed the proposal, saying, "This is the 
first case we have received a counter-plan from local residents 
in the course of bilateral talks on US force realignment." At the 
same time, citing an agreement specified in an US force 
realignment interim report to build a 1,800-meter runway on the 
coastline of Camp Schwab, the Consul General said: "An agreement 
has been reached on the need to build a runway in constructing 
the alternative facility. Questions remain if such a helipad can 
be the alternative facility." 
 
Reich also revealed a negative view about substantially reducing 
the military strength of Kadena Air Base, noting: 
 
"The importance of Okinawa is increasing due to North Korea's 
nuclear ambitions and China's military buildup. The military 
functions of Kadena Air Base are particularly indispensable." 
 
Maekawa sought US understanding, stating: 
 
"Seventy to eighty percent of Okinawa residents are opposed to 
the coastal relocation plan. The United States should lend an ear 
closely to the voices of the Okinawa public who have been 
suffering from US bases for the last 60 years." 
 
(5) CEFP agrees to set global strategy in May 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full) 
February 16, 2006 
 
The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) yesterday agreed 
to compile a global strategy in order for the government to 
strengthen Japan's international competitiveness. The panel will 
look into the possibility of expanding the framework for skilled 
and able foreign workers, developing a comprehensive strategy for 
the improvement of international competitiveness of the 
agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries and promoting 
efforts to sign economic partnership agreements (EPA). 
 
TOKYO 00000851  004 OF 009 
 
 
 
(6) South Korean Foreign Affairs & Trade Minister Ban joins race 
for UN top post; Ban "expects Japan's support," but Japan says, 
"It's difficult..." 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 15, 2006 
 
South Korean Foreign Affairs & Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon who has 
declared his candidacy for the top post of the United Nations 
indicated at a press conference on Feb. 14 that he hoped Japan 
would support him, saying: "I'm happy to hear of Japan's position 
that an Asian candidate should fill the post." Speaking of how to 
respond to North Korea's nuclear development programs, Ban 
stressed: "If I were elected, I would play a positive role to 
resolve the issue peacefully and swiftly." (Hiroshi Minegishi, 
Seoul) 
 
The Japanese government has taken a cold attitude toward Ban's 
statement. South Korea has been opposed to Japan's long-cherished 
desire to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. A 
senior Foreign Ministry official said flatly: "Only when it's 
convenient for them do so, they ask for our support. But giving 
support is difficult." 
 
Asked by reporters whether to back Ban, Prime Minister Junichiro 
Koizumi said innocuously: "Isn't it too early to decide?" Chief 
Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told the press, "An Asian candidate 
should be elected," but he added: "We'd like to make a decision 
from a comprehensive standpoint, for instance, considering 
progress in the UN reform." 
 
(7) One year since Kyoto Protocol went into effect: Only 19 local 
governments establish surveillance system to check greenhouse gas 
emissions by companies 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Slightly abridged) 
February 16, 2006 
 
February 16 marked the first anniversary of the enactment of the 
Kyoto Protocol, which obligates industrialized countries to cut 
back on the emissions of such greenhouse gasses as carbon dioxide 
(CO2). The Mainichi Shimbun conducted a survey of 47 prefectures 
and 14 government ordinance cities on companies' greenhouse gas 
emissions and their plan to cut such emissions. The survey found 
that 19 local governments had their own reporting system, of 
which only nine local governments had a regulation on the 
disclosure of information on individual companies. 
 
Determining the amount of emissions ascribable to corporate 
activities is the basic part of global warming preventive 
measures. But the survey found that there were differences in 
efforts by local governments. 
 
In compliance with the Global Warming Preventive Measures 
Promotion Law, the government will introduce a reporting system 
targeting major companies that emit greenhouse gasses more than a 
certain fixed amount, starting this spring. Local governments 
that have independently established their own ordinance did so in 
order to shed light on the state of greenhouse gas emissions in 
their districts, by including companies that are not made targets 
under government guidelines. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000851  005 OF 009 
 
 
Fourteen prefectures, including Saitama, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and 
Hiroshima and five government ordinance cities, such as Yokohama, 
Nagoya and Kyoto, have a reporting system, established under an 
ordinance. 
 
Kyoto was the first local government throughout the nation that 
enacted a set of global warming preventive measures. The 
ordinance obligates companies to report the amount of greenhouse 
gas emissions. It also adopted a system that mandates 
transportation companies, such as tax companies, as well as 
plants that use a huge amount of electricity and fuels, to 
annually report their greenhouse gas emission reduction data. The 
Tokyo metropolitan government has set a system of mandating the 
submission of a five-year reduction plan, and evaluating and 
giving guidance on implementation results. 
 
The methods of disclosure adopted by each local government are 
varied. The ordinances of Kyoto and Mie provide the full 
disclosure of information on individual companies. Hyogo and 
Ishikawa do not disclose information on individual companies. The 
ordinances of Iwate, Tochigi and Miyazaki do not include a 
regulation on the disclosure of such information. 
 
Of 42 prefectures and cities that do not have an ordinance on 
global warming preventive measures, 22 replied that they had no 
plan to introduce such for the time being with an official of the 
Akita Prefectural Government saying, "Since many companies in 
Akita are small and medium-sized, it will be more effective to 
encourage them to reduce emissions" or an official of Shimane 
Prefectural Government saying, "It will be meaningless to adopt 
such a system, because such a system established by a local 
government will overlap." Officials of some government offices 
pointed out a shortage of experts on global warming preventive 
measures on the corporate side. 
 
(8) LDP Constitutional Research Commission Chairman Hajime Funada 
says LDP will come up with second draft constitution including 
many views in the party, new LDP president should show the way to 
constitutional reform 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
February 16, 2006 
 
Questioner: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seems to have 
stopped constitutional debate since your party came up with a 
draft constitution last November. 
 
Funada: The mood in our party was high at the time when we 
formulated the draft constitution. Some members, however, think 
that the draft does not necessarily include views of the party. I 
cannot give the draft any score, but I feel many party members 
are unhappy with it. 
 
Questioner: Could you tell about what are problems specifically? 
 
Funada: For example, the contents of a preamble to the draft 
constitution are well-made, but too many words expressing 
feelings were omitted from the preamble. The improvement is that 
Article 9 of the draft constitution allows Japan to have jieigun 
or a self-defense military (army). However, the draft does not 
clearly stipulate reasons why Japan is not allowed to use the 
right of collective self-defense. The draft includes several new 
rights, but few national obligations and responsibilities are 
 
TOKYO 00000851  006 OF 009 
 
 
included. I cannot give examples because there are too many. 
 
Questioner: Don't you think the LDP failed to deepen debate 
because the party hastened to compile the draft constitution in 
accordance with the 50th anniversary of its founding last year? 
 
Funada: It is true that we were unable to take enough time for 
discussion. Ironically, the fact that the LDP won a landslide 
victory in last year's House of Representatives election was also 
a major reason. Because we were needlessly concerned that the 
public might have thought us arrogant if we compiled a draft 
constitution, which has the tendency to revert to the old ways, 
while we were being excited at the bid win. 
 
Questioner: Do you think the LDP was too much aware of making 
compromises with the New Komeito and Minshuto (Democratic Party 
of Japan)? 
 
Funada: We intended to create a draft constitution based on 
compromise and cooperation. I also thought that our party should 
cooperate with the New Komeito and the largest opposition party. 
However, the draft constitution was the one I did not expect. 
Honestly, it is difficult to explain it (to the public). We would 
have held campaigns toward the public and town meetings. But we 
had no choice but to cancel such activities. 
 
Questioner: Do you plan to rewrite the draft constitution? 
 
Funada: We think that we need to rewrite the draft constitution 
to ask for the people's vote of confidence. We call the present 
draft as the first draft. After adding corrections to the first 
draft, we will make a second draft. We would like to to ask for a 
vote of confidence regarding the second draft constitution. 
 
Questioner: There are two groups in the LDP: A group calling for 
formulation of the party's own draft constitution and the other 
favoring cooperation with the two parties. 
 
Fukuda: I have the impression that the group insisting on the 
creation of the party's own draft constitution is somewhat 
gaining influence in discussions on the Yasukuni issue and the 
issue of revising the Imperial House law. 
 
Questioner: When do you expect to formulate a second draft 
constitution? 
 
Funada: Debate from now on would link to the question of who 
would be the next party president. I think the person who will be 
elected the LDP president in September will give us directions. 
Until then, we will move ahead with discussion in order to come 
up with a second draft. 
 
Questioner: Do you think the constitutional issue should be a 
major campaign issue for the LDP presidential race? 
 
Funada: It is difficult for presidential candidates to speak of 
constitutional reform because they might be bound by their 
remarks in the future. But I want them to express their 
determination as to when they will finish the work of amending 
the Constitution and directions. 
 
Questioner: In order to display directions, a national referendum 
bill is needed. 
 
TOKYO 00000851  007 OF 009 
 
 
 
Funada: I would like to get the bill readied before the end of 
the ongoing Diet session, and the party will conduct a debate on 
a second draft constitution under the leadership of new 
president. We want to start next year coordination on a set of 
proposals for constitutional amendments with the New Komeito and 
Minshuto. 
 
(9) Amakudari is stymieing structural reform 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
February 15, 2006 
 
In the wake of a recent bid-rigging scandal involving the Defense 
Facilities Administration Agency over its construction projects, 
the government is now being accused of placing lax restrictions 
on amakudari, literally 'descent from heaven' or government 
bureaucrats' practice of landing lucrative jobs with public 
corporations or private businesses after retirement. The Koizumi 
cabinet, since coming into office in April 2001, is supposed to 
have cracked down on the collusion of politicians, bureaucrats, 
and businesses. In fact, however, their collusive ties remain 
unchanged. This report looks into problems about the golden- 
parachuting practice. 
 
"I can't say the amakudari practice and the bid-rigging case have 
nothing to do with each other. We'll have to take steps to 
improve this." With this, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 
indicated before the House of Representatives Budget Committee in 
its Feb. 6 meeting that the government would tighten amakudari 
regulations following the DFAA bid-rigging scandal. 
 
The National Civil Service Law prohibits government personnel for 
a period of two years after their retirement from parachuting 
into private businesses that are closely related to state- 
affiliated entities. 
 
However, a former DFAA official, who is suspected of being 
involved in the bid-rigging scandal, moved into a public-interest 
corporation after his retirement. More than two years later, he 
parachuted into a general construction contractor. 
 
The DFAA is alleged to have portioned out construction work 
orders based on the number of DFAA parachutists working for each 
contractor. Contractors are believed to have aimed at securing 
job orders by accepting DFAA retirees. 
 
They took advantage of a loophole in the law. However, such a way 
of parachuting is not peculiar to the DFAA only. The Tokyo 
Shimbun looked into facts about amakudari. In many cases, retired 
bureaucrats were found to have landed in private corporations 
more than two years after moving into public-interest 
corporations and the like. 
 
Furthermore, the problem is that the government has failed to 
check such a legal loophole. 
 
In late 2001, the government made a cabinet decision to adopt an 
outline of public service personnel system reform. Based on this 
outline, the government makes public amakudari corporate names 
and position titles in the case of those who were above the 
division director level or the planning officer level and moved 
into public-interest corporations or private-sector businesses 
 
TOKYO 00000851  008 OF 009 
 
 
within two years after their retirement. In addition, the 
government has also required all public-interest corporations to 
disclose the names of their ex-bureaucrat officials for improved 
transparency. 
 
However, the government does not have to make public such 
amakudari corporate names and position titles when it comes to 
those moving into the private sector more than two years after 
parachuting into public-interest corporations as in the case of 
the one in the DFAA bid-rigging scandal. "Basically, public- 
interest corporations are private-sector entities," says an 
official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 
(MIC). The MIC official went on, "So the government cannot 
require them to go that far." However, the government 
bureaucracy's post-retirement parachuting is beyond the reach of 
public scrutiny. It is not too much to say that this has been a 
climate for bid rigging with amakudari officials. 
 
Furthermore, the government bars amakudari parachuting into 
private-sector businesses closely linked to state affiliates. 
This also has a loophole. 
 
At present, an amakudari official's company and that official's 
previous government office are "closely tied" if the amount of 
their contracts accounts for over 25% of that company's sales. In 
the case of big businesses with large turnovers, however, the 
proportion of their contracts with specific government offices 
relatively goes down. In point of fact, no holds are barred for 
big businesses. Public servants are "actually free" to descend on 
big companies as soon as they quit or retire, according to a 
government official. 
 
The leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or 
Minshuto) recently introduced a bill to the House of 
Councillors-the lower chamber of parliament-to amend the National 
Civil Service Law. The DPJ bill extends the current two-year 
period of moratorium on amakudari into the private sector to five 
years. Shu Watanabe, playing the role of MIC minister in the 
DPJ's shadow cabinet, explains: "After five years, amakudari 
officials' ties with their previous government offices will be 
thinner, and it will be difficult to get together and rig bids by 
involving retired bureaucrats." 
 
Some officials note that a further tightening of the restrictions 
will conflict with the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of 
choice in employment, so they deem it difficult to revise the 
law. For this reason, instead of beefing up the amakudari 
restrictions, one government source insists on introducing 
bidding systems that make it difficult to rig the bids, such as 
open competitive bidding with many contractors participating. 
 
On the side of bureaucrats, however, there seems to be no sense 
of sin about amakudari from the start. 
 
"It's not a bad thing to make use of human resources with 
expertise outside the government," says one senior official in an 
economic agency of the government. A senior official in another 
government office insists, "Restricting amakudari is the same as 
telling us not to work. There is no denying the fact that Prime 
Minister Koizumi has done nothing about such a bureaucratic 
logic. 
 
"The Koizumi government has not seriously stuck the knife into 
 
TOKYO 00000851  009 OF 009 
 
 
the vested interests of politicians, bureaucrats, and 
businesses," says Koji Matsui, one of the DPJ's House of 
Councillors members who presented his party's five-year amakudari 
moratorium bill. 
 
SCHIEFFER