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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 001620 
 
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 03/29/06 
 
 
Index: 
 
1)   Top headlines 
2)   Editorials 
 
3)   If Tokyo is hit with a major M 7.3 earthquake, officials 
  predict 5,600 deaths, 54,000 injured 
 
Defense issues: 
4)   Bog downed coordination between Tokyo, local government on 
  USFJ realignment process creates deep US distrust, postpones 
  final report 
5)   Prime Minister Koizumi meets JDA chief, others, orders 
"minor revisions" of Futenma relocation plan, consideration of 
economic package for Okinawa 
6)   Koizumi hangs tough on refusing large revisions in Futenma 
relocation plan; US-Japan realignment talks may resume April 4 
7)   Five cabinet ministers meet and agree that 50% would be the 
limit for Japan's share of relocating Marines to Guam 
8)   LDP rewriting law to allow strategic use of space by SDF 
 
9)   Despite ODA pledge, Japan's plan to shift priority in Iraq 
  to economic assistance complicated by delay in GSDF troop 
  withdrawal from Samawah 
 
10)  New Cabinet Intelligence Director Mitani chosen for 
  expertise: Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe 
 
11)  Taiwan's Lee Teng Hui postpones trip to Japan 
 
Beef issue: 
12)  US, Japanese experts meet on ending ban on US beef imports 
13)  Farm minister Nakagawa: Need to listen to US explanation 
first before can decide on resumption of US beef imports 
 
14)  Former prime minister Mori tells press that Prime Minister 
  Koizumi's views must be taken into account in electing the next 
  party president 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Supervisor of NTT Data's computer systems stole bank customer's 
loan card information 
 
Mainichi & Sankei: 
Tokyo District Court clears doctor of professional negligence for 
failing to remove part of cotton-candy stick from brain of boy 
who died later 
 
Yomiuri: 
Government mulls designating Japanese breed of cow as 
intellectual property 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
Government considers allowing private broadcasting firms to set 
up holding companies 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Tokyo Metropolitan panel's simulation: 5,600 people would die in 
 
TOKYO 00001620  002 OF 011 
 
 
M7.3 earthquake, 54,000 would be injured 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1)  We want to know whether Aum Shinrikyo founder is critically 
ill or faking illness 
(2)  Tougher anti-monopoly law making progress toward elimination 
of bid-rigging 
 
Mainichi: 
(1)  It is regrettable the trial of Aum cult's Matsumoto will end 
without his attendance in court 
(2)  Integrated command of SDF: Need to dispel sense of 
sectionalism 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1)  Primary school English: Teach English at the expense of 
Japanese? 
(2)  Dismissal of trial of Aum founder Matsumoto: Defense team's 
attitude questionable 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
(1)  Diet should put end to e-mail issue and deal with bills to 
full extent 
(2)  Need for guidelines for Hospice care and specialists 
 
Sankei: 
(1)  Primary school English: Teaching Japanese is fundamental 
(2)  Fiscal reconstruction: Cuts in expenditures alone do not 
work 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1)  Asahara trial: We want to hear his voice 
(2)  Unemployment strike in France: Young people's concern should 
be removed 
 
3) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Disaster Prevention Council 
releases report estimating that magnitude 7.3 quake in Tokyo 
would leave 5,600 dead, 54,000 injured from falling furniture 
 
Tokyo Shimbun (Top Play) (Slightly abridged) 
March 29, 2006 
 
The earthquake taskforce (chaired by Tokyo University Professor 
Emeritus Megumi Jizoue) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government 
Disaster Prevention Council yesterday finalized and released a 
report on the estimated damage in the event of an earthquake in 
Tokyo. The report estimated that the death toll from a magnitude 
7.3 quake in Tokyo would reach approximately 5,600 and 
approximately 159,000 would be injured. The report calculated 
that of the 159,000 injured, about 54,000 of would be trapped 
under fallen furniture, the first time such an estimate had been 
made. The report also noted that approximately 4.48 million 
workers would be unable to return home from work. By station, the 
largest number, approximately 140,000 commuters, would be left 
stranded at Tokyo Station. 
 
The panel last month released an interim report. The final report 
released yesterday included damage caused by fallen furniture, 
with the number of casualties added. 
 
 
TOKYO 00001620  003 OF 011 
 
 
The report is based on the assumption of an earthquake occurring 
at 6:00 p.m. in the winter, a time when fires are more likely to 
occur, causing greater damage than would be the case at different 
times or seasons. Wind speed of 6 meters per second, the average 
during in this season, was hypothesized. 
 
Provided that such an earthquake occurs in the northern part of 
Tokyo Bay, a total of approximately 4.48 million people, 
including approximately 550,000 commuters and tourists from 
outside the metropolitan area and about 8,000 foreigners, would 
be stranded. About 600,000 people would be stranded at major 
stations, including about 100,000 at Shibuya Station and about 
90,000 at Shinjuku Station. 
 
Looking at the number of stranded people according to area of 
resident, there would be about 730,000 people unable to return 
home in Tokyo's 23 wards, 660,000 unable to return to Tama, 
850,000 for Kanagawa Prefecture, 890,000 for Saitama Prefecture, 
and a total of 790,000 people for Chiba Prefecture and southern 
Ibaraki Prefecture. 
 
The report also estimated that the number of evacuees would be 
greatest the day after the quake, as 3.85 million people would 
have to flee due to fires. Approximately 2.5 million people would 
stay in shelters, while another 1.35 million people would 
evacuate to areas unaffected by the disaster. 
 
4) Realignment talks postponed; US distrustful of Japan 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Japan and the United States were scheduled to hold another round 
of intergovernmental consultations in Washington on March 30-31 
on the realignment of US forces in Japan with senior foreign 
affairs and defense officials attending. However, the scheduled 
talks will now be postponed at the US government's request. The 
proposal to defer the talks has bewildered Tokyo. In the 
meantime, Tokyo has been in coordination with the city of Nago, 
Okinawa Prefecture, over the planned relocation of the US Marine 
Corps' Futenma Air Station to a coastal area of Camp Schwab in 
the city. However, their coordination will also be delayed into 
April. Behind the scenes of the US government's postponement, 
Washington is apparently distrustful of the Defense Agency, which 
has promised to carry out the Futenma relocation. The Japanese 
and US governments have been also facing rough going in their 
talks about their respective shares of the cost of relocating US 
Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The two governments had originally 
planned to wind up the talks and release a final report in late 
March. 
 
Last October, the Japanese and US governments released an interim 
report on their talks over the US military's realignment in 
Japan, incorporating an agreement to work out specific plans by 
March 2006. The United States, however, has now called off this 
deadline. One senior official of the Defense Agency was 
apparently upset at the US government's notification, saying, 
"It's unilateral and discourteous." The US side cited the 
schedule in Congress schedule for its move to put off the 
scheduled talks. This also is "too unnatural to suddenly postpone 
the talks," according to another senior official of the Defense 
Agency. 
 
TOKYO 00001620  004 OF 011 
 
 
 
Meanwhile, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga and 
Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro were scheduled to meet in Tokyo 
to talk about the Futenma relocation issue. However, their 
meeting will be carried over to next week or afterward due to the 
death of former Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto. In their March 25-26 
meetings, Nukaga presented minor changes that would alter the 
runway's location and direction. However, Shimabukuro called for 
substantial changes to the government's plan to place a Futenma 
alternative in a coastal area, insisting on reclaiming land from 
the sea to build a sea-based heliport. Nago is not expected to 
concur on the coastal plan. With its postponement of the 
realignment talks, Washington will presumably keep tabs on the 
future course of local coordination in Japan. At the same time, 
the US government is also believed to have shown its distrust of 
the Defense Agency for taking so long to obtain local consent to 
the relocation plan. 
 
The Japanese government would like to hold a two-plus-two foreign 
and defense ministerial meeting of the Japan-US Security 
Consultative Committee by mid-April to work out a final report. 
If that is delayed into April or afterward, it will be difficult 
to get relevant legislative measures through the Diet in the 
current session, including a cost-sharing agreement on the Guam 
relocation and an economic stimulus package intended to expedite 
US military base relocation. 
 
5) USFJ realignment: Koizumi orders settlement with minor changes 
to gov't plan 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Japan and the United States have now decided to postpone their 
talks over the realignment of US forces in Japan. The Japanese 
and US governments will accordingly delay their release of a 
final report into April. The two governments were scheduled to 
hold another round of consultations from tomorrow with senior 
officials for foreign and defense affairs attending. Meanwhile, 
Prime Minister Koizumi met with Defense Agency Director General 
Nukaga and former ruling Liberal Democratic Party Vice President 
Taku Yamasaki in Tokyo yesterday evening. In the meeting, Koizumi 
told Nukaga and Yamasaki to retouch the government's plan to 
relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa 
Prefecture to the island prefecture's northern coastal city of 
Nago. Koizumi also told them expedite local consent to the 
relocation plan with minor changes. In addition, the premier 
asked them to study specific measures with due consideration for 
economic packages including remedies for local unemployment after 
the US Marines move Okinawa-based troops to Guam. 
 
Nago City will hold a funeral service on April 2 for the late 
Tateo Kishimoto, the predecessor of the city's newly elected 
mayor, Yoshikazu Shimabukuro. Nukaga will meet again with 
Shimabukuro next week for an early settlement of the relocation 
issue. 
 
According to government officials, the Japanese and US 
governments concurred on putting off the talks scheduled for 
March 30-31 because US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Lawless 
on the US side has been asked by the US Congress to account for 
the US military's global transformation around that time and the 
 
TOKYO 00001620  005 OF 011 
 
 
US government therefore proposed rescheduling the talks for later 
dates. Tokyo and Washington are coordinating to reset the talks 
for April 4-5. 
 
It was only yesterday that the Japanese government announced the 
schedule for another round of talks. But the government had to 
reschedule the talks in only one day. In the meantime, Tokyo is 
now in coordination with Nago over the planned relocation of 
Futenma airfield to a coastal area on the premises of Camp Schwab 
in Nago. However, their coordination has been protracted. As it 
stands, some government officials are voicing their doubts about 
the US proposal. "It might be a tactic of the US government 
having lost its patience," a Defense Agency source said. 
 
6) Prime minister will not respond to large revisions in Futenma 
relocation plan, orders minor revisions, with resolution next 
month; Resumption of Japan-US senior working level talks on USFJ 
realignment proposed for April 4 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last evening met in Tokyo with 
Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) Security Research Council Chairman Taku 
Yamasaki and others to discuss issues regarding the realignment 
of US forces in Japan. On the pending issue of an alternate 
facility for Futenma Air Station (Ginowan City, Okinawa 
Prefecture), he affirmed a stance of not responding to major 
revisions in the original plan. The Prime Minister ordered a 
settlement to be reached with Nago City during April with such 
minor revisions in the plan as changing the angle of the runway 
to be built on the coastal portion of Camp Schwab by 10 degrees 
counterclockwise. 
 
Yamasaki said: "Although I am not saying that it would be better 
to move the spot 200 meters toward the ocean, can't we say in 
consideration of the local government that if it's a meter, we'll 
move it."  Prime Minister Koizumi: "No, that's wrong. Though it 
would be OK to say I am not against budging it even a centimeter. 
There's not much time left. I want things speeded up." 
 
At the start, the Prime Minister expressed a negative view about 
Yamasaki's advice, stressing the need for a rapid conclusion to 
the local coordination. Vice Defense Minister Moriya also 
attended the meeting. 
 
At the meeting yesterday, it was learned that the two days of 
senior working-level talks between Japan and US foreign and 
security affairs officers starting on the 24th had broken down. 
The Prime Minister that day contacted Nukaga and Yamasaki through 
Moriya.  He apparently wanted to unify views because various 
statements were coming out one by one from within the ruling camp 
on the USFJ realignment problem. 
 
The Prime Minister, taking into consideration that coordination 
between JDA chief Nukaga and Nago City were not making any 
progress, stressed repeatedly, "Do something within the scope of 
the government's plan." Nukuga agreed to comply and they agreed 
that in the next meeting with Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, if he 
would not accept the plan with a change in the angle of the 
runway and other minor revisions, talks would be broken off. 
 
TOKYO 00001620  006 OF 011 
 
 
 
Although senior working level talks of foreign and security 
affairs officials from Japan and the US had been scheduled for 
Washington on March 30-31, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense 
Lawless, the responsible US official, informed the Japanese side 
on March 28 that he would not be able to attend the 
consultations.  Although Lawless explained that the reason was 
due to Congress' schedule, the Japanese government took it that 
"the US is angry," and decided to postpone the talks, It proposed 
resumption on April 4-5. 
 
7) Five cabinet ministers reach agreement on bearing up to 50% of 
Guam relocation cost 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 
Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, Finance 
Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, and Okinawa Affairs Minister Yuriko 
Koike held talks at a Tokyo hotel yesterday to discuss Japan's 
share in the cost of relocating US Marines from Okinawa to Guam 
as part of the realignment of US forces in Japan. As a result, 
they reached an agreement that Japan can bear only up to 50% of 
Washington's request for a total of 10 billion dollars for the 
planned relocation. The US has asked Japan to bear about 7.5 
billion dollars for the relocation. Japan has indicated that it 
would be able to shoulder 3 billion dollars, including 2.5 
billion dollars in loan for building housing. The five ministers 
seem to have approved the possibility of additional funding. 
 
8) Space strategy: LDP panel calls for reviewing "limitation on 
non-military use" of space to allow SDF use, plans to draft new 
law 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
Evening, March 28, 2006 
 
A subcommittee chaired by Takeo Kawamura under the Liberal 
Democratic Party's Special Committee on Space Development decided 
earlier today to draft lawmaker-initiated legislation, a "basic 
space law", which would clarify the use of space from the 
viewpoint of national security. The bill would reverse the 
country's previous policy of limiting the use of space to 
peaceful, nonmilitary purposes. 
 
The panel plans to draft the legislation to allow the country to 
use space under the purview of the right of self-defense. Based 
on that policy line, the legislation would enable the Self- 
Defense Forces to actively use space in accordance with 
international standards allowing space use for non-aggression 
purposes. Specifically, the SDF will aim at collecting 
intelligence on the unstable post-9/11 world and dealing flexibly 
with extensive disasters by using state-of-the-art satellites in 
the areas of national defense and disaster prevention. 
 
The committee also would like to have a minister for space and a 
strategic council for space installed in order to eliminate the 
harmful effects of bureaucratic sectionalism by adding the 
viewpoints of security and industrialization to Japan's space 
development, which has been centered until now on research and 
development. 
 
TOKYO 00001620  007 OF 011 
 
 
 
Based on the United Nations Space Treaty prohibiting the 
establishment of weapons of mass destruction in space, the Diet 
adopted in 1969 a resolution on Japan's space development and its 
basic use of space, limiting the country's use of space to non- 
military purposes. 
 
In 1985, Japan also unveiled a unified government view confining 
the SDF's use of space to commercial-off-the-shelf technologies 
only. For this reason, the use of cutting-edge satellites has not 
been allowed. Following North Korea's firing of a Taepodong 
missile in 1998, Japan launched in 2003 a spy satellite capable 
of identifying objects measuring 4 meters across, which is 
inferior to spy satellites of other countries. 
 
9) Government releases 76.5 billion yen in yen loans for Iraq 
reconstruction: Remains unable to shift its assistance policy to 
economic cooperation; Timeline for pulling out GSDF personnel 
unclear 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Slightly abridged) 
March 29, 2006 
 
The Foreign Ministry yesterday released a plan to extend yen 
loans totaling 76.5 billion yen in support of the reconstruction 
of Iraq. The government plans to continue to support the 
reconstruction of Iraq even after the pullout of Ground Self- 
Defense Force (GSDF), by shifting emphasis to economic 
cooperation through official development assistance (ODA). 
However, with conflicts rooted in ethnic and religious causes 
intensifying in the nation, there are no prospects at all for the 
launching of a new government even though about three and a half 
months have passed since the National Assembly election last 
December. There seems to be no timetable in sight for pulling out 
GSDF troops. 
 
The planned yen loans, the first of its kind to be extended to 
Iraq in over 20 years, will finance the building of port 
facilities at Umm Qasr, southern Iraq, the construction of 
irrigation facilities aimed to improve agricultural productivity 
at various locations across the country, and the refurbishment of 
a thermal electric power plant in a suburb of Baghdad. 
 
The government has focused on the dispatch of GSDF troops and ODA 
in Iraq reconstruction assistance. With the decision to extend 
yen loans to the nation, it wants to clearly indicate to the 
international community its stance of continuing Iraq assistance 
despite studying a possible withdrawal of GSDF personnel. 
 
At present, approximately 160,000 military personnel from 28 
countries, including Japan, the US and Britain remain deployed in 
Iraq. About 600 GSDF personnel have been engaging in assistance 
activities in Samawah in southern Iraq since January 2004. The 
number of GSDF members dispatched to Samawah has totaled 
approximately 5,000. 
 
Japan had envisaged starting to withdraw GSDF personnel from late 
March and completing the operation by the end of May, on the 
assumption of the launching of the new Iraqi government. However, 
due to the chaotic situation in Iraq, it had to drastically alter 
this scenario. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also had to 
state, "The situation in Iraq is not yet conductive to allow me 
 
TOKYO 00001620  008 OF 011 
 
 
to indicate a timeline for the withdrawal of GSDF troops." 
 
10) Hideshi Mitani named cabinet intelligence director; Abe 
thinks great deal of his intelligence-gathering capability 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts) 
March 29, 2006 
 
The government decided yesterday to appoint Hideshi Mitani of the 
National Police Agency to serve as the successor to Cabinet 
Intelligence Director Toshinori Kanemoto, effective as of April 
¶1. 
 
Mitani joined the NPA in 1974. His appointment to a vice minister- 
level post is a triple-jump appointment, according to a high 
government official. Lurking in the background is Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Shinzo Abe's intention to strengthen the intelligence- 
 
SIPDIS 
gathering capability of the Prime Minister's Official Residence 
(Kantei) with an eye on the forthcoming prime ministerial race. 
 
Abe stated in a press conference yesterday: 
 
"Strengthening intelligence-gathering capability is extremely 
important to effectively implement Japan's security and foreign 
policies. To reach that end, I thought a certain length of period 
would be necessary." 
 
He indicated in his remarks that the government would move ahead 
with a review of its intelligence-collection system from a long- 
term standpoint by taking advantage of the appointment of Mitani. 
 
The selection of Kanemoto's replacement has been a pending issue 
for the government since last year. Kanemoto assumed the post in 
July 2001. It is now time for him to step down from his job. Some 
Kantei officials have been unhappy with Kanemoto, claiming, "He 
has not reported to Kantei important information on North Korea 
and China." 
 
However, the selection hit rocky ground since there were mixed 
motives among officials of not only the NPA but also the Foreign 
Ministry and the Defense Agency. The government looked into the 
possibility of appointing an official of the Ministry of Economy, 
Trade and Industry for the reason that it was not good to give 
the NPA both the deputy chief cabinet secretary for crisis 
management post and the intelligence director post. The NPA, 
however, strongly reacted against that plan. 
 
Mitani was detailed to the Foreign Ministry and then to the 
Defense Agency. He served as a secretary to former Prime Minister 
Yoshiro Mori. He has many connections in political and 
bureaucratic circles. 
 
11) Taiwan Central News Agency: Lee Teng-hui postpones Japan trip 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui has decided to postpone 
his visit to Japan, scheduled to start May 10, until after the 
fall or later for health reasons, Taiwan's Central News Agency 
reported March 28. Citing a source familiar with Japan-Taiwan 
relations, the agency reported that Lee had changed his schedule 
 
TOKYO 00001620  009 OF 011 
 
 
in accordance with a doctor's advice to rest for the next three 
months. The former president was hospitalized for six days from 
March 19 due to a cold. Also suffering from fatigue, he 
reportedly even showed signs of light pneumonia. 
 
12) Japan, US start experts' talks on beef trade 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Japan and the United States started two days of expert-level 
talks on beef trade in Tokyo yesterday. 
 
The two governments until now had exchanged views mainly in 
writing over the cause for vertebral columns - a specified risk 
material that could transmit BSE - found in a US veal shipment to 
Japan, as well as US measures to prevent a similar incident. In 
the experts' talks, both sides will try to find common ground, 
but with wide discrepancies remaining in their views about the 
safety of beef, difficult negotiations are expected. 
 
Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General Masato Kitera said in 
the meeting yesterday: 
 
"The Japanese people now have questions not only about the 
problem of the meat-processing plant in question but also about 
the US government's checking function at such plants. I hope 
these talks will become an arena for the US to reply to Japanese 
consumers' questions." 
 
Meanwhile, Charles Lambert, acting undersecretary for marketing 
at the US Agriculture Department, expressed hopes for Japan's 
early resumption of US beef imports, saying: "We are ready to 
reply to any questions. We have implemented safety measures in 
hopes of resuming beef trade with Japan." 
 
Participating in the talks from the Japanese side are responsible 
officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Health, Labor and 
Welfare Ministry, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 
Ministry. The US side explained in detail why banned vertebral 
columns were included in a shipment and what preventive measures 
the US has taken. 
 
Japan suspended US beef imports this January, just one month 
after it partially lifted a ban on US beef, when banned vertebral 
columns were discovered in a shipment to Japan. 
 
Within the US, pressure is intensifying for an early resumption 
of beef trade, given calls from the cattle industry and other 
parties concerned. 
 
In its report submitted in February, the US concluded that the 
ineligible shipment was "a unique case." Japan, though, seeing 
the meat-processing system in the US as a problem, presented a 
list of questions, including one asking if the US government 
properly authorized plants for exporting beef to Japan. On these 
questions, the US has agreed to give replies directly to Japan in 
the ongoing meeting. 
 
13) Agriculture Minister Nakagawa: US explanations necessary for 
Japan to decide to resume US beef imports 
 
 
TOKYO 00001620  010 OF 011 
 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Nakagawa said 
yesterday that in the ongoing expert-level talks on the beef 
trade issue, "If the US gives proper replies to our questions, we 
will be able to move on to the next stage." He indicated that in 
order to move ahead with discussion on Japan's resumption of US 
beef imports, convincing explanations on the part of the United 
States are imperative. 
 
In the expert meeting yesterday, Japan asked if the US government 
properly certified plants for exporting beef to Japan, but the US 
side reportedly repeated the explanations it has made so far. 
 
Japan is poised to ask the US in the meeting today to clarify 
various questionable points, including why bones were included in 
a shipment to Hong Kong. 
 
14) Mori: "All-party approach is necessary" in selecting Koizumi 
successor; Indicates need to take prime minister's view into 
account 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
March 29, 2006 
 
Shunsuke Oba, Moscow 
 
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, currently visiting Russia, 
met Japanese reporters on March 28 and emphasized the need for 
the party to be united in selecting the next Liberal Democratic 
Party president in the election in September. He said: "It is 
important to create an atmosphere for all members to support one 
candidate. An all-party approach is essential." On the final 
judgment, though, Mori said: "It is necessary to listen to Prime 
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's views." 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and former Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Yasuo Fukuda have been viewed as major candidates in 
 
SIPDIS 
the presidential race. Both belong to the Mori faction. Asked for 
his view on this point, Mori indicated that his faction would 
make a judgment in a cautious manner while taking their 
intentions into consideration, saying: 
 
"Both have yet to declare their candidacy. Once they decide to 
run in the election, we will need to start coordination. We have 
yet to reach that stage." 
 
Mori further commented: "The blows and wounds suffered from the 
Koizumi reforms are serious. We must try to heal the wounds, 
otherwise we will not be able to put up a good fight in 
elections." Touching on the fact that Mori himself and Koizumi, 
both of who belong to the Mori faction, assumed the post of prime 
minister, Mori said: "I wonder if it would be acceptable for the 
next prime minister to be picked from the Mori faction again." He 
stressed the importance of building a unified party. 
 
In reference to the Koizumi administration's reform line, Mori 
said: 
 
"Persons who are not interested in politics might be finding the 
current situation interesting, but those who know much about 
 
TOKYO 00001620  011 OF 011 
 
 
politics might be harboring doubts about the current state." 
 
SCHIEFFER