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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 004477 
 
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 08/09/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Poll on Yasukuni Shrine issue 
 
(2) South Korea's foreign minister expects to see Abe play a role in 
resolving bilateral issues 
 
(3) Editorial: Yasukuni dispute; Mr. Abe should also join the ring 
 
(4) Strategic overseas trips by cabinet ministers: Chuma says, "I 
was treated like a state guest;" Yosano refuses to visit El 
Salvador, citing, "It's too far from Japan" 
 
(5) Ozawa Minshuto (Part 1): Ozawa devoted to winning single-seat 
constituencies in Upper House election 
 
(6) Pros and cons of prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine: 
Tetsuya Takahashi, professor at Tokyo University Graduate School - 
Principle of separating politics and religion must be abided by 
 
(7) Editorial: Under Aso private plan, Yasukuni would no longer be a 
shrine 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Poll on Yasukuni Shrine issue 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 9, 2006 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in percentage.) 
 
Q: Prime Minister Koizumi, when he ran in the ruling Liberal 
Democratic Party's 2001 presidential election, pledged to pay homage 
at Yasukuni Shrine. Since coming into office as prime minister, he 
has annually done so. Would you like him to do so on Aug. 15, the 
anniversary of the end of World War II? 
 
Yes                           22.9 
Yes to a certain degree       20.2 
No to a certain degree        19.9 
No                            28.7 
No answer (N/A)                8.4 
 
Q: Would you like the next prime minister to pay homage at Yasukuni 
Shrine? 
 
Yes                           22.2 
Yes to a certain degree       18.2 
No to a certain degree        20.2 
No                            30.1 
N/A                            9.4 
 
Q: Which place do you think would be appropriate for the state to 
console the souls of those who died in the war and mourn the war 
dead? Pick only one from among those listed below. 
 
Yasukuni Shrine at present                                 35.0 
Yasukuni Shrine that separates Class-A war criminals       24.4 
Chidorigafuchi Cemetery for the unidentified war dead       8.1 
A new national secular memorial under state control        19.2 
Other answers (O/A)                                         0.4 
 
TOKYO 00004477  002 OF 010 
 
 
N/A                                                        12.9 
 
Q: There's a view insisting on separating the Class-A war criminals 
from Yasukuni Shrine. Do you agree with this opinion? 
 
Yes                           39.8 
Yes to a certain degree       21.9 
No to a certain degree        11.9 
No                            12.5 
N/A                           13.8 
 
Q: A former Imperial Household grand steward's notes recently 
discovered show that the late Showa Emperor (Hirohito) was 
displeased with the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals at 
Yasukuni Shrine and stopped paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine 
thereafter. Did this affect you in your thinking about the issue of 
the prime minister's Yasukuni homage? 
 
Yes, very much          11.0 
Yes, somewhat           26.4 
No, not very much       28.9 
No, not at all          26.3 
N/A                      7.4 
 
Polling methodology 
Date of survey: Aug. 5-6. 
Subjects of survey: 3,000 persons chosen from among all eligible 
voters throughout the country (at 250 locations on a stratified 
two-stage random sampling basis). 
Method of implementation: Door-to-door visits for face-to-face 
interviews. 
Number of valid respondents: 1,741 persons (58.0% ). 
Breakdown of respondents: Male-49%, female-51%. 
 
(2) South Korea's foreign minister expects to see Abe play a role in 
resolving bilateral issues 
 
TOKYO (Page 1) (Full) 
Evening, August 9, 2006 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe met this morning with Republic of 
Korea (ROK) Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon at the 
Prime Minister's Official Residence. Foreign Minister Ban told Abe 
at the outset: "I think it regrettable that our countries have been 
facing a grave situation since March over the historical issue." He 
apparently was referring to Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine in April, 
Prime Minister Koizumi's expected visit to the shrine on August 15, 
the date of the end of the war, as well as expressing regret for the 
dispute over Takeshima/Dokdo isles, which both countries claim as 
their own. 
 
In addition, Foreign Minister Ban, calling Abe "the next prime 
minister," stated, "I hope that you will give these issues extra 
special consideration and play a role to resolve them." He expressed 
his hopes that Abe would tackle the resolution of the problems. 
 
In response, Abe, avoiding any mention of his own visit to Yasukuni 
Shrine, replied: "Regarding the historical issue, we must always 
assume a humble attitude. If there is a misunderstanding, I would 
like to make every effort to solve the problem." Turning to the 
Takeshima dispute, he said: "We need to make mutual efforts in order 
to quickly reach an interim framework." He advocated such measures 
as the need to have a prior notification system for maritime surveys 
 
TOKYO 00004477  003 OF 010 
 
 
in the sea area. 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe and Foreign Minister Ban agreed on the 
need for both countries to cooperate in order to smoothly implement 
the United Nations Security Council Resolution on North Korea 
related to that country's launching of ballistic missiles. 
 
(3) Editorial: Yasukuni dispute; Mr. Abe should also join the ring 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
August 9, 2006 
 
There is a month to go until the announcement of the Liberal 
Democratic Party's (LDP) presidential election. The differences in 
views of the candidates jockeying to become the premier after 
Junichiro Koizumi steps down in September are becoming clear. 
 
Foreign Minister Aso has released his personal view on the Yasukuni 
issue, proposing that the shrine be turned into a national memorial 
with the status of a special corporation, after disbanding itself as 
a religious organization. 
 
In order for the state to become involved, it is necessary in 
compliance with the Constitution's principle of separation between 
state and religion for Yasukuni Shrine to be transformed into a 
non-religious entity. But this involves many important factors, such 
as how the shrine's ritual ceremony should be changed, how Class-A 
war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni should be treated. and most 
importantly, whether the shrine will accede to a request to disband 
itself. 
 
The bottom line of Mr. Aso's argument is that Yasukuni Shrine should 
remain as a place for mourning the war dead, but its organization 
should be changed drastically so that anybody, including the emperor 
and the prime minister, can visit without any problem. 
 
It appears that Aso will not visit Yasukuni until his proposals are 
realized. 
 
In that sense, his argument has something in common with the stance 
of Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who categorically said that 
he would refrain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine, while pinning his 
hopes for a separate enshrinement of Class-A war criminals. The idea 
can be called a kind of moratorium intended to put prime 
ministerials visits to Yasukuni on hold. 
 
The reasons given by Tanigaki are simple. He said that at this 
moment, it is impossible for Prime Minister Koizumi to hold summits 
with the leaders of China or South Korea. Therefore, he calls for 
giving priority to repairing ties with neighboring countries. 
 
Aso, who is responsible for the diplomacy of the Koizumi 
administration, perhaps cannot afford to admit that the nation's 
foreign relations are at an impasse. In giving those reasons, he was 
careful about choosing words and said the shrine should be made a 
nonreligious entity so that it can survive and the emperor can visit 
it. 
 
However, Aso obviously thinks that there are too many problems with 
the present nature of Yasukuni Shrine in order for the emperor to 
visit it. 
 
Regarding this issue, we have called on the prime minister to speak 
 
TOKYO 00004477  004 OF 010 
 
 
of his mind in an articulate manner. That is because we think 
candidates for succeeding Koizumi cannot avoid the Yasukuni issue, 
which has become a complicated political and diplomatic issue during 
the Koizumi administration. 
 
In that sense, we welcome that Mr. Aso and Mr. Tanigaki revealed 
their stances. The point is the feasibility of their proposals. The 
idea of the argument calling for making the shrine a special public 
corporation is similar to the legislation to defend and maintain the 
national polity, which was discussed more than 30 years ago and 
scrapped in the end. How to secure the Constitution's principle of 
separation between state and religion principle is a difficult 
issue. It is also hard to think that the shrine would readily decide 
to become a nonreligious entity. 
 
The shrine has rejected the separate enshrinement of Class-A war 
criminals because of Shinto teaching. 
 
In the end, the only way to resolve the Yasukuni issue through the 
government's own judgment is to create a secular national memorial. 
 
It was unveiled that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, a 
front-runner in the LDP presidential race, had secretly visited 
Yasukuni in April. He is keeping mum about it. The predominant view 
is that he will probably continue to visit Yasukuni, even if he 
becomes prime minister. 
 
Does he intend to get away without talking anything about his 
Yasukuni visit? Abe should also join the ring prepared by Aso and 
Tanigaki and fairly and squarely challenge them in debate. 
 
(4) Strategic overseas trips by cabinet ministers: Chuma says, "I 
was treated like a state guest;" Yosano refuses to visit El 
Salvador, citing, "It's too far from Japan" 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 8, 2006 
 
Ministers of the Koizumi Cabinet have started a series of "strategic 
overseas trips." Based on reflection on failure in Japan's bid for a 
permanent UNSC seat, the Cabinet Secretariat has assigned at the 
direction of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi cabinet ministers to 
visit certain countries. The countries were selected by ministries 
and agencies based on cabinet ministers' wishes. The countries were 
picked from those African and the Latin American countries as yet 
unvisited by any Japanese cabinet minister. One cabinet minister 
said he was treated like a state guest during his visit. Another 
minister refused to go, saying, "The country is too far from Japan." 
As it stands, matters have not moved forward as Koizumi had 
expected. 
 
Having received satisfaction from his tour of Africa in May where he 
receiving warm welcomes, Koizumi has advocated the need for 
strategic visits to foreign countries by members of his cabinet. 
According to a survey by the Foreign Ministry, there are 82 
countries where not Japanese cabinet member has ever set foot. Of 
those 82, the Cabinet Secretariat has chosen 20 countries for 
cabinet visits. "Ministers will visit countries with diplomatic ties 
with North Korea to seek their cooperation regarding the abduction 
issue," said a government source. 
 
Koki Chuma, state minister in charge of industrial revitalization 
and administrative reform, already visited Latvia and Estonia. At a 
 
TOKYO 00004477  005 OF 010 
 
 
press conference, he said delightedly: 
 
"I was received cordially. In Latvia, I was able to meet with the 
president, prime minister, foreign minister and economic minister 
individually. I was embarrassed to be escorted like a state guest by 
police cars when moving one place to another." 
 
Kenji Kosaka, minister of education, culture, sports, science and 
technology, with a letter from the prime minister, wrapped up a trip 
to Uganda. A total of nine ministers will visit 16 countries at the 
end. 
 
Some countries asked for Japan's economic assistance. 
 
Kaoru Yosano, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal 
policy, refused to go to El Salvador, citing that "It's too far 
away." The Cabinet Secretariat asked Internal Affairs and 
Communications Minister Heizo Takenaka to visit Colombia along with 
Brazil, but he turned down a trip to Colombia, citing that he would 
be too busy preparing the country's reform policy guidelines. Some 
ministers complained, saying, "Why should I go to such a country?" 
 
Main countries visited or to be visited by cabinet ministers 
 
Education Minister Kosaka 
July 11-19 
Uganda 
 
Administrative Reform Minister Chuma 
July 18-26 
LatviaEstonia 
 
Disaster Prevention Kutsukake 
Aug. 3-13 
MicronesiaMarshall IslandsPalau 
 
Justice Minister Sugiura 
Aug. 6-17 
GabonCameroonCape Verde 
 
Minister in charge of Declining Birthrate Inoguchi 
Aug. 9-17 
Trinidad and Tobago Nicaragua 
 
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Kawasaki 
Aug. 16-23 
Madagascar 
 
Environment Minister Koike 
Mid-August 
Tuvalu 
 
Science and Technology Minister Matsuda 
Mid-August 
Libya 
 
Land, Infrastructure and Trade Minister Kitagawa 
Late August 
SlovakiaSlovenia 
 
(5) Ozawa Minshuto (Part 1): Ozawa devoted to winning single-seat 
constituencies in Upper House election 
 
 
TOKYO 00004477  006 OF 010 
 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Slightly abridged) 
August 8, 2006 
 
Ichiro Ozawa, president of the main opposition party Minshuto 
(Democratic Party of Japan), on Aug. 7 published a book titled Gowan 
Isshin (Muscular Reform), comprising a series of columns he 
contributed to an evening daily. 
 
He has recently gotten a lot of media exposure. 
 
Appearing along with Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman of Kyocera 
Corp., on a Fuji-TV program recorded Aug. 4 in Kyoto, Ozawa 
categorically said: "In order to break the social deadlock, a change 
of government is necessary. With a change in administration, real 
reform will start." 
 
He also stated on a Yomiuri TV program on Aug. 5: 
 
"An Abe government, which will likely continue the political 
approach of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, would hold as one of 
its central beliefs that the strong will win in free competition and 
that this cannot be helped. Salaried workers are concerned about job 
security. I have insisted that the seniority system and lifetime 
employment should be included in the framework of safety net." 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is the front-runner in the LDP 
presidential race, and generational change is taking place within 
that party. Underlying Ozawa's words and actions is his view of a 
tense rivalry with an Abe government. 
 
Ozawa, who became LDP secretary general at the age of 47, is now 64. 
He is the third-longest-serving person in the House of 
Representatives, now in his 13th term. This summer he mailed 
postcards expressing his appreciation to supporters of his party. He 
wrote on the postcards: "We will all work together and run toward 
the goal of taking the reins of power. I will risk my political life 
to lead the charge." 
 
Ozawa, who headed the now defunct Jiyuto (Liberal Party), left it to 
join Minshuto in September 2003, later assuming the top post of the 
largest opposition party. He is trying to strengthen his own policy 
imprint in the party. 
 
Election strategy is one of them. Positioning the July 2007 House of 
Councillors election as a battle with the ruling LDP, Ozawa has been 
devoting himself intensely to the goal of forcing the ruling 
coalition into a minority in the Upper House, especially through the 
single-seat constituencies. 
 
Of the 27 single-seat constituencies up for grabs, Minshuto won only 
two in the 2001 Upper House election. In the 2004 Upper House 
election, however, the party obtained 13. In the next Upper House 
election, Tochigi and Gunma will be added to the single-seat 
constituencies. 
 
Ozawa aims to win between 15 and 20 of the 29 single-seat 
constituencies contested this time. He says: "There are many 
single-seat constituencies in rural areas, and the social divide is 
clear. Many in the rural districts distrust the LDP, which has 
attached importance solely to efficiency. We will be supported in 
the rural districts." 
 
Previously, Minshuto had lagged in creating support groups and 
 
TOKYO 00004477  007 OF 010 
 
 
depended on voter mood at the time of elections. Ozawa, has, 
however, put his energy into firming up local support in the manner 
that the LDP once did. Since May this year he has visited ten 
electoral districts in Yamagata, Saga, and Fukui prefectures. He 
tried to visit agricultural and fisheries cooperatives, as well as 
commerce and industry associations, as often as possible. 
 
Ozawa's own policy imprint is seen in his efforts to form a united 
front with other opposition parties. Former party heads Katsuya 
Okada and Seiji Maehara aimed at a single-party administration. 
Ozawa instead has called on other opposition parties to form a 
united front. He has even approached those lawmakers who bolted the 
LDP in opposition to the government's postal-privatization 
legislation. 
 
Soon after Golden Week in May, Ozawa invited Yoshihiro Kawakami, an 
LDP rebel who was defeated in last year's Lower House election, to 
his private office in Tokyo's Akasaka district and suggested running 
in the Upper House election as a Minshuto candidate for the Tottori 
single-seat constituency. 
 
Two months later, it came to the fore that Kawakami had joined 
Minshuto. 
 
Ozawa has recently focused on agricultural policy, focusing on 
increasing the nation's food self-sufficiency to 100% and providing 
3 trillion yen in income assistance to farmers. 
 
Minshuto had advocated that food self-sufficiency should be raised 
to 50% over the next 10 years, and to at least 60% in the future. 
Ozawa has changed this pledge, however. 
 
Some party lawmakers are, however, concerned that while farmers 
would favor such a policy, how to pa for it is unclear, and urban 
residents may criticize it as a waste of public funds. 
 
Although Ozawa's policy of prioritizing election measures is 
spreading through Minshuto, there does not appear to be any place 
for decisions on policy. 
 
Hokkaido University Prof. Jiro Yamaguchi, a self-proclaimed 
supporter of Ozawa, made this comment: 
 
"Mr. Ozawa belonged to the former Tanaka faction in the LDP. The 
Tanaka faction focused on the redistribution of income to weak 
areas, especially rural districts. I once criticized the politics of 
the Tanaka faction, but I now appreciate it, because I disagree with 
the Koizumi approach of rejecting measures that help the weak." 
 
Some Minshuto lawmakers are now worried that Ozawa has changed from 
an advocate of small government to a proponent of big government. 
 
Many in the party are opposed to Ozawa's personal proposal to create 
an armed force that would be on standby for UN missions. The party's 
council on foreign and defense affairs has held no discussions since 
Ozawa assumed the presidency. 
 
One junior lawmaker stressed that the panel was waiting for Ozawa's 
instruction, saying, "Unless the president shows us concrete policy 
visions, we cannot hold discussions." 
 
The party's leadership setup appears solid, but if it relies too 
much on Ozawa, it could lose its vitality. The question is whether 
 
TOKYO 00004477  008 OF 010 
 
 
Minshuto can become the "combat team" that Ozawa hopes for. The 
party has many challenges to overcome. 
 
(6) Pros and cons of prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine: 
Tetsuya Takahashi, professor at Tokyo University Graduate School - 
Principle of separating politics and religion must be abided by 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
August 9, 2006 
 
-- What is the significance of the existence of Yasukuni Shrine? 
 
Yasukuni Shrine used to be the central mechanism used to mobilize 
national spirit toward war. It was indisputably an emotional alchemy 
used to change the sorrow of bereaved families into honor, pride, 
and even joy when these words were applied: "They laid down their 
lives for their country. They are enshrined at Yasukuni as deities, 
and the Emperor pays homage to them there." 
 
-- What are your thoughts on the prime minister visiting Yasukuni? 
 
The primary role of Yasukuni Shrine is to publicly honor the war 
dead. In Yushukan, the exhibit hall on the site of Yasukuni, too, 
past wars are defined not as aggressive wars but as self-defense 
wars. Theoretically, that poses a problem. So Yasukuni is not the 
proper place for the prime minister of a nation to visit with such 
statements as his going there to pledge for peace or that war should 
never happen again. Yasukuni undeniably is not a facility to 
memorialize the war dead but a facility to exalt them. I can 
understand why China and South Korea have fiercely reacted. There is 
a high possibility that prime ministerial visits violate the 
Constitution (the principle of separation of state and religion). 
 
-- Calls are growing for removing enshrined Class-A war criminals 
from Yasukuni Shrine as means to resolve Yasukuni-related problems. 
 
If such would be possible, the diplomatic problems will be settled. 
In such a case, however, the way would be cleared for the prime 
minister and the emperor to pay homage at the shrine, so a major 
problem would be overcome. A revival of militarism seems 
inconceivable, but if Article 9 of the Constitution is revised, 
Yasukuni once again could be made into a device to support a country 
with a new potential to wage war. 
 
-- There are calls for creating a new war-memorial facility. 
 
I understand that such a facility is better than Yasukuni Shrine as 
a political option. But if one pays respects to the war dead at the 
new facility and also goes to Yasukuni, the effort would be 
meaningless. Its contents are also important. The new facility 
should not be made into something like a second Yasukuni Shrine. 
 
-- What do you think is the best solution? 
 
There is no option but for the prime minister to stop visiting 
Yasukuni Shrine. If he stops visiting the shrine not in response to 
criticism from China and South Korea but in accordance with the 
principle of separation of state and religion under the 
Constitution, diplomatic problems would be resolved. This principle 
is intended to prevent the government from using Yasukuni Shrine to 
affect the public spirit. It is essential to understand this 
meaning. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004477  009 OF 010 
 
 
(7) Editorial: Under Aso private plan, Yasukuni would no longer be a 
shrine 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 9, 2006 
 
Foreign Minister Taro Aso released his private proposal on the 
status of Yasukuni Shrine yesterday. He proposed Yasukuni should be 
secularized first and then be placed under state management. 
 
Starting from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, the Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) presented to the Diet many times a Yasukuni 
bill that called for changing the status of Yasukuni Shrine from a 
religious corporation into a special corporation and then placing it 
under state control. 
 
At that time, there were growing calls mainly from the Japan 
War-Bereaved Association for placing Yasukuni under state 
jurisdiction. By nationalizing it, the association also aimed to 
stabilize the shrine's financial situation. 
 
However, the principle of separating politics and religion then 
stood in the way of the notion of secularizing Yasukuni Shrine. As a 
result, coordination work between the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and 
the LDP ran into a roadblock. In addition, views critical of the 
notion were presented, such as: "Should the shrine religious status 
be removed from Yasukuni Shrine, its traditions might be 
relinquished," and; "The shrine might be changed into just an 
ordinary, secular facility." The bill was killed in 1974 in the 
end. 
 
The Aso proposal seems to contain a similar problem. Honoring the 
souls of the war dead cannot be separated from religion. Should the 
religious status be removed from Yasukuni, it would no longer be a 
shrine. 
 
A supra-partisan group aims to create a national secular war-dead 
memorial at a different location from Yasukuni. Aso says: "There 
should be no facility to replace Yasukuni Shrine." Under the Aso 
plan, however, Yasukuni Shrine itself would be turned into a 
national secular war memorial. 
 
LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Hidenao Nakagawa and former 
Secretary General Makoto Koga also have proposed that Yasukuni be 
 
SIPDIS 
made a nonreligious entity. There are moves to make the debate on 
Yasukuni Shrine a central issue of the campaign for the September 
LDP presidential election. A close watch on such moves is needed. 
 
The Aso proposal also suggested the need for Diet debate on which 
souls should be enshrined at Yasukuni, including the propriety of 
removing the enshrined Class-A war criminals. Compared with other 
politicians calling for separating the war criminals from Yasukuni, 
Aso seems to have suggested following a democratic process to reach 
that goal. But what if public opinion became hopelessly divided in 
this process? Who would win? It would be better to build momentum to 
the move to separate Class-A war criminals from Yasukuni. 
 
Consoling the souls of the war dead should be a matter of the heart 
for the Japanese people. Yasukuni Shrine, as the symbolic entity to 
that end, is also a part of Japan's spiritual culture. It is our 
hope that Yasukuni Shrine, going beyond diplomatic or political 
debate, will continue to be a quite war-memorial facility forever. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004477  010 OF 010 
 
 
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