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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 001217 
 
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 03/07/06 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Interview with Minshuto Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kozo 
Watanabe: Maehara's policy imprint not necessary; "I would not 
shrink from boycotting deliberations" 
 
(2) Minshuto may conduct presidential election before September; 
Unifying views for diplomatic vision difficult; Moves afoot to 
tighten noose around Maehara 
 
(3) LDP leadership race: LDP unable to push pet views for fear of 
public backlash; Work of regrouping stalled 
 
(4) Tokyo air raid victims, kin to sue government possibly in 
August to seek apology, financial compensation 
 
(5) Strains in the Japan-US alliance (Part 2): US expects Japan 
to act voluntarily 
 
(6) Whale meat stockpiles become twice as much as level of 10 
years ago because of surplus supplies as a result of expanded 
research whaling; No longer a rare delicacy 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Interview with Minshuto Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kozo 
Watanabe: Maehara's policy imprint not necessary; "I would not 
shrink from boycotting deliberations" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
March 7, 2006 
 
Following its crashing defeat in the House of Representatives 
election last year, the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) has 
again been seriously hurt over the fake e-mail fiasco. The e-mail 
uproar also has generated questions about the party executive's 
capability to deal with crises. The Tokyo Shimbun yesterday asked 
former Lower House speaker Kozo Watanabe, who has just assumed 
the post of Diet Affairs Committee chairman, for his views about 
how to reconstruct his party's structure. 
 
-- I guess there must be many things you need to reconsider over 
executive responses to the e-mail problem. 
 
"Hearing the second question (by Hisayasu Nagata at a meeting of 
the House of Representatives' Budget Committee), (I thought) 'it 
is a strange question.' I should have told (former Diet Affairs 
Committee Chairman Yoshihiko) Noda to advise Nagata to stop such 
questioning. I now regret it." 
 
-- It took much time to bring the situation under control, didn't 
it? 
 
''We fell into a state of confusion. It is necessary for veterans 
to deal with matters when we face setbacks. That was difficult 
for junior members to do so." 
 
-- How do you assess the management of the party under the lead 
of Mr. Seiji Maehara since last September? 
 
"Mr. Maehara is excellent in insight. But he has no craftiness as 
a politician at all. He does not act based on calculation, for 
instance, based on the judgment it would not be desirable to say 
 
TOKYO 00001217  002 OF 009 
 
 
something on this occasion or that. " 
 
-- How about a strategy of countermeasures? 
 
"When I was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, I told 
opposition members to 'submit a counterproposal if you oppose our 
plan.' This should be said by the ruling parties and not by 
opposition parties. When I was serving as LDP Diet Affairs 
Committee chairman, I feared a boycott of deliberations most. If 
the Diet Affairs Committee chairman of an opposition party says, 
"We will never boycott a session," the chairman will find it 
difficult to freely act, like a wrestler bound hand and foot. I 
am determined to thoroughly oppose bills that will not benefit 
the people. I will not shrink even from boycotting 
deliberations." 
 
-- Mr. Maehara has said the party would unify views in June on 
the party's basic policies, including security. What do you think 
about this plan? 
 
"In order to assume political power, it is necessary for the 
party to prepare unified security and diplomatic principles, but 
there is no need to adhere to the Maehara vision. It is 
unnecessary to have a Maehara imprint on policy." 
 
-- Do you mean you are not particular about the June deadline? 
 
"Unfortunately, it is impossible to assume political power before 
the House of Councillors election next year. Preparations must be 
made before the election." 
 
-- You referred to this, but what will you do about the plan of 
moving up the party presidential race set for September? 
 
"The election is scheduled for September (in principle). I will 
listen to opinions from many party members." 
 
-- Wasn't there the option of replacing the executive? 
 
"In such a case, we would not be able to attend Diet 
deliberations, which are managed with tax money, due to a party 
head election. We must fulfill our responsibility to the public 
under the current system during the current Diet session." 
 
(2) Minshuto may conduct presidential election before September; 
Unifying views for diplomatic vision difficult; Moves afoot to 
tighten noose around Maehara 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Abridged) 
March 7, 2006 
 
The major opposition party Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) 
must stop its penchant for wandering off course. Despite his 
weakened grip on the party in the wake of his party's total 
surrender to the Liberal Democratic Party over the e-mail flap, 
Seiji Maehara intends to serve out his term as party president 
until September. But his future seems gloomy since some Minshuto 
lawmakers are ready to place tight restrictions on his leadership 
role. Calls for an early party presidential election may grow 
stronger toward the end of the current Diet session in June. 
 
Following Minshuto's total surrender to the LDP, Secretary 
General Yukio Hatoyama temporarily pressed President Maehara to 
 
TOKYO 00001217  003 OF 009 
 
 
resign from the post, alluding to the loss of influence in the 
party. It has therefore now become difficult to for Maehara to 
pursue his own policy style. 
 
It has become difficult in practical terms now for Minshuto to 
produce a foreign and security policy "vision" by the end of the 
current Diet session, as planned. 
 
Maehara delivered a speech at a breakfast meeting in Yokohama 
yesterday, hosted by Keiichiro Asao, who as foreign minister in 
the party's "Next Cabinet," has been playing a central role in 
the party's effort to produce a policy vision. In his speech, 
Maehara touched on bureaucratic sectionalism but stopped short of 
mentioning the vision per se. 
 
The party's foreign and defense affairs departments are scheduled 
today to discuss the party's position on policy toward China for 
the vision. Many Minshuto members disagree with Maehara's China- 
as-threat argument. Such controversial themes as the right of 
collective self-defense and international contributions may cause 
Maehara to lose his grip on the party even further. 
 
The website of Hideo Hiraoka, a Lower House member critical of 
Maehara, carried this message on March 4: "I don't think we can 
discuss matters calmly at a time like this when the party is in a 
critical situation, losing public support." 
 
Veteran lawmakers have begun keeping their distance from Maehara. 
 
Naoto Kan explained on his website on March 4 the reason why he 
refused to become the party's new Diet affairs chief: "I have 
questions on Mr. Maehara's approach to unify views on foreign and 
security affairs based on his view of China as posing a threat. I 
also disagree with him on a retirement system for party 
candidates running in elections." 
 
Ichiro Ozawa is scheduled to launch a lawmaker's roundtable today 
to discuss educational issues in collaboration with former 
Education Minister Takeo Nishioka and others. Reportedly Kan, 
Hatoyama, Lower House Vice Speaker Takahiro Yokomichi, and others 
will join the forum. About 120 lawmakers have agreed to it. A 
junior lawmaker said: "Education is a theme easy to bring people 
together. But the group could act to encircle Maehara." 
 
In compliance with advice by Kozo Watanabe, the new Diet affairs 
chief, Maehara has given key posts to experienced lawmakers, 
appointing former Secretary General Tatsuo Kawabata and former 
General Coordination Department Senior Director General Hirofumi 
Hirano as deputy Diet affairs chiefs, and former Policy Research 
Committee Chairman Yoshito Sengoku as deputy secretary general to 
serve as a coordinator for mid-level and junior members. A mid- 
level member noted, "I think they assumed posts because the party 
is in trouble and not necessarily to help Maehara." 
 
A veteran member predicted: "Mr. Ozawa, the tactician, will not 
lie still until September. The party will not be able to produce 
its vision. There still is a possibility that the party will hold 
an early presidential election." 
 
(3) LDP leadership race: LDP unable to push pet views for fear of 
public backlash; Work of regrouping stalled 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Slightly abridged) 
 
TOKYO 00001217  004 OF 009 
 
 
March 3, 2006 
 
About ten mid-level lawmakers from the Niwa-Koga, Tanigaki, and 
Kono factions in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) assembled 
together at a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo. Due in part to the 
strong liquor, the participants said: "Let's get together again;" 
and "Let's make much of the fact that we used to belong to the 
same group (Kochi-kai)." Another group of mid-level likeminded 
members from the three factions also agreed on Feb. 20 to create 
a study session on Asia diplomacy. 
 
Kochi-kai, a faction founded decades ago by then Prime Minister 
Hayato Ikeda, was known as the liberal force that attached 
importance to Japan recovering its economy, while only being 
lightly armed. The group has split twice since former Prime 
Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, 86, headed it. It has now split into 
the Niwa-Koga faction with 48 members, the Tanigaki faction with 
15, and the Kono faction with 11. Finance Minister Sadakazu 
Tanigaki, 60, a possible future LDP president, heads the Tanigaki 
faction. Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 65, who is regarded as 
another candidate to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, 
belongs to the Kono faction. 
 
The dominant view is that chances are slim that the three 
factions will ever reunite. Whether the recent meetings to pave 
the way for reuniting the Kochi-kai will develop into a coalition 
depends on what kind of policies the three factions come up with, 
as well as whether they can set forth a "large signboard." 
 
Members of the Niwa-Koga faction, which holds the key to the 
regrouping of the three factions, have kept separate distances 
from the Koizumi government. The faction reached a consensus in 
its general meeting on Feb. 23 on the co-chairmanship of Yuya 
Niwa, 61, and Makoto Koga, 65, in an attempt to avoid the faction 
from splitting. The move means that the faction failed to 
determine its policy line. 
 
Koga said in a speech delivered on Feb. 12 in the city of Kurume, 
Fukuoka Prefecture, "If the political methods of (Prime Minister 
Koizumi) continue, the possibility grows that Japan will go down 
in ruins." 
 
Several days after that day, Niwa told Koga, "I understand that 
some policies of the prime minister are excessive, but it is not 
that all the Koizumi polices are wrong." 
 
Koga said in late January to some junior lawmakers in his 
faction: "When a number of LDP members support a certain 
candidate, I don't want you to rebel against that candidate." 
 
Koizumi has destroyed the faction's function of recommending 
candidates for cabinet and LDP executive posts, based on his 
promise, "I will destroy the LDP." No Niwa-Koga faction members 
were appointed as a cabinet minister and LDP executive member. 
Faction members are concerned that they would be treated unkindly 
regarding personnel appointments unless the faction followed the 
Koizumi policy line. Such concern has made the three factions 
think of reuniting. 
 
Aso is negative about a coalition of the three factions. He said, 
"If a presidential candidate has a strong flavor of being from a 
faction, it will be difficult for the candidate to score with 
party members belonging to no faction." 
 
TOKYO 00001217  005 OF 009 
 
 
 
The Tanigaki faction, meanwhile, describes a strategy of having 
Tanigaki contend against Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the 
most likely successor to Koizumi. He could do so by gaining 
support from the Niwa-Koga faction, according to a senior faction 
member. 
 
Tanigaki will set forth a policy of emphasizing Asia diplomacy, 
focusing on repairing the strained Japan-China relationship. 
Regarding the domestic policy front, he will give consideration 
to fiscal reconstruction and to the socially weak, based on the 
widening income gap. In order to listen to various public 
opinions, he intends to make known his differences with Koizumi, 
who tends to ask voters to choose between only two things. 
 
According to the outcome of a nationwide public opinion poll the 
Asahi Shimbun conducted in mid-February, 28% of the respondents 
said that Koizumi's successor should continue his policy of 
forging a "small government;" 47% responded that the policy line 
was good but the way of implementing policy should be reviewed; 
and only 14% answered that the policy line itself should be 
changed. 
 
The Tsushima faction, a successor to the faction headed by former 
Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and the faction founded by former 
Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, has been treated as the "force of 
resistance." The faction plans to incorporate a stance of placing 
importance on Asia and local development in its policy line. A 
senior faction member was conciliatory when he said: "Since the 
faction might split if it opposes the Koizumi policy line, we 
will basically follow it. Factions no longer can decide the LDP 
presidency; it is public opinion that does." 
 
Public opinion that produced Prime Minister Koizumi five years 
ago is making the three factions shrink back from calling for a 
review of the Koizumi policy drive. A faction chief said, 
"Factions now have to sail in high seas without a compass." 
 
(4) Tokyo air raid victims, kin to sue government possibly in 
August to seek apology, financial compensation 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
March 5, 2006 
 
A group of victims and relatives of those who died in air raids 
on Tokyo, including the March 10, 1945, Great Tokyo Air Raids, 
decided at a gathering in Tokyo's Taito Ward March 4 to file a 
lawsuit against the Japanese government in August, the month 
marking the anniversary of the end of World War II, seeking an 
apology and financial compensation. 
 
The group based in Sumida Ward had intended to take the action 
last August but postponed the plan. The nation's first class 
action lawsuit against the government by air raid victims and kin 
has now been set in motion. 
 
According to the group, 113 people have expressed their wish to 
join the suit and about 40 people have submitted statements to 
the group's secretariat. The group is making arrangements with 
lawyers representing plaintiffs. The group intends to build a 
support system in collaboration with other air raid-connected 
organizations. 
 
 
TOKYO 00001217  006 OF 009 
 
 
In the lawsuit, the group plans to attack the nation's legal 
system designed to provide postwar compensation, such as 
pensions, to military personnel and civilian employees of the 
armed forces but not to common civilians, saying that they were 
not government employees. The group is also determined to pursue 
the responsibility of the government, which has refused to pay 
financial compensation, saying that the public must equally 
tolerate the damages caused during the war. 
 
Some 90 people, including the group's members, attended the 
gathering in which the group's vice chairman Kenji Ando declared: 
"The government's approach of not providing any compensation to 
us is intolerable. We are determined to join efforts with 
lawyers, academics, and other organizations." Pointing out the 
fact that the government has paid 1 trillion yen in pension to 
military personnel and persons attached to the military, writer 
Katsumoto Saotome, who wrote The Great Tokyo Air Raids and other 
books, said: "The difference in compensation between military 
personnel and civilians is totally unreasonable. Keeping silence 
is tantamount to condoning the discrimination." 
 
(5) Strains in the Japan-US alliance (Part 2): US expects Japan 
to act voluntarily 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
March 6, 2006 
 
Bringing together Japanese and US security experts, an informal 
seminar was held in San Francisco in late February in which 
former National Security Council Asian Affairs Director Michael 
Green told the following anecdote: 
 
"America, France, and Japan wrote books on elephants. The 
Americans' book was about how to make money on elephants, The 
French wrote about the love life of elephants, but the Japanese 
wrote on what do elephants think of Japan? 
 
The ironical anecdote was directed at Tokyo, urging it to throw a 
ball at Washington voluntarily without being coaxed. 
 
The first Bush administration had many Japan experts, such as 
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Assistant Secretary 
of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly, 
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Torkel 
Patterson, and Michael Green. They were all capable of throwing 
balls at Japan a step short of applying gaiatsu or "foreign 
pressure." 
 
With such Japan experts involved in the game of throwing balls 
back and forth between the Japanese and the US governments, 
strains were minimized between the two countries when 
international opinion was split markedly over such key issues as 
the propriety of attacking Iraq.  The combination could produce 
positive results, such as Japan's dispatch of the SDF mission to 
Iraq. 
 
Japan experts are clearly in short supply in the second Bush 
administration. Although such members as Undersecretary of State 
Nicholas Burns and presidential assistant Jack Crouch are drawing 
attention as having some Japan expertise, they are specialized 
more in Europe than in Asia. Japan and the US have begun 
disagreeing on a number of issues, such as reform of the United 
Nations. 
 
TOKYO 00001217  007 OF 009 
 
 
 
The rise of China also is having a great impact on Japan's desire 
to play a leadership role in Asia. 
 
The Bush administration's strategy toward China is to form a 
"alliance" with such democracies as Japan, Australia, and India 
to make China think twice before taking any undesirable action. 
 
The American media have become markedly critical of Japan since 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine last 
October. With the US government now void of Japan experts like 
Green, who was able to put out fires from time to time, there is 
no one left to explain Japan's circumstances, such as the 
historical issue between the Japan and China. If the image of an 
isolated Japan in Asia becomes fixed, there is danger that it may 
give rise to doubts about Japan's diplomatic influence in 
general. 
 
The highest priority now for the Bush administration is its 
handling the Iraq issue, which will ultimately determine the 
President's place in history. The Iraq issue also is likely to be 
the first real test for Japan-US relations under the second Bush 
administration, given its lack of true Japan exerts. 
 
Ambassador to the US Ryozo Kato underscored the importance for 
Japan to be independently involved in Iraq's reconstruction 
process even after withdrawing from Samawah, saying, 
"Reconstruction will follow progress in the democratization 
process and public security. It is important for Japan to 
continuously play an active role." 
 
A senior US State Department official noted: "It's not only Iraq. 
We don't know where mines might be buried in US-Japan relations 
that could go off: it could be over the realignment of US forces 
in Japan or over the reform of the UN Security Council." 
 
Japan-US relations, now devoid of Japan experts, will not have a 
Mike Green to point things out, and Japan will have to "move on 
its own, having a clear awareness of what to do," as Ambassador 
Kato has said. Japan's positions will be avidly sought out. 
 
(6) Whale meat stockpiles become twice as much as level of 10 
years ago because of surplus supplies as a result of expanded 
research whaling; No longer a rare delicacy 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts) 
March 6, 2006 
 
Whale meat is available in Japanese markets as the by-product of 
research whaling. But stockpiles have sharply increased and have 
doubled over the level 10 years ago. For although supplies are on 
the increase due to expanded research whaling, consumption of the 
meat has stayed flat. Whale meat used to be seen as a rare 
delicacy, but now it is available on store shelves on a steady 
basis. It is on regular dish menus at pubs. It has become a 
familiar item on dinner tables of ordinary people, so why doesn't 
it sell? 
 
Up until 1994, Japan was allowed to catch up to 330 minke whales 
in the Antarctic Ocean. As supplies dwindled, prices would rise. 
Demand for whale meat was then so high that restaurants serving 
whale meat-dishes had to stockpile products obtained at high 
prices. 
 
TOKYO 00001217  008 OF 009 
 
 
 
However, the catch quota for minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean 
was expanded to 440 in 1995. In the North Atlantic Ocean, 150 
minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 100 sei whales and 10 sperm 
whales were added to the catch quota in 2002. In 2004, another 
220 mike whales and sei whales were added. 
 
Further, the catch quota for minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean 
was doubled to 850 in 2005. In addition, 10 fin whales, large 
type of whales that weigh nearly ten times more than minke 
whales, were included in the quota target. For this reason, 
estimated whale meat supplies sharply increased to about 8,500 
tons in 2005, and stockpiles surged to approximately 3,900 tons. 
On the other hand, consumption of the whale meat stood at 
approximately 7,300 tons, accounting for only 0.2% of the 
nation's meat consumption. The consumption of whale meat is only 
1% of that of tuna. 
 
Commenting on the sharp increase in whale-meat stockpiles -- 
though in absolute figures, the amount is smaller than other 
types of meat -- Masayuki Komatsu, the executive director of the 
Fisheries Research Agency, who served for 13 years until 2004 as 
deputy representative of the Japanese government at the 
International Whaling Commission (IWC), noted: "Whale meat is now 
readily available on store shelves. It is no longer a rare 
delicacy. It is, however, not a popular food. Consumers are 
hesitant to buy whale meat, because they are not familiar with 
it." 
 
Whale meat dishes are available at pubs and Japanese-style 
restaurants, due to the nostalgic boom for the good old days. 
Even so, whale stockpiles are continuing to increase. Komatsu 
explained why: "Whale meat supplies will sharply increase this 
year due to the new research whaling plan in the Antarctic Ocean. 
For that reason, restaurant operators tend to think that they 
need not to hastily purchase whale meat, though there is demand." 
 
When research whaling was started, 1 kilogram of whale meat cost 
3,900 yen. The price has recently dropped to 1,400 yen, which is 
on a par with the price of medium fatty tuna for sushi. Whale 
meat is still a relatively expensive food. 
 
Chances are that if whale stockpiles continue to increase, anti- 
whaling countries will call for an end to research whaling. In 
order to avoid this situation, the Fisheries Agency has begun to 
search for ways to boost consumption. 
 
Some of the marketing strategies being considered include 
restoring the distribution route that existed in the 1955-1966 
period, reducing prices further, and targeting leading 
supermarket chains, which have markedly increased in number 
compared with that period, and targeting the restaurant industry 
and the take-out food market. Developing various kinds of 
products targeting young people, such as Chinese, Italian and 
French style-dishes, as well as traditional soy sauce-flavored 
dishes, will also future options. 
 
Since freezers installed on research ships are outmoded, meat 
when processed loses the juiciness that makes it taste delicious. 
A number of consumers complained that they find the meat to be 
mixed with blood. 
 
Komatsu concluded, "Middle-aged and older persons have experience 
 
TOKYO 00001217  009 OF 009 
 
 
in eating whale meat. It is, therefore, necessary to take care of 
these generations as well as to be creative with marketing that 
targets young people, who have never eaten whale meat before." As 
a specific measure, he called for whale meat to be on school meal 
menus. 
 
SCHIEFFER