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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 003038 
 
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 06/02/06 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) 2006 LDP presidential race: Clear clash between Abe and 
Fukuda over Asia policy 
 
(2) Fertility rate sinks to record low of 1.25, given late 
marriage, maternity 
 
(3) Editorial: Peace cooperation a top priority for dispatched 
SDF team 
 
(4) Japan also in need of a "Third Way" - a lesson from Blair 
administration 
 
(5) Reporter's eye column - The world will never forget Unit 731: 
Let's share responsibility for past atrocities 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) 2006 LDP presidential race: Clear clash between Abe and 
Fukuda over Asia policy 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
June 1, 2006 
 
Asia diplomacy: Abe favors India over China; Fukuda stresses need 
for judging Yasukuni issue from wider standpoint 
 
The differences between Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and 
former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda are most clear in 
their respective Asia diplomacy, especially Japan's relations 
with China, which have deteriorated due to Prime Minister 
Koizumi's visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. 
 
With an East Asian Community in mind, Fukuda in late April 
advocated a new "Fukuda Doctrine." He intends to restructure the 
Fukuda Doctrine introduced by his late father, Takeo Fukuda, when 
he was prime minister (in the mid-1970s). He emphasized the need 
for heart-to-heart communication. 
 
Regarding the suspension of mutual summit visits by top Japanese 
and Chinese leaders, Fukuda pointed out the abnormality of the 
situation, and he criticized Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni 
Shrine: "A judgment from a comprehensive standpoint is necessary 
(for resolving the matter)." Koizumi has reiterated that business 
and politics are two separate things. From his experience of 
working at a petroleum company, Fukuda said, "Creating 
environments in which Japanese firms can do business overseas 
smoothly is a job for diplomacy." 
 
Abe, meanwhile, is optimistic about relations with China and 
South Korea, saying, "The number of exchanges with the two 
countries is the largest ever." He also advocates strategic 
dialogues with democratic Asian countries. He stresses 
cooperation with countries that share the values of "freedom and 
democracy, basic human rights and the rule of law." He thinks 
that Japan would be able to seek to check China by promoting 
exchanges with India, whose economic growth is striking. 
 
He supports Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine. He has 
repeatedly said that Japan should not build a national war 
memorial because just because it was asked to do so by another 
country. However, refrained from stating whether he will visit 
 
TOKYO 00003038  002 OF 008 
 
 
Yasukuni Shrine if he becomes prime minister. 
 
Financial reconstruction: Abe prioritizes cuts in wasted tax 
money; Fukuda calls for both consumption tax hike and other 
efforts 
 
With the huge fiscal deficit and a possible expansion of social 
security expenditures in mind, both Abe and Fukuda predict that 
increasing the consumption tax rate will be absolutely necessary 
in the future. However, they have different ideas. 
 
Abe said that he would prioritize selling government assets and 
ending the waste of tax money and that he would raise the 
economic growth rate by increasing automatically tax revenues. He 
also said that he would discuss with the public the need for tax 
reform, including the consumption tax, as well as tax hikes. He 
has not clearly mentioned an increase in the consumption tax 
rate. Abe's view is that every effort should be made before 
raising the consumption tax rate, which is similar to the 
thinking of LDP policy affairs chief Hidenao Nakagawa, who 
supports Abe, and Internal Affairs and Communications Minister 
Heizo Takenaka. 
 
Asked about which was needed first, such efforts or a consumption 
tax hike, Fukuda responded: "The question is not that which 
should be conducted first. If possible, both should be 
implemented." He also said: 
 
"If the economy recovers, the interest rate will rise, the tax 
revenue will increase and the interest payments will expand. As a 
result, the balance will come out even. It's right to sell 
national properties, but I don't expect much for it. Another 
thing we can do is to increase the consumption tax rate. It is 
necessary to pay off the national debt by doing such things." 
 
Fukuda's view is close to that of Finance Minister Sadakazu 
Tanigaki. 
 
Social divide issue: Abe calls for creating society that would 
give another chance; Fukuda emphasizes Japanese style stability 
 
There are gaps between Abe and Fukuda in their ideas for 
resolving the widening social divide. 
 
Abe favors an American style society, which gives people who fail 
another chance to try again. He heads a council to promote the 
cause of giving people another chance to try again. 
 
Abe's perception on the present situation is that many Japanese 
people support the view that it is only natural that there are 
income disparities between those who make efforts and those who 
do not. He believes that the economy and national power will 
strengthen through fair competition. He underscored that he would 
create a society in which nobody would be left behind. 
 
Fukuda pointed out: "The gaps between Tokyo and local districts 
have widened more and more. There should be regular employment." 
He thinks that narrowing the social gap is a key element in 
setting economic policy. He aims to create a conventional 
Japanese style society that would attach important to "a stable 
life." 
 
(2) Fertility rate sinks to record low of 1.25, given late 
 
TOKYO 00003038  003 OF 008 
 
 
marriage, maternity 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 3) (Excerpts) 
June 2, 2006 
 
Birthrate drops in 45 prefectures 
 
The nation's total fertility rate in 2005 sank to a record low of 
1.25, with fewer women marrying young and giving birth soon after 
marriage. The number of babies born to those in their early 30s 
also dropped significantly, marking the first decrease in six 
years. 
 
According to the Population Survey Report for 2005, the average 
age at which women get married for the first time rose to 28.0, 
up 0.2 from the previous year and 1.7 over a decade ago. This 
result shows that an increasing number of women have designed 
life plans giving no priority to marriage. 
 
The average age at which men get married also surged by 0.2. A 
total of 714,261 couples were married in 2005, marking a yearly 
drop for the fourth year in a row. 
 
The average age at which women give birth for the first time rose 
to 29.1 in 2005, up 0.2 over the previous year. The figure shot 
up 3.4 over the past 30 years. 
 
On a prefectural basis, the birthrate dropped in 46 prefectures, 
excluding Fukui and Kochi, although the corresponding figure was 
30 in 2004. This trend has begun to be observed even in rural 
areas, but the situation in urban areas is quite serious. The 
fertility rate in Tokyo was as low as 0.98. The environment for 
child-rearing, such as a shortage of day nurseries, has been 
deteriorating. 
 
How to raise funds left as thorny issue for measures to halt 
birthrate decrease 
 
The government and the ruling parties are greatly alarmed about 
the steady decline in the birthrate. The government plans to come 
up this month with a package of measures aimed at reversing the 
downward trend, including increased financial assistance for 
families with young children; a deduction on taxable income in 
accordance with the number of children; and a reduced burden of 
expenses for maternal health checks. It is not easy, though, for 
the government to expand outlays, given the ongoing fiscal 
reform. 
 
For instance, if child-support allowances are raised uniformly by 
10,000 yen, approximately 400 billion yen would be needed to 
finance this measure. The government might be pressed to take 
drastic measures, such as a plan to cut social security payments 
to the elderly and use the money to finance measures to combat 
the falling birthrate. In addition to public assistance, the 
government also intends to take measures to improve the work 
environment to enable women to juggle a job and motherhood by 
involving corporations. 
 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: "We must take the latest 
finding seriously." Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe expressed 
his concern, saying: "Our future economic society will be 
unavoidably affected in a negative way." Minister of Health, 
Labor and Welfare Jiro Kawasaki commented: "Young people who 
 
TOKYO 00003038  004 OF 008 
 
 
failed to get jobs during the past decade contributed to lowering 
the birthrate." State Minister in Charge of Measures for 
Declining Birthrate Kuniko Inoguchi emphatically said: "We will 
do everything that we can." 
 
Figure 1.25 as warning for the nation 
 
The government took up the issue of declining birthrate for the 
first time in the annual lifestyle white paper for fiscal 1992. 
The birthrate at that time was at the 1.5% level. Though using 
modest expressions, the white paper sounded a warning about the 
effect of the declining birthrate on the economy and society. 
 
Since then, 14 years have passed. In 2004, the government 
introduced a new pension system designed to reduce even pension 
payments for elderly subscribers to meet the needs of the aging 
society with fewer children. But the birthrate rate has declined 
at a far faster path than expected. 
 
In anticipation of the problem of birthrate decrease becoming 
even more serious, the government must overhaul the nation's 
social insurance systems, including nursing insurance, from their 
foundation. Unless such efforts are made, future generations will 
be required to pay higher taxes and insurance premiums, and the 
nation's economic vitality will eventually be undermined. In 
discussions on reforming revenues and expenditures, as well, the 
government and the ruling parties must thoroughly discuss 
measures to reduce pension and medical fee payments. 
 
The government failed to come up with effective policy measures 
to halt the declining birth rate over the past 14 years despite 
the warning in the white paper. Taking the latest finding as a 
wake-up call for Japan, the government should take every possible 
measure. The ratio of financial disbursements for child-support 
allowances to gross domestic product (GDP) is 0.6% in the case of 
Japan, but the rates in Sweden and France, whose birthrates are 
improving, are slightly less than 3%. The central and local 
governments, both under the weight of heavy debts, must utilize 
wisdom and innovative ideas to that end. 
 
(3) Editorial: Peace cooperation a top priority for dispatched 
SDF team 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 2, 2006 
 
A disaster relief team composed of some 50 Self-Defense Force 
personnel has left the Komaki base in Aichi Prefecture for 
earthquake-hit Java, Indonesia, to engage in medical support. 
They left aboard Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport planes. 
Once arriving in Java on June 2, the members will engage in 
medical activities to prevent epidemics and other efforts in 
cooperation with some 20 advance-team members. 
 
The SDF's humanitarian assistance has won local trust at various 
parts of the world. We would like to see the SDF members give 
full play to their ability in Java, as well. 
 
The devastated areas are suffering from rapidly deteriorating 
sanitary conditions and a delay in relief efforts arriving. The 
government must beef up the SDF team as necessary to give maximum 
support. 
 
 
TOKYO 00003038  005 OF 008 
 
 
Japan decided on May 28, the day after the earthquake had hit 
Indonesia, to extend 10 million dollars (1.1 billion yen) in 
grant aid and send a 25-member disaster relief medical team. On 
the night of May 29, Japan decided to send an SDF team in 
accordance with the Japan Disaster Relief Team Law in compliance 
with a request from the Indonesian government. The SDF team left 
Japan in just three days after the government decision. 
 
In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in December 
2004, Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels on the fuel supply 
mission in the area rushed to a devastated area to recover 
bodies. But it took over 10 days for the first Air Self-Defense 
team to depart from Japan. Moreover, a total of 1,000 troops from 
the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces were not able 
to provide support for about a month after the tsunami disaster, 
exposing poor readiness. 
 
The dispatch this time was generally free from problems in stark 
contrast to the tsunami mission, which was far larger in size, 
however. It was probably not completely unconnected with the 
shift in March to the integrated operational system under the 
Joint Staff chief. All three forces must combine their innovative 
ideas so that they can provide assistance more speedily and 
effectively. 
 
In Indonesia, teams from such countries as China, Thailand, and 
Malaysia are providing assistance, in addition to the US 
military's full-fledged medical services. The US military has 
reportedly set up simple hospital facilities on devastated soccer 
grounds where surgery can be performed. How a country responds to 
an emergency situation in another country can determine the 
international community's view of its dependabilty. It could 
dictate the country's security environment as well. 
 
Japan must extend visible and massive support to meet the needs. 
But international peace cooperation is not one of the SDF's 
primary duties. The SDF is allowed to engage in international 
peace cooperation to the extent that it does not hamper the main 
SDF duties, according to a provision. This makes it difficult for 
Japan to make all-out efforts. Lawmakers are to blame for 
ignoring the need to make necessary changes to the legislation. 
 
(4) Japan also in need of a "Third Way" - a lesson from Blair 
administration 
 
MAINICHI (Page 4) (Abridged) 
Evening, May 31, 2006 
 
By Jiro Yamaguchi, professor of public administration, Hokkaido 
University 
 
The United Kingdom's Labor Party led by Tony Blair took over the 
reins of government in 1999, achieving a historic victory in the 
general election after serving as the major opposition party for 
18 years. Blair's slogan was the "Third Way." It was preceded by 
the post-WWII "First Way" to turn the UK into a cradle-to-grave 
welfare state and Margaret Thatcher's "Second Way" to pursue a 
small government. Blair came up with the "Third Way" to correct 
the social mess after the small-government policy course that 
followed the welfare-oriented big-government policy line, which 
also brought about harmful effects. 
 
The "Third Way" was intended to build a sustainable welfare state 
 
TOKYO 00003038  006 OF 008 
 
 
amid fierce global economic competition. Experiencing reforms for 
a small government 20 years earlier than Japan, the UK had many 
social problems, such as a growing number of poor people and 
jobless youths. Blair tried to find the government's role in 
setting the stage for ensuring reemployment for people facing 
adversity to give them some hope. The Blair administration came 
up with specific policies, such as cutting taxes for low-income 
earners, extending job assistance to young people, raising the 
level of elementary and secondary education, and giving child 
support to working mothers. For instance, the administration has 
introduced a system called the Child Trust Fund enabling each 
newborn child to receive up to 500 pounds from the government and 
parents to save up to 1,200 pounds a year tax-free until the 
child reaches 18. 
 
Concrete steps, not rhetoric, characterize British policy. 
 
The administration has also achieved significant results in 
advancing decentralization and fostering civic groups, such as 
nonprofit organizations, making Britain's stagnant and tumultuous 
image a thing of the past. 
 
But Blair also made fatal mistakes. Because of his approach of 
directly talking to the public through the media to garner 
support, Blair ended up telling a lie about Iraq's possession of 
weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq war. His 
administration has also turned the UK into a surveillance society 
by obligating each citizen to carry an ID card in the name of 
security. Those steps resulted in popular discontent with bloated 
state power, pushing the Blair administration to the end of its 
rope. 
 
But there is no doubt that Blair's successor will continue with 
his domestic policies. The fast-rising Conservative Party is also 
calling for environmental preservation and improved medical and 
educational systems, departing from Thatcherism. Welfare state 
reform, accomplished by the Blair administration, is now a common 
theme. 
 
Japanese politics after the Koizumi era can learn a lot from the 
Blair administration. In Japan, the "First Way" signified the 
monopoly of vested interests by bureaucrats and LDP policy 
cliques and the "Second Way" the Koizumi reform period. As a 
result, Japan is now faced with such problems as growing poverty 
and social disparity. The question is not the size of the 
government. The government must now seriously discuss what must 
be done specifically to help support the independence of 
individuals. Japan is in need of a new leader who can pursue the 
"Third Way" after Koizumi is out of office. 
 
(5) Reporter's eye column - The world will never forget Unit 731: 
Let's share responsibility for past atrocities 
 
MAINICHI (Page 6) (Almost full) 
May 26, 2006 
 
By Daisuke Yamada 
 
I interviewed persons associated with Unit 731, a biological 
warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army, as part of news 
gathering crew for the Mainichi Shimbun's project entitled, "A 
Starting Point of the Post-war 60 years." After the interview, I 
realized that former unit members and other former soldiers are 
 
TOKYO 00003038  007 OF 008 
 
 
even now wrestling with the issue of war responsibility they 
harbor. But the Japanese society has avoided facing up to that 
issue. 
 
Let me make a comparison in this regard between Japan and 
Germany. The Nuremberg Trials handed down death penalty to seven 
of the 23 defendants, such as doctors having had a role in human 
experimentation and other experiments, and sentenced another five 
of them to prison for life. The trials were done by the victor 
nations, but the ruling did not end up merely a judgment by the 
victors. It led to creating the so-called Nuremberg Code, a set 
of ethical principles for human experimentation. This Code has 
affected the post-war generations across the world. In 1988, the 
Berlin Medical Association renewed a self-searching statement 
that called into question the responsibility of doctors involved 
in Nazism. 
 
In contrast, the Tokyo War Crimes Trials did not punish doctors 
and others having a hand in similar experiments because of a 
secret deal between Japan and the United States, which wanted to 
 
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monopolize all data related to Japan's biological experiments in 
order to counter the Soviet Union. 
 
"Unit 731 was an execution group. More responsible were 
professors at imperial universities who sent their students to 
the unit and prompted them to carry out human experimentation 
with test vaccines," confided Keiichi Tsuneishi, professor of 
science history at Kanagawa University. But the Tokyo War Crimes 
Trials did not deal with such actions by Japanese physicians. The 
Japan Medical Association has never issued a statement similar to 
that of Germany's. 
 
Unit 731 has rarely cropped up as a subject of discussion at home 
in recent years, but it is remembered well abroad. Professor 
Franzbrau (TN: phonetic), an expert on dermatology at the 
University of California, has been studying the damage caused by 
biological warfare in China. He noted: "Japanese doctors can only 
shame themselves if they avoid looking at the issue of Unit 731." 
The professor intends to seek an explanation from Japanese 
medical circles during a meeting of the World Medical Association 
slated for October. The International Association of Bioethics 
also plans to deal with Unit 731 as a special subject for 
discussion in its conference set for August in Beijing. 
 
"Since I was ordered, I couldn't refuse, but the person before me 
would have stayed alive if I had not experimented on him," said 
Yoshio Shinozuka, 82, a former member of Unit 731 responsible for 
cultivating highly toxic germs and present at the scene of 
vivisection. Shinozuka spoke of his experience that covered more 
than 20 years. The most difficult thing for him, he said, was to 
admit, "The person responsible for the experimentation was me." 
Even a fellow peace activist told him: "I don't need to hear the 
perpetrator's story." 
 
A former military doctor, Ken Yuasa, 89, who likewise talked 
about his experience, has been often threatened: "You shouldn't 
speak of it." Yuasa was not a member of Unit 731, but he carried 
out vivisection on Chinese as part of surgery training at an army 
hospital in Shanxi Province in China. Looking back on those days, 
Yuasa said: "We were told that the Emperor's military should not 
be cowered by seeing people who were not anesthetized faint in 
agony during an operation. So we conducted experimentation to get 
a sense of accomplishment that we had done our job." 
 
TOKYO 00003038  008 OF 008 
 
 
 
This story may appear eerie, but Yuasa said: "Many people 
involved in vivisection have really forgotten what they did in 
the past. No way, you may so say, but such a thing was a daily 
event in those days; so they simply can't remember." Cruel acts 
were not limited to Unit 731. Similar acts were committed widely 
at other facilities, such as army hospitals. There must have been 
a great deal of Japanese concerned with such acts, but there are 
few who speak about their experiences of this kind. 
 
Perhaps, people who can speak about their experience, without 
being overwhelmed by guilty conscience and without fear of giving 
rise to misconception and antipathy, are scarce. There was one 
who told me this way: "My friend, after reflecting on his past 
conduct, killed himself. 'Simply saying, please forgive me' is 
not a solution at all to what we are suffering from. We need to 
find our raison d'etre; or we may end up following his path." 
 
Ordinary people easily turned into murderers in a straitjacketed 
situation where neither opposition nor discussion was allowed, as 
is often the case in wartime. Someone I interviewed confessed 
honestly: "I shudder at the thought of what would have happened 
if one of my subordinates had turned against me." Given that 
there is no guarantee that postwar Japanese society will never 
face a similar situation, the responsibility of the society today 
should be to support them, learn in detail what they did, and 
share their war responsibility, albeit slightly. 
 
With the end of the war, some 1,100 former Japanese soldiers, 
including Mr. Shinozuka, were sent to war criminal control 
centers in Fushun or Taiyuan, China. (Chinese) officials at the 
centers were polite to them, and there were no officials who spat 
on them. Instead, officials repeatedly urged soldiers to have a 
strong awareness of their guilt by reading diaries written by the 
relatives of those who had been dissected. 
 
Later, most of those soldiers were dismissed and returned home by 
¶1964. Some of returned soldiers organized a liaison council of 
returned soldiers from China and launched a movement to speak 
about their wartime experience. But every time they speak about 
their experience, they are criticized as "having been brainwashed 
by the Chinese Communist Party." (The council was dissolved in 
2002 due to the aging of the organization.) China's polite 
treatment toward those soldiers might have been the results of 
political implications. But which of the two countries treated 
their "enemy" warmly, Japan or China? 
 
Sixty years have passed after the end of the war. The memory of 
the war is fading away. But shutting our eyes to history is 
simply to add to our shame. 
 
SCHIEFFER