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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 006195 
 
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 10/24/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Deputy national security advisor to US president calls "Japan's 
military contributions inadequate"; Urges strengthening capability 
to deploy overseas 
 
(2) Japanese lawmakers' statements encouraging nuclear debate might 
fuel a nuclear domino effect 
 
(3) Missile defense: JDA plans to speed up introduction of 
sea-deployed-type missiles sometimes next year, following North 
Korea's nuclear test 
 
(4) Reading DPRK's nuclear test: Pyongyang confident "dramatic" 
weapons can win over US 
 
(5) Okinawa's choice 10 years after Futenma accord, with 
gubernatorial election set for Nov. 19 
 
(6) Arrested former Fukushima governor Sato and his brother received 
bribes by using family business as shield; Focus is on degree of his 
involvement 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Deputy national security advisor to US president calls "Japan's 
military contributions inadequate"; Urges strengthening capability 
to deploy overseas 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
Eve., October 24, 2006 
 
By Toshihiko Kasahara 
 
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Crouch in a speech in 
Washington on Oct. 23 called Japan's international contributions on 
the military front inadequate, and he urged that the Self-Defense 
Forces (SDF) strengthen their capabilities so that they can be 
deployed overseas. Commenting on the cargo inspections that will be 
carried out based on the United Nations Security Council's sanctions 
resolution against North Korea for testing a nuclear weapon, Crouch 
pointed out the importance of relevant countries building an 
environment for sharing intelligence. 
 
Deputy National Security Adviser Crouch highly praised the 
contribution of the SDF to the war on terror, including dispatch of 
military units to Iraq, but he also stated: "From the point of view 
of Japan's global interests and potential, it is still modest. 
Although Japan is the second largest economic power in the world, it 
has a very limited capability of bringing security to troubled 
spots." In addition, he made this appeal: "I hope to see more 
efforts by Japan to strengthen its capability to deploy troops 
overseas." 
 
Crouch is the number two national security adviser in the White 
House, next to NSC Adviser Hadley. 
 
(2) Japanese lawmakers' statements encouraging nuclear debate might 
fuel a nuclear domino effect 
 
MAINICHI (Page 7) (Abridged slightly) 
October 23, 2006 
 
 
TOKYO 00006195  002 OF 010 
 
 
By Hiroyuki Yoshida, Washington 
 
In the wake of the latest Japan-US foreign ministerial, the New York 
Times carried an article on Oct. 19 titled, "Japan assures Rice that 
it has no nuclear intentions." The article contrasted sharply with 
Japanese newspapers that focused on an agreement to swiftly 
implement the UN Security resolution on sanctions against North 
Korea. The reason behind the New York Times article is because 
Foreign Minister Taro Aso told Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee 
on Oct. 18 this regarding North Korean's nuclear testing: "It is 
important to debate the notion of Japan possessing nuclear 
weapons." 
 
The dominant view in Japan, a country upholding the three 
non-nuclear principle based on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki, is that the country will never seriously consider 
developing nuclear weapons. A series of controversial remarks by Aso 
and LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa are tinged 
with their apparent desire to keep "nuclear armament" as a political 
card in dealing with North Korea and China. 
 
But the US as country that fears nuclear proliferation takes them 
differently. Joseph Cirincione, a nonproliferation specialist at 
Center for American Progress, a US think tank, strongly warned: 
 
"Learning of Mr. Nakagawa's comment, I thought he seriously wanted 
Japan to possess nuclear weapons. Even though they tend to use 
freedom of speech as the pretext, government officials and ruling 
party lawmakers must not forget that it is extremely dangerous to 
discuss the idea of possession of nuclear weapons. Debate in Japan 
may spread to South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and other countries in 
a chain reaction." 
 
Once debate begins, it might escalate and lead to nuclear 
development programs throughout East Asia. Such a risk is always 
associated with the psychological game of developing a nuclear 
arsenal. 
 
US intelligence agencies assess that Japan, having large amounts of 
nuclear reactor-grade plutonium, could develop nuclear weapons in a 
year if it wanted to do so. Some nuclear experts already regard 
Japan as a potential nuclear power. This can explain why other 
countries view nuclear debate in Japan as dangerous. 
 
To begin with, it is unclear whether Aso and others' call for 
nuclear debate can work effectively as a deterrent against North 
Korea. 
 
There is no guarantee that the Cold War-era nuclear deterrence 
theory can apply to North Korea, which easily carries out reckless 
actions, such as launching missiles and conducting a nuclear test. 
Even if a nuclear deterrent is effective to some extent, having the 
US nuclear umbrella over Japan should be enough. Japan's nuclear 
arming is certain to push North Korea further toward developing more 
nuclear capability, gravely affecting Japan's security. 
 
Science and Technology Fellow Michael A. Levi of the Council of 
Foreign Relations, a US think tank, noted: "Japan is an important 
example of how a country can achieve success without possessing 
nuclear weapons. The example must not cease to exist." 
 
Japan should not discuss a nuclear option now. It should instead 
tell the rest of the world why it has stuck to its non-nuclear 
 
TOKYO 00006195  003 OF 010 
 
 
principles and then work against the spread of nuclear 
proliferation. 
 
(3) Missile defense: JDA plans to speed up introduction of 
sea-deployed-type missiles sometimes next year, following North 
Korea's nuclear test 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Excerpt) 
Eve., October 24, 2006 
 
As a measure to speed up the introduction of a missile-defense (MD) 
system, the Defense Agency (JDA) revealed this morning at a joint 
meeting of Liberal Democratic Party national defense-related 
committees its plan to deploy in 2007, three months earlier than 
originally planned at the end of that year, the Standard Missile 3 
(SM-3), a sea-deployed intercept missile, which will be mounted on 
Aegis vessels. Following North Korea's launching of ballistic 
missiles in July and its nuclear weapon test on Oct. 9, coordination 
between the Japanese and US governments resulted in an agreement to 
refit the Aegis with SM-3s, originally planned in about a year, by 
speeding up the process by approximately three months. Under the 
refitting, necessary parts and other equipment will be procured from 
the US side, and the refitting process speeded up. 
 
The government plans to mount SM-3s on four Aegis ships, starting in 
fiscal 2007 and finishing in fiscal 2010. 
 
(4) Reading DPRK's nuclear test: Pyongyang confident "dramatic" 
weapons can win over US 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
October 24, 2006 
 
Yoichi Funabashi 
 
North Korea has called itself a "proud nuclear weapons state" since 
conducting a nuclear test. 
 
Pyongyang's previous nuclear card was "nuclear capability," but this 
card is now likely to be that North Korea is a nuclear weapons 
state. 
 
In the past, the North Koreans pretended to have a nuclear arsenal 
at every occasion, playing a game in which they tried to get a 
security guarantee and energy supplies from Japan, the United 
States, South Korea, and other countries in return for freezing or 
abandoning its nuclear program. 
 
In April 2003, Li Gun, deputy head of the North Korean Foreign 
Ministry's American Affairs Bureau, declared to the US during a 
break in the three-party talks among the US, China, and North Korea 
that his country had nuclear weapons. Li even referred to a nuclear 
test and the transfer of nuclear weapons. (The idea of transferring 
nuclear weapons was effectively retracted afterwards.) 
 
After hearing of this from the US, China asked the North Koreans if 
they were trying to commit suicide. 
 
If North Korea becomes a nuclear weapons state, China will have to 
reconsider its relations with it. The DPRK will find itself further 
isolated from the international community and difficult to keep 
going. China's stern message was to ask the North Koreans if they 
were ready for that. 
 
TOKYO 00006195  004 OF 010 
 
 
 
From North Korea's point of view, however, a nuclear arsenal may be 
a means to prevent being driven to commit suicide. 
 
The North's economy, system, and ideology have collapsed. Instead of 
just waiting passively for death, it may be opting for a desperate 
strategy, namely possessing nuclear weapons. 
 
North Korea cited the Bush administration's hostile policy as the 
reason for going nuclear. 
 
But North Korea's nuclear program dates back much further. 
 
Historian Katherine Weathersby discovered files on North Korea kept 
in the former Soviet bloc during the 1962-1986 timeframe and 
examined them. She concluded that North Korea set out to develop 
nuclear weapons in 1963. Weathersby cited "America's nuclear threat 
and the North's emotional distrust that China and the Soviet Union, 
even though they were both allies of the North, might betray it" as 
the primary factor that pushed President Kim Il Sung to develop 
nuclear weapons. 
 
The North's nuclear development has deep roots. 
 
Pyongyang appears to have decided that only a nuclear arsenal and 
missiles will be an effective negotiating card in terms of 
protecting the current regime, as well as pushing for talks with the 
US. In this context, the Agreed Framework signed in 1994 between 
Washington and Pyongyang and US Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright's visit to North Korea in 2000 undoubtedly gave Pyongyang 
much satisfaction. 
 
A nuclear power can draw international attention and capture the 
spotlight. It also can pull the US to the negotiating table. Nuclear 
weapons have now become the ultimate dramatic weapon for the 
theatrical dictator, Kim Jong Il. 
 
Though North Korea has now become a "proud nuclear weapons state," 
if it parts with its nuclear weapons, its dignity and bravado would 
vanish like a mirage. This is the trap these weapons pose, and Kim 
Jong Il will likely never part with them. 
 
If we close our eyes to the trap these weapons pose, the crisis will 
deepen. If we panic at the crisis, we, too, will walk into the 
trap. 
 
Why is North Korea working to become a nuclear weapons state? The 
Asahi Shimbun plans to analyze the nuclear crisis on the Korean 
Peninsula and the background of the crisis in a five-part series. 
 
(5) Okinawa's choice 10 years after Futenma accord, with 
gubernatorial election set for Nov. 19 
 
ASAHI (Page 5) (Full) 
October 23, 2006 
 
In November this year, Okinawa Prefecture will hold its 10th 
gubernatorial election since its return to Japan. The election is 
expected to focus primarily on the pending issue of relocating and 
returning the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the city of 
Ginowan. It was 10 years ago that Japan and the United States 
reached an intergovernmental agreement on the relocation and return 
of Futenma airfield. However, the airfield has yet to be relocated 
 
TOKYO 00006195  005 OF 010 
 
 
or returned. In 1995, US servicemen raped a local schoolgirl. Since 
that incident, Okinawa has argued about the presence of US military 
bases on the island prefecture, sometimes splitting its local 
communities. With the election ahead, the people of Okinawa are 
recalling the past decade. 
 
Rape incident: Local protests end up failing to block base 
relocation within prefecture 
 
In late August this year, Suzuyo Takasato, 66, felt something 
unbearable as she was reading a news story in the paper. It was 
about a man who killed himself after killing a woman in the United 
States. The man was once in the US Marine Corps and raped a local 
schoolgirl in the northern part of Okinawa's main island. 
 
In September 1995, three Okinawa-based US servicemen kidnapped and 
raped a local schoolgirl on her way back home from a store. 
Takasato, who was a member of Naha City's municipal assembly, and 
local residents voiced their protest at once. The incident aroused a 
tidal wave of protests all over Okinawa. 
 
The following year, Tokyo and Washington agreed to relocate and 
return Futenma airfield. The Japanese and US governments worked out 
a final report of the Special Action Committee on Facilities and 
Areas in Okinawa (SACO), which incorporated their agreed plans to 
return bases and relocate training exercises. 
 
However, many of those plans were preconditioned on relocation 
within the island prefecture. Futenma airfield's relocation remained 
under the same preconditions even in the two countries' talks over 
the realignment of US forces in Japan. Takasato says, "The area of 
bases will decrease with the realignment, but old bases will be 
realigned into new bases." She added, "In the end, they only 
exploited the voice of Okinawa." 
 
In October 1995, a rally was held in Ginowan with the participation 
of various organizations from the conservative and reformist blocs. 
The rally organizers said a total of 85,000 people gathered for the 
rally and called for realigning and reducing the US military 
presence. It was said to be Okinawa's largest-scale struggle ever 
since its return to Japan. 
 
Yoshikazu Tamaki, a 57-year-old member of Okinawa Prefecture's 
assembly, managed the rally as chief of its secretariat. Nowadays, 
Tamaki recalls the rally with his self-reflection. The reformists in 
Okinawa once upheld their one-time slogan of "removing" all the 
bases. However, they changed it to the slogan of "realigning and 
reducing" the bases. This slogan rallied a large number of people in 
Okinawa. Tamaki is now thinking to himself that something might have 
weakened as a result. 
 
In 1998, Tamaki ran in Nago City' mayoral election with his campaign 
slogan of opposing Futenma airfield's relocation to Nago. Tamaki was 
defeated, however. In the 1995 rally, Masahide Ota, who was the 
governor of Okinawa Prefecture, took the platform, and the next one 
who took the platform was Keiichi Inamine. Three years later, 
Inamine won Okinawa's governorship with his acceptance of Futenma 
relocation. 
 
In those days, there was a gradual rise of voices calling for 
economic development in exchange for the maintenance of bases. "The 
rally was meant to allow no more bases," Tamaki says, "I wonder if 
Okinawa now takes it over." 
 
TOKYO 00006195  006 OF 010 
 
 
 
Henoko: Old people disappear in anti-Futenma gatherings 
 
There is a small house in Nago City's Henoko district. The house, 
right near the planned construction site for a Futenma alternative, 
is for a group of local residents opposing the government's plan to 
build an alternative base there. Nowadays, many of those gathering 
in the house are young people in Okinawa Prefecture or from mainland 
prefectures. 
 
A decade ago, a number of elderly people living in Henoko used to 
join gatherings there against Futenma relocation. But now, they can 
rarely be seen in the gatherings. Henoko's administrative committee, 
a decision-making board of local residents, is now inclining to 
accept Futenma relocation in exchange for compensation. "To tell the 
truth, I'm against Futenma relocation. But if I say that outside, I 
may be cut out of the loop." With this, a local man who has broken 
away from the group came out of himself. 
 
Nine years ago, local women-neither civic activists nor labor union 
members-walked around in Nago Coty, taking elderly men and women by 
the hand. 
 
It was on Dec. 20, 1997, the day before a poll of Nago residents 
over whether to accept the government's proposed plan to build an 
alternative facility in waters off the coast of Henoko to take over 
the heliport functions of Futenma airfield. Yasuhiro Miyagi, 46, a 
one-time leader of locals opposing Futenma relocation, thought to 
himself that he could work it out when he saw those local women and 
their old parents-in-law opposing the newly planned heliport. 
 
The next day, a majority of Nago City voted against the new base 
plan. 
 
"If we only win in the poll," Miyagi says, "I thought everything 
would be over." He went on: "Everybody strove so hard as we thought 
it's for once in our life. Nine years later, however, we found that 
nothing has changed. The people of Nago City are now worn out." 
 
The government's new base building plan for Futenma airfield has 
undergone a number of alterations. However, it remains unchanged as 
far as its construction site-Henoko in Nago City-is concerned. That 
is because the government has poured a huge amount of money into the 
northern part of Okinawa's main island, including Nago City, in the 
name of economic incentives, and the city, though conditionally, has 
accepted the new base plan. 
 
People are longing for an affluent lifestyle. Miyagi thinks the 
government cashed in this natural feeling. "Local governments depend 
on the state coffers for finances," Miyagi says. He added, "Can they 
turn on the central government?" 
 
Helo crash: Accident unveils abnormality 
 
Ryozo Kinjo, 22, dashed out of a university building as soon as he 
heard students shouting to tell the crash of a helicopter on the 
campus. The playing field was covered with black smoke, and Kinjo 
saw smoke and flames going up by the main building. Somebody cried, 
"Take a picture as evidence!" A US serviceman in camouflaged 
fatigues was standing there on Kinjo's way in trying to stop him. 
Kinjo dodged the US serviceman and turned his cellphone camera. 
 
On Aug. 13, 2004, A US Marine Corps CH-53 heavy-lift helicopter, 
 
TOKYO 00006195  007 OF 010 
 
 
soon after taking off from Futenma airfield, crashed on the 
neighboring campus of Okinawa International University. No one was 
injured in the crash. However, the chopper's broken pieces, 
including rotor blade debris, scattered and hit nearby houses. 
 
"I realized something that I thought I was seeing as usual in my 
daily life was actually something abnormal," Kinjo says. 
 
Kinjo lives at Chibana in Okinawa City. His house is right on the 
east side of the US Kadena Air Base. When a US warplane flies over 
that area, Kinjo turns up the television to the maximum. When the US 
military went on airstrikes in Afghanistan, a US military plane 
beamed the searchlight into his room. When he entered Okinawa 
International University, the sounds of helicopters did not matter 
much to him. 
 
More than one million people live on a small island with US military 
bases. The helicopter accident reminded people in Okinawa of such an 
abnormal fact. 
 
Mikiko Inafuku, 56, is a professor currently teaching Kinjo in her 
seminar at Okinawa International University. Inafuku began to teach 
at the university in the 1980s. In those days, she had to suspend 
her class frequently due to the roar of helicopters flying to and 
from Futenma airfield. Meanwhile, the university double-paned its 
windows for soundproofing, and she was not so concerned about 
choppers in flight. "I was shocked at the accident," Inafuku says. 
She admitted, "I completely got used to something wrong with us 
unknowingly." 
 
Gov. Inamine: 15-year time limit on dual use fades out 
 
On Oct. 6, Okinawa Prefecture's Governor Inamine met with Prime 
Minister Abe at his office for the first time. "The issue of 
realigning US forces in Japan is very difficult, and we have our own 
stance." With this, Inamine underscored the nonnegotiable line. 
 
Inamine was first elected eight years ago with his campaign pledge 
to build a Futenma alternative as a dual-use airport for joint 
commercial and military use and set a 15-year time limit on the U.S. 
military's use of the new base. 
 
Ever since then, although his campaign pledge was called into 
question about its feasibility, Inamine has reiterated his advocacy 
of building a dual-use airport and tag on a 15-year time limit to 
the U.S. military's use of it. Yoshihiko Higa, a policy adviser to 
Inamine, says as follows: "If we set a time limit on the US 
military's use of the new base, that airport will be an asset of 
Okinawa Prefecture's people in time. At the same time, the 
government decided on a package of economic development measures for 
the northern region of Okinawa Prefecture. The proposal of a 
dual-use airport and a 15-year time limit drew the government's 
utmost concessions sparing no expense." 
 
As a de facto compensation for the relocation of Futenma airfield's 
heliport functions within Okinawa Prefecture, the government 
promised a package of pump-priming measures totaling 100 billion yen 
over the next 10 years for the island's northern region. It was the 
beginning of an era for Okinawa Prefecture and its population to be 
tossed up and down between the government's new base plan for the US 
military and its economic package for the base-hosting localities. 
 
Meanwhile, Inamine reiterated "the magma of Okinawa Prefecture's 
 
TOKYO 00006195  008 OF 010 
 
 
people" time and again, meaning that the wrath of the island 
prefecture's people, though seeming to be quiet for now, is boiling 
up under the ground and he is standing on it... 
 
The only best plan for Inamine as Okinawa's conservative governor to 
obtain local understanding was to build a dual-use airport and limit 
the US military's use of it to 15 years, Higa recalls. 
 
Even this proposal, however, was thrown into a wastebasket because 
of the realignment of US forces in Japan and the delay in the 
planned relocation of Futenma airfield. In April this year, the 
government announced a plan to build a new base with a V-shaped pair 
of airstrips at a site across the cape of Henoko in Camp Schwab. 
Inamine will not accept the new plan. However, the government is now 
mulling a new subsidization system to fund the base-hosting 
localities according to progress in the realignment of US forces in 
Japan. 
 
While shelving fundamental contradictions between the US military 
presence and the economic package, Okinawa Prefecture will pass its 
administration to the next governor. 
 
The gubernatorial election will be proclaimed Nov. 2 and will be 
held Nov. 19. In the race, the ruling camp will back up Hirokazu 
Nakaima, 67, former president of the Okinawa Prefecture Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry, with the opposition camp fielding Keiko 
Itokazu, 59, currently seated on the House of Councillors. The 
election is expected to be a dead-heat race between Nakaima and 
Itokazu. 
 
(6) Arrested former Fukushima governor Sato and his brother received 
bribes by using family business as shield; Focus is on degree of his 
involvement 
 
YOMIURI (Page 3) (Abridged slightly) 
October 24, 2006 
 
Investigation into a bid rigging scandal in Fukushima Prefecture by 
the Tokyo District Prosecutors Office special investigation team 
resulted in yesterday the arrest of former Gov. Eisaku Sato, 67. 
Sato's arrest comes a year and a half after the special 
investigative team secretly began investigating his alleged 
acceptance of bribes. Upon finding out the fact that Sato's brother 
was serving as a "coordinator" of a public works project on behalf 
of his brother, the special investigation team cut into the 
collusive ties between Sato, who placed the order, and general 
contractors, who won the order. 
 
Safety device 
 
A senior prosecutor described Yuji Sato, 63, the former governor's 
brother, as a "safety device." 
 
According to a person concerned, former governor Sato, who placed 
orders for public works projects, did not accept any petitions from 
the construction industry at the prefectural government office or 
elsewhere and did not join golf competitions once he found out that 
some construction firm members were on the lists of participants. 
Seals of approval for bid rigging came from his brother, Yuji -- 
president of Koriyama Santo Suits, a men's clothing maker based in 
the prefecture -- who was responsible for contacting general 
contractors. The presence of Yuji, who covered up the former 
governor's involvement in money transactions, was the largest 
 
TOKYO 00006195  009 OF 010 
 
 
bottleneck in the long investigation. 
 
Such individuals as former Maeda Corp. executives and former 
Mizutani Kensetsu Chairman Isao Mizutani, 61, admitted to 
investigators that they had provided Santo Suits with a series of 
kickbacks in the form of payment for a land transaction in return 
for receiving orders from the Fukushima prefectural government for 
the Kido Dam project, knowing that the kickbacks were effectively 
extended to the former governor. Some others, including a realtor, 
who had brokered the land transaction, also admitted that the price 
had been higher than the actual value. 
 
The investigation team regarded the higher-than-the-actual-value 
land transaction as a bribe to the former governor. But the land 
transaction between Santo Suits and Mizutani Kensetsu -- a deal 
between two private companies -- was a major obstacle. 
 
Given the situation, the investigation team paid attention to the 
fact that the former governor had been a director of Santo Suits 
until May 2002 and that he was still the company's top shareholder 
with over a 40%  stake. The team identified the suit company's 
profits as the former governor's profits. 
 
Holding a public office is a requirement for a bribery charge, but 
an individual who is not a civil servant can also be punished as an 
accomplice. Although it was Yuji who had directly received benefits 
from Mizutani Kensetsu and other contractors, investigators reached 
the conclusion that he and the former governor, the person 
responsible for placing orders for public works projects, had 
received bribes as a team, recognizing the former as an accomplice. 
 
Coordinators played main roles since 1993 graft case involving 
general contractors 
 
In public works scandals that came to light in recent years, 
coordinators mediating between government offices and corporations 
often played key roles. 
 
For instance, in a bid rigging case over a tunnel project placed by 
the Wakayama prefectural government, the Osaka District Public 
Prosecutors Office arrested a former golf course operator, who had 
served as a mediator between the chief prefectural treasurer and 
Hazama Corp. that won the order for the project. In an influence 
peddling case involving Gyosai Toshi Kaihatsu Kenkyujo, a Tokyo 
consulting firm, cracked by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors 
Office in 2002, the firm's president who was also a former secretary 
to a lawmaker also played a central role behind the scenes. The firm 
also gave large amounts of bribes to a former Tokushima governor and 
a former mayor of Shimotsuma City, Ibaraki Prefecture. 
 
In 1993, prosecutors also arrested then Ibaraki and Miyagi governors 
for taking bribes from general contractors in connection with a 
graft case. Since this case, firms have been avoiding making direct 
contacts with local chiefs. 
 
Former prosecutor Nobuo Gohara, currently a professor at the Toin 
University of Yokohama Graduate School Law School, took this view: 
 
"To cope with enhanced efforts to crack down on bid rigging 
practices under the Antimonopoly Law, firms have since around 1992 
managed to reach agreements on bid rigging ambiguously by, for 
instance, contacting individuals instead of holding meetings. People 
close to those placing orders have come to acquire strong 
 
TOKYO 00006195  010 OF 010 
 
 
influence." 
 
Lawyer Kawasaki, a director of the Fair Trade Institute, took the 
following view regarding the fact that Maeda Corp. that won the 
Fukushima dam project and its subcontractor Mizutani Kensetsu gave 
bribes: 
 
"General contractors have acquired the underground method of 
coordinating orders by using prospective subcontractors." 
 
SCHIEFFER