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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1613

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 004637 
 
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 08/16/06 
 
 
Index: 
 
Yasukuni aftermath: 
1) China, ROK constrain criticism of Prime Minister Koizumi's Aug. 
15 Yasukuni Shrine visit 
2) United States sees Yasukuni visit as a "domestic issue" 
3) However, there is concern in Washington about icy state of 
Japan's relations with China 
4) Business leaders fear that buoyant Japan-China economic relations 
may now turn cold 
5) Government took secret opinion poll prior to decision on 
Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visit 
6) 258,000 people visited Yasukuni on Aug. 15, biggest crowd in six 
years 
7) Cabinet, ruling parties not all supportive of Koizumi visit to 
Yasukuni Shrine 
 
Foreign policy agenda: 
8) Government planning post-Koizumi administration push to repair 
ties with China, South Korea, starting with summit meetings at APEC 
or other forums 
9) Japan, Russia working out cooperation plan for responding to 
earthquake, tsunami in northern territories 
 
Political issues: 
10) Yasukuni issue certain to be main campaign issue in upcoming LDP 
presidential race 
11) Former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato's parental home 
destroyed by fire that may have been arson 
 
Articles: 
 
1) China, South Korea toning down criticism of prime minister's 
Yasukuni visit, placing emphasis on Koizumi successor 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
August 16, 2006 
 
China 
 
Tetsuya Suetsugu, Beijing 
 
In its protest against Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni 
Shrine on Aug. 15, the Chinese government singled out Koizumi, while 
underlining its eagerness to improve relations with Japan under the 
post-Koizumi administration to be inaugurated in September. China 
expects that if it tries to minimize the negative impact of the 
prime minister's Yasukuni visit and not to cast a damper on the 
current trend toward improving bilateral relations, the next prime 
minister would refrain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine. 
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing called in Ambassador to China 
Yuji Miyamoto to the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing yesterday 
and criticized Koizumi's Yasukuni visit, targeting only the prime 
minister: "Prime Minister Koizumi ignored the people's strong 
opposition." By singling out Koizumi for its criticism, he tried to 
minimize the damage to be caused to relations between Japan and 
China. 
 
Emphasizing the stance of placing importance on relations with 
Japan, Li added: "We urge the Japanese government and leader to make 
efforts to put Japan-China relations back on a normal development 
 
TOKYO 00004637  002 OF 008 
 
 
course." This remark is intended to tacitly ask the next prime 
minister to refrain from visiting Yasukuni as the precondition for 
improvement in bilateral ties. 
 
South Korea 
 
Kyoji Fukushima, Seoul 
 
In a speech at the ceremony for the anniversary of the birth of 
South Korea on Aug. 15, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said: 
"Japan must reflect on its past conducts with its whole heart." He 
did not refer to Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine 
but just reiterated the need for Japan to take measures to settle 
such issues as Yasukuni Shrine, the Takeshima/Dokdo islets, and 
school textbooks. 
 
The draft speech is composed of about 150 lines, including policy 
toward North Korea, negotiations on a free trade agreement with the 
United States, and domestic issues. On relations with Japan, only 
six lines were devoted to that topic, in contrast to its response 
when the prime minister visited the shrine in October 2005. 
 
According to a South Korean government official, the president gave 
importance to relations with the post-Koizumi administration with 
just a month to go before Koizumi steps down. The official said that 
his reference to Yasukuni and Takeshima/Dokdo issues is in a sense a 
message to the next prime minister. 
 
2) US says "Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni is domestic 
Japanese issue" 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
Washington, Takashi Arimoto 
 
White House Deputy Press Secretary Dina Perino told reporters about 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine: "We 
understand that there are complicated historical issues in Asia. We 
hope that the region will resolve them with concerted efforts." 
Perino then revealed Washington's view, stating, "The prime 
minister's Yasukuni visit is an internal Japanese matter. The US 
will not interfere with this  issue." 
 
In their meetings with US President George W. Bush, Chinese 
President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Roh Moon Hyun have 
criticized Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, but the President has never 
come around to them. Bush has hedged, saying, "Friends getting along 
with other friends brings benefit to us as well." 
 
3) US concern broadening about Japan's icy ties with China, ROK over 
Prime Minister Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine; US urges 
dialogue to resolve issue 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpt) 
August 16, 2006 
 
In the aftermath of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's paying homage 
at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of the 
war, concern is spreading widely in the United States, as well as in 
parts of Asia, that the icy relations between Japan and China and 
between Japan and the Republic of Korea will continue. 
 
TOKYO 00004637  003 OF 008 
 
 
 
President Bush has already expressed his expectation that bilateral 
dialogues between Japan and China and between Japan and South Korea 
will go forward. The Bush administration, now pressed by the Middle 
East situation and by busily occupied with anti-terrorist measures, 
wants to avoid complicating its Asia diplomacy by a worsening of 
Japan-China, Japan-ROK relations, in view of the need to respond to 
such issues as the North Korea missile and nuclear programs. 
 
4) Prime Minister Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine: Business leaders 
concerned Japan-China relations will become cold both politically 
and economically; Next administration urged to improve situation 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Excerpts) 
August 16, 2006 
 
Following Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine 
yesterday, business circles are increasingly concerned that the 
visit will negatively affect the increasingly close economic 
relations between Japan and China. According to informed sources, 
many business leaders want the next administration to improve 
relations with China and South Korea. 
 
For Japan, China is now its second-largest trade partner, following 
the US. The Finance Ministry's statistics show substantial growth in 
bilateral trade, with exports to China in the first half of fiscal 
2006 reaching 4.9552 trillion yen, up 26.1% over the same period in 
the previous year and imports at 6.5219 trillion yen, up 16.2% over 
the same period. 
 
JFE Steel and Toyota Motor have recently started joint venture 
companies in China. Oji Paper has obtained approval to build a large 
paper plant in Jiangsu Province. Retailers, such as Isetan 
Department Store and Ito-Yokado, are steadily expanding their 
outlets. 
 
However, there is a strong concern about the possibility of 
worsening political relations with China affecting major projects 
involving the government, such as bilateral talks over the 
development of gas fields in the East China Sea and the high-speed 
railway system Japan is now trying to sell to China, as a spokesman 
for a Japanese trading company put it. 
 
Nobuo Yamaguchi, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry, noted, "Building good relations with neighboring countries 
is a major task for the next administration." Many business leaders 
thus hope the post-Koizumi administration will make efforts to 
repair relations with China. 
 
The next administration is also urged to rebuild trade strategy 
toward Asia. 
 
5) Government carried out secret opinion polls prior to Prime 
Minister's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine; Careful preparations 
aiming at avoiding strong reactions 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
It was learned yesterday that the government prior to Prime Minister 
Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, secretly 
carried out two opinion polls as part of the careful preparations 
 
TOKYO 00004637  004 OF 008 
 
 
for the event. The aim seemed to have been to avoid as best as 
possible negative reactions from the public. 
 
A commercial pollster was entrusted with carrying out the polls, 
with only one question: "What do you think of the Prime Minister 
paying homage at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15?" The result of the 
first poll showed that the approval rate was just slightly above the 
disapproval rate. 
 
When the Prime Minister saw the report of the first poll in late 
July, he ordered that another poll be taken. Just prior to that, the 
memo of late former Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita of the Imperial 
Household Agency had revealed that the Showa Emperor was displeased 
that Class-A war criminals were enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. There 
thus was a possibility of a growing mood of caution about the Prime 
Minister making a shrine visit, and a possible backlash against him. 
 
 
The Prime Minister seemed to have made the judgment that by 
commissioning another poll, he could tell the level of impact of the 
Tomita memo on public views. In the second poll, compiled in early 
August, those opposed greatly exceeded those who supported the 
visit. 
 
Upon hearing the results, the Prime Minister set a policy course of 
positively explaining his real intentions for visiting Yasukuni by 
the 15th. 
 
6) 258,000 visit Yasukuni Shrine to pay homage on Aug. 15, most 
since 2000 
 
MAINICHI (Page 25) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
Approximately 258,000 people visited Yasukuni Shrine (shrine's 
estimate) on Aug. 15, the day that Prime Minister Koizumi came to 
pay homage to the war dead. This was the highest number of daily 
visitors that the shrine has recorded since 2000, when such record 
keeping started. The public affairs division of the shrine 
explained, "We can't deny the influence of the Prime Minister's 
paying homage that drove up public interest." 
 
On Aug. 15, 2001, two days after the Prime Minister visited the 
shrine, the visitors that day reached 125,000, a rise of 
approximately 40,000 persons from the previous year. Visitors coming 
on that day in 2002, 2003 and 2004 ranged from 50,000 to 85,000. 
There was a large-scale event in 2005 (60th anniversary of the end 
of the war) attended by many related groups, so the number of 
visitors jumped to 205,000. This year, the numbers were even higher 
than last year even though a  light rain fell in the morning. 
 
7) Objections to Prime Minister's Yasukuni visit also erupting from 
cabinet, ruling parties; Historical views spotlighted as political 
challenge 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15 has 
brought into the forefront again the weighty issue of "history" to 
politicians in both the ruling and opposition parties, including 
members of the Koizumi cabinet, not to mention the prime minister 
 
TOKYO 00004637  005 OF 008 
 
 
and the chief cabinet secretary. How should Japan improve its 
strained ties with other Asian countries over this issue, and how 
should it address the issue of historical views? In response to the 
visit, objections have been erupting from opposition party members, 
as well as from cabinet ministers and senior ruling party members, 
highlighting that no consensus has yet to be built on historical 
views even 61 years after the end of World War II. 
 
In order to maintain favorable relations with Asian countries, how 
should Japan resolve the thorny historical issue? Finance Minister 
Tanigaki has taken the typical position of postwar mainstream 
conservatism, for when he announced his candidacy for the Liberal 
Democratic Party election, he ruled out the possibility of visiting 
the shrine if elected prime minister. 
 
In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Tanigaki said: (1) There is the 
question that Japan must improve its strained relations with 
neighboring countries; and (2) No settlement has been reached on the 
issue of Yasukuni enshrining Class-A war criminals and ways of 
honoring the war dead. Later, Tanigaki said: 
 
"The issue of enshrinement of Class-A war criminals is tantamount to 
a boned stuck in the throat. There might have been some legal 
problem with the judgments handed down at the International Military 
Tribunal for the Far East, but Japan accepted them as a political 
settlement measure." 
 
Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yosano, who calls for 
separately enshrining Class-A war criminals, has a historical view 
similar to Tanigaki's. He said: 
 
"The Tokyo War Crimes Trials was indisputably an abnormal situation, 
but it was an important arena in order for Japan to show 
internationally that the issue of Japan's culpability for the war 
has been settled. Since Japan totally accepted the judgments at the 
Tokyo Trial under the Treaty of San Francisco, it is quite natural 
for the government to legally interpret them as being war 
criminals." 
 
In contrast, Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe takes the view that 
"judgment should be entrusted to historians." 
 
In a NHK TV program last night, Foreign Minister Aso stated: 
 
"It is impossible to change the fact that Japan was allowed to 
return to the international community because it accepted the 
rulings at the Tokyo Trial. ... It is apparent that Class-A war 
criminals did not violate Japanese law." 
 
The New Komeito has underlined the stance of expecting the 
post-Koizumi administration to alter the current policy line. In 
reference to the prime minister's Yasukuni visit, Party head Kanzaki 
said: "It is quite regrettable," but adding: 
 
"I think that in China and South Korea, there is a feeling of 
resignation on the Koizumi administration, but these countries 
expect the post-Koizumi administration to make efforts to improve 
Japan's Asia diplomacy." 
 
The opposition camp lashes out at the prime minister's historical 
view itself. Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) Secretary General 
Yukio Hatoyama commented: 
 
TOKYO 00004637  006 OF 008 
 
 
 
"Should a person who has the same views as Prime Minister Koizumi on 
Yasukuni Shrine and history become prime minister, Japan's relations 
with China and South Korea will unavoidably become more strained." 
 
Japanese Communist Party Chairman Shii said: 
 
"The prime minister picked the day of reflection on the nation's 
past military aggression and colonial rule as the day for his last 
visit to Yasukuni Shrine as prime minister. This fact has made the 
problem more serious." 
 
Social Democratic Party President Fukushima remarked: 
 
"He might be trying to change August 15 from the day of vowing for 
peace into the day of vowing for death of the country." 
 
8) MOFA aims for summits with China, South Korea before year's end, 
following inauguration of post-Koizumi administration: Such settings 
as APEC eyed 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
Following Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine 
yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) began coordination 
to hold summits with China and South Korea. The aim is for the next 
administration to normalize ties with both countries shortly after 
its inauguration. With Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe, who is most 
likely to succeed Koizumi, in mind, MOFA is eyeing the Asia-Pacific 
Economic Cooperation (APECS) forum summit to be held in Hanoi in 
November and the ASEAN+3 summit scheduled for December as venues for 
such talks. During a symposium on exchange between Japan and China 
on Aug. 3, Abe indicated a desire to resume summits with those 
countries, saying, "It is necessary to pursue constructive 
discussions through direct dialogue so that individual issues will 
not affect the development of overall relations between Japan and 
China." He has visited Yasukuni Shrine every year on Aug. 15, but he 
did not go this year. The dominant view is that it is a message 
giving consideration to China and South Korea in view of his 
becoming prime minister, as a close aide to him put it. The same 
source also said that since Abe already visited the shrine in April, 
he has "made his trip for the year." Some, therefore, took the view 
that Abe wants to pave the way for resuming summits with China and 
South Korea by forgoing another Yasukuni visit before the end of the 
year. 
 
A senior MOFA official yesterday indicated his ministry's intention 
to make a change of administration an occasion to normalize 
bilateral ties with both countries. Judging that it would be 
difficult for top leaders to mutually visit each other's country in 
view of public opinion in China and South Korea, MOFA wants to use 
international conferences as the setting for summit meetings. 
 
The Chinese side has also indicated a desire to resume summits with 
Japan at an early date, with President Hu Jintao stating during his 
meeting with Japanese Ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto, "I hope I 
can visit your country at an appropriate time if conditions are 
met." South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon on 
Aug. 9 visited Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe and told him, "It is 
abnormal that Japan and South Korea are unable to hold a summit." 
 
 
TOKYO 00004637  007 OF 008 
 
 
9) Northern Territories: Japan, Russia to cooperate on earthquake, 
tsunami observation; Expert meeting likely to be as early as autumn 
 
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NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 16, 2006 
 
The governments of Japan and Russia will cooperate on earthquake and 
tsunami observation in the Northern Territories. They will hold an 
 
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expert meeting as early as this fall to work out specific measures 
for the realization of an observation system by the end of next 
year. Both countries want to minimize damage from such disasters by 
improving the accuracy of forecasts based on latest data on the 
ground in the region. The aim is also to find a breakthrough in the 
stalemated talks on the Northern Territories, by piling up 
cooperative activities. 
 
There are no observation bases on the four northern islands where 
Japan can obtain data on geological conditions. Since facilities 
there are also insufficient compared with Japan's, it is of urgent 
necessity to improve disaster-prevention measures. Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi and President Putin during the G-8 Summit (St. 
Petersburg Summit) in July agreed that the two countries would 
cooperate on quake and tsunami measures in the area centered on the 
Northern Territories. 
 
In addition to jointly collecting and sharing quake data, Tokyo and 
Moscow will consider the possibility of improving local observation 
equipment and experts holding regular meetings and mutually visiting 
related facilities. They thus want to minimize damage from quakes 
and tsunami by swiftly determining the epicenter and magnitude of a 
quake and the possibility of tsunami. 
 
Tokyo views that improving observation data will make it easier to 
forecast the impact of an earthquake in the region on Hokkaido and 
Tohoku. The advantage for Russia is that it will be able to use 
Japan's observation technology introduced on the Northern 
Territories in other parts of the country. 
 
Behind the background of the two countries' cooperation on 
earthquake measures is the shared awareness that international 
cooperation is important in dealing with natural disasters and has 
deepened following the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004. 
 
10) LDP presidential race: Yasukuni unavoidably becoming campaign 
issue; Urgently need to close rifts with China, South Korea over 
prime minister's shrine visits 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
August 16, 2006 
 
The Chinese and South Korean ambassadors called at the Foreign 
Ministry yesterday afternoon to each register a strong protest 
against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine 
yesterday morning, the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II. 
The two ambassadors had repeatedly called on the prime minister to 
refrain from visiting the Shinto shrine for the reason that the 
shrine honors Class-A war criminals. With Koizumi's visit to 
Yasukuni on Aug. 15, repairing diplomatic ties with Beijing and 
Seoul has now become a task of pressing urgency. It is now certain 
the Yasukuni issue will become a major campaign issue in the Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election in September. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004637  008 OF 008 
 
 
"For better or worse, should debate on the Yasukuni issue not be 
conducted during the presidential election campaign, the public will 
not be fully satisfied, " said former LDP Secretary General Koichi 
Kato. This view is widespread in the LDP. How should Japan console 
the souls of the war dead, whether the Class-A war criminals should 
be removed from Yasukuni, whether a new war memorial should be 
built, and how to perceive the history of World War II will all 
likely become issues for debate in the LDP presidential election. 
 
11) Koichi Kato's home in Tsuruoka City burned down; Man believed to 
have set fire to the house 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
August 16, 2006 
 
At around 5:55 p.m. yesterday, a fire broke out at the two-story 
wooden house of former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary 
General Koichi Kato's mother in Daito Town, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata 
Prefecture. The house and Kato's local office burned down. A man 
believed to have stabbed himself was found collapsed in front of the 
house. Police are now investigating to find out if the man stabbed 
himself after setting fire to the house. The man incurred burns on 
his face and the inside of his mouth, and he is unconscious. Police 
will question him after he becomes conscious. 
 
Kato had repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's 
visits to Yasukuni Shrine, making such remarks, "The prime minister 
should not visit the shrine, " and "It is a big mistake to think 
that paying homage at the shrine is a matter of the heart. This is a 
diplomatic issue." Yesterday when Koizumi visited Yasukuni, Kato was 
appearing on some TV programs. The prefectural police are carefully 
investigating links to his remarks on Koizumi's Yasukuni visits. 
 
According to police, smoke went up from the inside of the house when 
the fire started. The man is believed to be in his 50s and 60s. A 
firefighter found him on the premises. He was taken to a hospital. 
 
SCHIEFFER