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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 004891 
 
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 08/25/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Poll on Koizumi cabinet, political parties, post-Koizumi race, 
Yasukuni Shrine issue 
 
(2) Poll: Public ratifies Koizumi's decisions on SDF Iraq dispatch, 
Diet dissolution over postal privatization, Yasukuni homage 
 
(3) Japan proposes 16-nation FTA in Asia during meeting of economic 
ministers 
 
(4) Commentary by Takashi Koyama on Bush administration visibly 
neglecting Asia policy 
 
(5) Seiron column: Remove immature anti-American view of history 
from Yushukan Museum; Dignity of Yasukuni Shrine could be damaged 
 
(6) 2006 LDP presidential race: Gravitation of pedigree (Part 2): 
Alma mater 
 
(7) Chinese farmers upset by Japan's uniform regulations on 
pesticide residue; Dispute might be sparked, with drop in shipments 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Poll on Koizumi cabinet, political parties, post-Koizumi race, 
Yasukuni Shrine issue 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 23 2006 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in%age, rounded off. Parentheses denote the results 
of the last survey conducted July 22-23. 
 
Q: Do you support the Koizumi cabinet? 
 
Yes       44       (43) 
No        40       (40) 
 
Q: Which political party do you support now? 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)                    39       (36) 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto)       14       (16) 
New Komeito (NK)                                   2        (3) 
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)                     2        (2) 
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto)          2        (1) 
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto)         0        (0) 
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon)            0        (0) 
Liberal League (LL or Jiyu Rengo)                  0        (0) 
Other political parties                           --       (--) 
None                                              34       (35) 
No answer (N/A) + don't know (D/K)                 7        (7) 
 
Q: Who do you think is appropriate to become the next prime 
minister? Pick only one from among those listed below. 
 
Taro Aso                14 
Shinzo Abe              53 
Sadakazu Tanigaki       10 
Others                  14 
 
Q: Do you expect policy debates in the LDP's upcoming presidential 
 
TOKYO 00004891  002 OF 011 
 
 
election? 
 
Yes       24 
No        60 
 
Q: What would you like to be most debated in the LDP presidential 
election? (One choice only) 
 
Asia diplomacy               15 
Consumption tax              29 
Economic disparities         32 
Local revitalization         12 
Constitutional revision       7 
 
Q: Prime Minister Koizumi paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, 
the anniversary of the end of World War II. What do you think about 
this? 
 
It's good                       49 
He shouldn't have done so       37 
 
Q: Would you like the next prime minister to pay homage at Yasukuni 
Shrine? 
 
Yes       31       (20) 
No        47       (60) 
 
Q: Mr. Aso says Yasukuni Shrine should be placed under state 
control, and he also says he will not visit there until then. Do you 
support this stance? 
 
Yes       50 
No        31 
 
Q: Mr. Abe says he will not clarify whether he will pay or paid 
homage at Yasukuni Shrine. Do you support this stance? 
 
Yes       32 
No        54 
 
Q: Mr. Tanigaki says he wants Yasukuni Shrine to unenshrine Class-A 
war criminals as war leaders, and he also says he will not pay 
homage there for the time being. Do you support this stance? 
 
Yes       49 
No        36 
 
Q: Do you think the Yasukuni Shrine issue should be debated in the 
LDP presidential election? 
 
Yes       45 
No        49 
 
Q: Do you think the next prime minister's Yasukuni homage will have 
a bad influence on Japan's Asia diplomacy? 
 
Yes       64 
No        24 
 
Q: Yasukuni Shrine is where Class-A war criminals are also enshrined 
as well as the war dead. Do you feel something wrong with this? 
 
Yes       41 
 
TOKYO 00004891  003 OF 011 
 
 
No        47 
 
Q: Would you like the current LDP-led coalition government to 
continue, or would you like it to be replaced with a DPJ-led 
coalition? 
 
LDP-led coalition       38 
DPJ-led coalition       29 
 
Polling methodology: The survey was conducted Aug. 21-22 across the 
nation over the telephone on a computer-aided random digit dialing 
(RDD) basis. Respondents were chosen from among the nation's voting 
population on a three-stage random-sampling basis. Valid answers 
were obtained from 836 persons (53% ). 
 
(2) Poll: Public ratifies Koizumi's decisions on SDF Iraq dispatch, 
Diet dissolution over postal privatization, Yasukuni homage 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Full) 
Eve., August 22, 2006 
 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will step down in a month. Even so, 
his cabinet's popularity is still sustained high at around 50%. 
Koizumi has been in office for five years and a half to date, and 
public opinion surveys conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun show 
that the general public has ratified a number of important political 
decisions he made in the past. Koizumi has made direct appeals to 
the nation on the aim of his decision making. This Koizumi magic 
also seems to have worked well. 
 
On Aug. 15, Koizumi paid his sixth homage at Yasukuni Shrine since 
coming into office as prime minister. In the latest telephone-based 
poll, 48% endorsed his recent Yasukuni homage, with 36% against it. 
As seen from these figures, affirmative opinions outnumbered 
negative opinions. In a previous poll taken in late July, 
affirmative opinions accounted for 28% and negative ones at 53%, 
showing that the affirmative figure was far lower than the negative 
one. 
 
The late Emperor Showa (Hirohito) was displeased with the 
enshrinement of Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine, according 
to the late former Imperial Household Grand Steward Tomohiko 
Tomita's diary and notebook discovered right before this July's 
survey. This point was noted in that survey for respondents when 
they were asked if they thought Koizumi should pay homage at 
Yasukuni Shrine. So the results of previous surveys cannot be simply 
compared. In this June's survey as well, however, those who think 
Koizumi should do so on Aug. 15 accounted for only 17%. 
 
Previous surveys also show the public ratification of Koizumi's 
decisions. In a survey conducted in December 2003, for instance, 33% 
supported Koizumi's decision to send Self-Defense Forces troops to 
Iraq in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States (TN: 
sic), with 52% opposing it. In another survey taken in February 2004 
after the SDF-including Ground Self-Defense Force troops-was ordered 
out to Iraq, 43% supported the Iraq-bound dispatch of SDF troops, 
with 42% against it. As seen from these figures, the proportion of 
affirmative opinions topped that of negative ones. 
 
In August last year, Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives 
for a general election after his government's package of postal 
privatization bills was voted down in the Diet. In an earlier survey 
conducted in July last year, 24% supported Koizumi's stance of 
 
TOKYO 00004891  004 OF 011 
 
 
dissolving the Diet for his postal privatization drive, with 43% 
saying he should not stick to the legislation of postal 
privatization during that Diet session and should go for the 
legislation of postal privatization with understanding obtained from 
those opposing it and 22% absolutely opposing it. In another survey 
taken right after his dissolution of the Diet over his postal 
privatization initiative, however, affirmative opinions accounted 
for 53%, and negative opinions 33%. 
 
Koizumi met the press immediately after dissolving the Diet. Even 
now, some lawmakers in the ruling and opposition parties still 
presume that his punch shown in that urgent press conference drew 
public support. The general public used to be negative at first 
about his initiative but suddenly turned affirmative to shore him up 
after his decision making. He has long been in office. Will this 
enigma continue for his successor? 
 
(3) Japan proposes 16-nation FTA in Asia during meeting of economic 
ministers 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 3) (Excerpts) 
August 25, 2006 
 
Takeshi Kawanami, Kuala Lumpur 
 
Trade ministers from 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region - 
Japan, China, South Korea, and the 10 member nations of the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and additionally 
India, Australia, and New Zealand - held their first meeting on Aug. 
¶24. In the meeting, Japan proposed a 16-nation economic partnership 
agreement (EPA). In response, agreement was reached to launch 
private-sector-level talks. The accord is aimed to advance regional 
economic integration by liberalizing trade and investment. In 
realizing this goal, however, many hurdles have to be overcome. 
 
Products worth 9 trillion dollars in region 
 
In an ASEAN+3 ministerial meeting on Aug. 24, agreement was reached 
to hold working-level talks on an EPA initiative involving the 13 
countries. In an unofficial meeting held afterward by the 13 ASEAN 
countries plus India, Australia, and New Zealand over lunch, the 
countries expressed support for the Japan's 16-nation proposal. 
 
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai said in a press 
conference: "Japan won acceptance from most participants for its 
proposal." The Japanese proposal will be studied simultaneously with 
the 13-country proposal. 
 
There are about 3 billion people In those 16 countries, and total 
production is valued at approximately 9 trillion yen. If the EPA 
initiative is implemented, the region will be the third largest free 
trade area, following the North America Free Trade Area  (NAFTA) and 
the European Union (EU). Should the Japanese plan be implemented, it 
would become easier to establish a division-of-labor system in the 
region because there would be no tariffs to bar a work-division 
process. For example, even if Japan assembled products in China with 
parts made in Japan and then exports the finished products to 
Malaysia, duties would not be imposed anywhere in the process under 
the agreement. Further, if unified rules on cargo transport are 
introduced, it would become easier to mobilize persons and goods 
beyond borders. 
 
A senior METI official said: "Japan is aiming to seize the 
 
TOKYO 00004891  005 OF 011 
 
 
initiative and thus lessen China's influence" under the 16-nation 
free trade plan. 
 
High hurdle before liberalizing farm products 
 
Kiyoshi Noda, Kuala Lumpur 
 
In past talks on concluding free trade agreements (FTA), farm 
products blocked negotiations from going smoothly. Now that Japan 
has made a proposal that encompasses a wider area of the Asian 
region, Japan will unavoidably be pressed harder to open up its 
agricultural market. 
 
Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun and South Korean Trade 
Minister Kim Hyun Chong both said on Aug. 24: "The first priority is 
ASEAN+1 FTA talks. The second priority is an economic partnership 
agreement involving ASEAN, Japan, China, and South Korea." 
 
China put into effect an FTA on goods with ASEAN in 2005. South 
Korea has also signed an agreement this May. But Japan is still 
engaged in negotiations with the aim of concluding an FTA with ASEAN 
next spring. 
 
Japan has so far been reluctant to hold bilateral talks with 
Australia because it hopes to continue protecting domestic farm 
products. If the tariffs on imports from China are removed, domestic 
small to medium-sized manufacturers will inevitably receive a 
serious blow. A wider-range EPA would bring about a more painful 
effect on Japan than FTAs. 
 
In the Japanese government, too, views about the METI plan are 
split. A senior Foreign Ministry official said: "Will a plan that 
excludes the US be acceptable?" A senior official at the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries stated: "When considering 
agricultural issues, it might be premature to hold negotiations with 
China and Australia." 
 
Prior to the meeting, one trade minister of an ASEAN member nation 
grumbled: "We don't want to be pressed to choose between the 
Japanese plan or the Chinese plan." The officer must have been 
finding himself caught in the crossfire between the China-proposed 
13-nation plan and the Japan-proposed 16-nation plan. 
 
(4) Commentary by Takashi Koyama on Bush administration visibly 
neglecting Asia policy 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) 
Evening, August 24, 2006 
 
The United States is called "the world's cop," but reportedly senior 
East Asia experts have been leaving the US State Department one 
after the other. What is happening there? Mainichi Shimbun 
interviewed Takashi Koyama, 58, who is knowledgeable of the 
Department's personnel affairs, to find an answer to that question. 
 
Following the missile launches on July 5 by Pyongyang, the Japanese 
government made tremendous efforts to get the UN Security Council 
adopt a resolution against North Korea. The UNSC eventually settled 
with a resolution condemning the North, but the United States' 
response was odd. In his State of the Union Address in January 2002, 
President Bush advocated a preemptive strike approach to pound a 
threat before it became a reality. He also called for early 
sanctions against North Korea. But following the July 5 missile 
 
TOKYO 00004891  006 OF 011 
 
 
launches, US government officials, their arms folded, seemed 
unenthusiastic about dealing with the North,. 
 
Koyama explained such a stance this way: 
 
"The US State Department, from Secretary Condoleezza Rice on down, 
places low priority on Asia. North Korea is placed way below such 
countries as Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. It clearly reflects America's 
desire to see issues in East Asia be worked out independently. As 
evidenced by Rice, the US is now only interested in moves by major 
powers, such as China and Russia. China is the only country in Asia 
the US attaches importance to; Japan and the Korean Peninsula are 
marginal." 
 
In Koyama's view even the friendship between Prime Minister Koizumi 
and President Bush is superficial and has nothing to do with US 
foreign policy. 
 
"The level of interest in East Asia was low even when the Bush 
administration had such pro-Japan figures as former Deputy Secretary 
of State Richard Armitage and National Security Council Senior Asian 
Director Michael Green. The tendency has been accelerated with 
Rice's assumption of office in January 2005. There are virtually no 
senior Asia experts at the US State Department." 
 
On June 3, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivered a 
speech in Singapore at an invitation of the International Institute 
for Strategic Studies. Koyama, who was in the audience, described 
the Rumsfeld speech this way: 
 
"He simply listed Asian countries as a diplomatic gesture without 
discussing any specific issues or what must be done. He also 
speculated about whether North Korea wanted to produce nuclear 
weapons or become a member of the international community. It 
sounded like someone else's business. He didn't exhibit a keen 
awareness of the North Korean issue. An effort to understand Asia 
was clearly lacking." 
 
According to Koyama, three senior officials in charge of North Korea 
affairs left the State Department starting late last year. They are 
former Korea Country Director James Foster, former Special Envoy 
Joseph DeTrani, and an official who secretly negotiated with North 
Korea on over 20 occasions. An international economic expert has 
filled one of the three posts. 
 
"Foster, who was originally a Japan expert, was assigned to handle 
Korean Peninsula affairs, which was absurd. Apparently top-level 
officials regard Japan and North Korea as the same. Important jobs 
are now left to people who don't know much about East Asia, and that 
reflects the State Department's current posture. Assistant Secretary 
of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill often 
comes to Japan on the North Korean issue. He is actually an expert 
on East Europe, such as Poland. Having served as ambassador to South 
Korea for only a year, he is unfamiliar with Korean affairs. Rice 
appoints people to posts outside their fields for no specific 
purposes." 
 
Hill creased a stir in the State Department after the six-party 
talks last September. 
 
"He told Rice that the United States should hold direct talks with 
North Korea. His advice was immediately squashed. His advice drew a 
fierce backlash from a senior White House official siding with Vice 
 
TOKYO 00004891  007 OF 011 
 
 
President Cheney, who thinks North Korea needs pressure, not 
dialogue. The official is not an East Asia expert. Such a thing 
could happen behind the back of Rice. Korean experts quit one after 
another chiefly because they were disappointed with Rice, who cannot 
compete with Cheney's hard-line approach. Former Japan Country 
Director David Straub is a good-natured person. After resigning from 
the State Department, Straub publicly criticized the White House's 
North Korea policy." 
 
Neglecting Asia epitomizes Bush diplomacy. During the Clinton era, 
decisions were made from the bottom up beginning with hearing views 
from regional experts. Today, the Bush administration takes a 
top-down approach. 
 
The Secretary of State is responsible to iron out differences in 
views between the White House and the State Department to operate 
diplomacy smoothly. 
 
"Rice lacks that ability. She is on friendly terms with President 
Bush, who calls her his foreign policy tutor. But she neither gives 
advice to Cheney or other hardliners nor has she shifted her 
direction toward utilizing experts. Instead, she has given key posts 
to her friends since Stanford University. She hasn't taken any step 
to end the conflict between the White House National Security 
Council the State Department." 
 
But Rice has not made any serious mistakes in dealing with the 
Lebanon situation. A softened approach to the Arab world and her 
initiative to get the UN adopt Lebanon ceasefire dissolution under 
France's leadership are commendable. 
 
But Koyama is still critical of Rice: 
 
"Rice worked very hard to buy time to let the Israeli military 
destroy 12,000 Hezbollah missiles, leaving everything else to 
Israel. As for Iraq, she has also been the beck and call of the 
heavyweight, who started the war there. Embattled in Iraq, the US 
cannot take more risks." 
 
With armed insurgents still dominant, law and order has yet to 
returned to Iraq. The dominant view is that the Bush 
administration's plan to spread democracy to the Middle East has 
failed. 
 
"The US must have realized that as much as it wants to pound Iran, 
it cannot bear the cost independently. As for North Korea, the 
Clinton administration succeeded in blocking that country's 
production of plutonium. But because the Bush administration has 
left the program unaddressed, the North can resume nuclear testing 
at any time. I think the US administration is now keenly aware of 
limitations to the top-down approach." 
 
Takashi Koyama: Tokyo native; graduated from the Keio University 
English Literature Department; became visiting researcher at the 
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies 
(SAIS) in 2004 after serving as a national newspaper correspondent 
in Cairo, Dhahran (Saudi Arabia), and Washington; currently serves 
as Tokyo-based editor-in-chief of the Internet newsletter Policy 
Agenda, handling domestic and foreign affairs. 
 
(5) Seiron column: Remove immature anti-American view of history 
from Yushukan Museum; Dignity of Yasukuni Shrine could be damaged 
 
 
TOKYO 00004891  008 OF 011 
 
 
SANKEI (Page 15) (Full) 
August 24, 2006 
 
Hisahiko Okazaki, former ambassador to Thailand 
 
In an op-ed column of the August 20 edition of the Washington Post, 
George F. Will, who is known as a conservative opinion leader, 
mentions that if Shinzo Abe becomes prime minister, it would be 
helpful if he would discontinue the practice of visiting Yasukuni. 
 
As a reason for that, Mr. Will simply notes that it is necessary for 
Japan to repair deteriorated Japan-China relations. His argument 
does not have any points from the perspective of the US' global 
strategy. Rather, being a historian, the tone of his argument is 
neutral and speculative. There is no critical tone toward Japan. 
 
For instance, referring to Japan's stance that as long as China 
interferes with Japan's domestic affairs, it will not listen to it, 
he quotes Admiral Nelson's Fire Poker Principle. 
 
Speaking with some of his officers the night before Trafalgar, 
Nelson picked up a poker and said: It doesn't matter where I put 
this - unless Bonaparte says I must put it there. In that case, I 
must put it someplace else. Mr. Will quoted this anecdote as a 
neutral historic example. 
 
He wrote the article with much humor and sufficient composure, 
except for one part concerning the exhibits at the Yushukan Museum: 
"The Greater East Asian War" began because, when the New Deal failed 
to end the Depression, "the only option open to Roosevelt was to use 
an embargo to force resource-poor Japan into war. The US economy 
made a complete recovery once America entered the war." That is 
disgracefully meretricious - and familiar. For years a small but 
vocal cadre of Americans - anti-FDR zealots - said approximately 
that." 
 
Mr. Will introduces the presence of a minor but quotable argument 
but clarifies his contempt toward their argument. At the same time, 
he fairly notes that neither Koizumi nor Abe included the museum in 
his visits to the shrine. 
 
I do not agree with some points in his argument. Or rather, I should 
say that though he is a historian whom I respect, there are some 
mispresentations of the facts about the international situation in 
his article. 
 
Displays at museum impermissible in terms of intellectual moral 
 
Anti-Japanese demonstrations in China in April 2005 had nothing to 
do with Yasukuni Shrine. The government-initiated demonstrations 
were intended to oppose Japan's entry into the United Nations 
Security Council (UNSC). They were not the outcome of the prime 
minister's visits to Yasukuni. 
 
When Prime Minister Koizumi visited Yasukuni last October, I 
supported his visit, noting that there would be no anti-Japanese 
demonstrations except for protest movements by a small number of 
people allowed during the heightened police alert. As a matter of 
fact, no demonstrations took place. No demonstrations occurred when 
he visited the shrine on Aug. 15, either. 
 
Investments in China by Japan have become once again active from 
around the time the prime minister visited the shrine last year. The 
 
TOKYO 00004891  009 OF 011 
 
 
problem is an artificial impediment that no summits have been held 
for quite a while. In my view, there should be a view based on the 
historical perspective that matters can go smoothly without such 
meetings. 
 
After reading Mr. Will's article, I realized that what he cannot 
permit from a historian's intellectual integrity are the items 
exhibited at the Yushukan Museum. 
 
The museum's displays reflect part of an anti-Americanism that can 
be seen anywhere in the world, though that in Japan may be weaker 
than in other countries. At the back of the first edition of 
Fuyosha's new (revisionist) history textbook, which have been used 
for the past four years, is the concept that since the 
Russo-Japanese war, the US consistently plotted to destroy Japan, 
its rival in East Asia. When it screened those textbooks, the 
Ministry of Education ordered in a sensitively nervous manner, to an 
unnecessary degree at times, that descriptions on China and South 
Korea should be rewritten, but it allowed the anti-American 
segments. 
 
I was not involved in the writing of the first edition at all. 
However, since I had an opportunity to be involved in the writing 
afterwards, I deleted all anti-American descriptions from the second 
edition. 
 
It is impossible to protect Yasukuni as is 
 
It may be an objective fact that the US finally emerged from the 
recession because of the wartime economy. However, I can only use 
such expressions as immature as a historical judgment, unilateral, 
cheap and lacking intellectual moral as Mr. Will did in describing 
my impression of such a view of history. 
 
I urge the Yushukan Museum to remove those controversial 
descriptions. Other displays, whether they are wartime films 
intended to inspire will to fight, are part of testimony to history. 
It is legitimate for the museum to exhibit such objects. The cheap 
view of history displayed at the museum hurts the dignity of the 
shrine. I am serious. I must say that it will become impossible for 
me to protect Yasukuni Shrine, if the Yushukan Museum continues to 
display those items. 
 
(6) 2006 LDP presidential race: Gravitation of pedigree (Part 2): 
Alma mater 
 
ASAHI (Page 38) (Abridged) 
August 24,2006 
 
The Eastpress, a publisher known for its subculture-type 
publication, published an educational book for the first time last 
fall. It is entitled "The education of Azabu." 
 
The book was published under the supervision of Masaru Sato (75), 
former teacher of "Azabu High School," an integrated junior and 
senior high schools in Motoazabu, Tokyo, who also has experience 
teaching Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki. Printed in the book are 
personal interviews with politicians who graduated from Azabu, and 
an interview with Nobuhiro Hikami (61), headmaster of the school. So 
far, 15,000 copies have been sold, and this is unusual for 
educational books. 
 
In his dialogue, Tanigaki talked about former Chief Cabinet 
 
TOKYO 00004891  010 OF 011 
 
 
Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, who was regarded as the strong candidate for 
 
SIPDIS 
the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election at first, 
saying: "I sensed a bit of his Azabu School origins. Mr. Fukuda's 
news conferences were said to be cold, but they were very 
sophisticated." 
 
From long ago, the school has been known as "the big tree," along 
with Kaisei and Musashi high schools. While many of its graduates 
enter the University of Tokyo every year, the school is famous for 
its liberal ethos. 
 
The alumni include many Diet members, with late Prime Minister 
Ryutaro Hashimoto at the head of the list; there are total of 12 
Upper and Lower House members, including Tanigaki, Fukuda, 
Agricultural Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, and former Environment 
Minister Shunichi Suzuki. There is a political group called 
"Maryukai" that supports these members. 
 
Why do Diet members wish to send their sons to Azabu? Headmaster 
Hikami, who is also a former classmate of Tanigaki, says: "As 
expected, I think it is the school spirit described as 
self-reliance." 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe spent 16 years from elementary 
school to university at Seikei Gakuen in Kichijoji, Tokyo. 
 
Lower House member Katsuei Hirasawa (60), who was Abe's tutor when 
Abe was in elementary school, has a vivid memory of Abe. It was when 
Hirasawa took Abe to the University of Tokyo's Komaba festival, 
where he was studying. 
 
Signs criticizing the Eisaku Sato cabinet of those days were 
plastered everywhere on the noisy campus, and the university 
students were crying out "anti-Sato." It is said Mr. Abe was 
surprised at the atmosphere at Komaba, which was directly opposite 
from Seikei, and asked the following question many time: "How come 
they are anti-Sato?" 
 
Seikei posted an interview with Abe in the 2006 summer issue of its 
public-relations bulletin. North Korea launched Taepodong on 5 July, 
the day the interview was scheduled. The person in charge of the 
interview was expecting a cancellation, but Abe granted him five 
minutes time. In the interview, Abe said, "My grandfather Nobusuke 
Kishi recommended that I go to Seikei." He also said, "I feel a 
sense of security with the personality of Seikei graduates. I do not 
feel the same with graduates from other universities." 
 
Foreign Minister Taro Aso left the grand "Aso residence" in Iizuka 
city, Fukuoka prefecture, when he was in the third grade of 
elementary school, and transferred to Gakushuin Primary School in 
Tokyo. 
 
His mother Kazuko, daughter of former Prime Minister Shigeru 
Yoshida, who was busy serving as the first lady, asked for a tutor, 
"Can anybody look after Taro?" His tutor was Hideo Tokito, a former 
Waseda University student. 
 
According to Tokito, now 75 years old, Aso was not good at 
mathematics when he was in junior high. Gakushuin was where the 
children from good families went, but he had trouble making the 
grade. 
 
What made Tokito surprised while he once visited Aso's residence was 
 
TOKYO 00004891  011 OF 011 
 
 
to see so many key government and business leaders there. He said, 
"The environment in the residence was not good for studying calmly." 
But he got a glimpse of Aso learning about kingcraft. 
 
(7) Chinese farmers upset by Japan's uniform regulations on 
pesticide residue; Dispute might be sparked, with drop in shipments 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) 
August 25, 2006 
 
The "positive list system" Japan introduced this spring has caused 
controversy in China. Japan is China's largest agricultural 
exporting country. The system has led to reducing China's exports to 
Japan. It could spark a trade dispute between Japan and China. But 
the Chinese government, while asking Japan to simplify its 
inspection procedures, is also eager to urge domestic farmers to 
adopt measures to reduce residual pesticides, taking advantage of 
the new Japanese system as gaiatsu (foreign pressure). The stance is 
in response to growing calls from domestic consumers for ensuring 
the safety of food. 
 
Asahi Breweries, Sumitomo Chemical, and Itochu set up a company with 
a capital of 1.5 billion yen in China. In its opening ceremony in 
Beijing on Aug. 24, its chairman Iwasaki said: "We would like to 
meet growing needs in urban areas in China for safe and delicious 
farm products." 
 
This spring, the company started farm management by using Japan's 
environmental technology of farmland with an area of 100 hectares in 
Caiyang City, Shandong Province. Minimizing the use of pesticides, 
the company uses generated solar energy. 
 
Expectations have been placed on the company from persons concerned 
in both Japan and China, as a Shandong Province government senior 
official saying: "We hope the company will become a model for 
cooperation in the agricultural sector." Such voices reflect 
concerns that the issue of pesticide residue might become a new 
source of dispute between the two countries. 
 
In meeting with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Kawasaki when 
he visited Japan in late May, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai 
criticized Japan's new system and asked Japan to simplify its 
procedures. Kawasaki will visit China on Aug. 27, and Chinese 
officials are scheduled to come to Japan on Aug. 28. As it stands, a 
tug of war will continue between both sides over Japan's positive 
list system. 
 
According to Chinese statistics, about 8 billion dollars worth of 
farm products was exported from China to Japan in 2005, accounting 
for 30% of overall imports. In June, however, its exports to Japan 
dropped 18% below the same month a year ago. 
 
A MHLW official said: "The drop in exports greatly attributed to 
ill-preparedness on the Chinese side," but the Chinese Ministry of 
Commerce issued a statement in July noting: "Several thousands 
Chinese firms and several millions of farmers will be seriously 
affected." 
 
DONOVAN