VZCZCXRO8482
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #6710/01 3302246
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 262246Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8609
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RHMFIUU/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/COMPATWING ONE KAMI SEYA JA
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 1426
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 8936
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 2353
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 8530
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 9975
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4995
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1097
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2594

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 006710 
 
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 11/24/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Okinawa undergoes changes-Electorate's choice and its meaning 
(Part 2): Changing popular will-No tailwind to antibase campaign 
 
(2) Vacillating conservatism (Part 2): Dispersed philosophy with 
loss of focus of confrontation 
 
(3) Realism needed for security debate: Koike 
 
(4) Conservatism: Interview with Koichi Kato, former LDP secretary 
general; LDP's mainstream conservatism opportunistic 
 
(5) Draft platform of Minshuto underscores Ozawa's policy imprint 
 
(6) Coservatism - part 1: Interview with Gakushuin University 
Professor Tsuyoshi Sasaki, who urges reconstruction of national 
pride 
 
(7) Issue of reinstating postal rebels: Prime Minister Abe weaving 
between public opinion and sympathy 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Okinawa undergoes changes-Electorate's choice and its meaning 
(Part 2): Changing popular will-No tailwind to antibase campaign 
 
ASAHI (Page 33) (Full) 
November 22, 2006 
 
On Nov. 15, four days before Okinawa Prefecture's gubernatorial 
election, a bill of amendments to the Fundamentals of Education Law 
with "the spirit to love the country" cleared a special committee in 
the House of Representatives. However, none of the opposition 
parties' committee members was there. 
 
Keiko Itokazu, 59, the candidate backed by the opposition parties 
who lost, began campaigning at once against the bill, calling the 
amendments a "change for the worse." However, there were no signs of 
a strong tailwind for her. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, 
based on findings from its own polling of Okinawa's voting 
population, anticipated that its proposed legislation of educational 
reform would not affect the gubernatorial election, and things 
developed as expected by the LDP. 
 
As a result of Japan's prewar imperialistic education, one out of 
every four people in Okinawa Prefecture died in devastating ground 
battles. An age ago, the spirit to "love the country" touched the 
island people's heartstrings. However, Toshio Ohama, 59, who 
presides over a local union of teachers, noted the dullness of local 
concern and sensitivity. "Local people's attitudes seem to have 
changed," Ohama says. The same can be said of the Japan-US Security 
Treaty and US military bases. 
 
In her election campaign, Itokazu focused on the US military 
presence as the biggest bone of contention. There were many factors 
that might have well worked to her advantage. 
 
Tokyo and Washington decided to realign US Forces Japan (USFJ) in 
disregard of the wishes of Okinawa's base-hosting localities. USFJ 
deployed the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3), a surface-to-air 
guided missile system, to a base on Okinawa in the face of strong 
opposition from the local hosts. The Defense Agency director general 
 
TOKYO 00006710  002 OF 009 
 
 
said Okinawa and its people should be pleased with the deployment of 
PAC-3 missiles in Okinawa... Even so, the island's population did 
not flame up in anger. 
 
The opposition parties were also desperate to catch the electorate, 
of a kind they had never known. When the race was in the 
homestretch, a piece of paper was posted in their election offices, 
reading: "The stance of Itokazu against building the new base is 
acknowledged. We need to make a proactive appeal on employment and 
economic development in order to win over unaffiliated voters." 
 
But it was too late. Itokazu failed to hammer out her policies that 
could win the hearts of local voters. 
 
The Party of Citizens (Shimin no To) helped a female candidate win 
Shiga Prefecture's gubernatorial election. This time, this party 
backed Itokazu. Its representative, Masashi Saito, 55, says: "There 
are still progressive parties from the days when they could get 
votes if they only cry out against US military bases. It is the same 
as the reformist parties in Tokyo, and they are on the decline." 
 
Many of the opposition parties' politicians also have a growing 
sense of crisis. "We want the US military presence reduced. That's 
what we want, regardless of whether we are conservative or 
reformist. If we persist in this standpoint only, we will be left 
behind the times." This opinion came from Satoko Taira, 27, a Naha 
City municipal assembly member of the Okinawa Socialist Masses Party 
(OSMP). Tadashi Uesato, 33, a Naha City municipal assembly member of 
the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), said, "There were many 
challenges, such as the regional system and Okinawa's 
self-sustainability, but the opposition parties did not come up with 
any visions on their own." 
 
Itokazu was the opposition camp's trump card. In 2004, Itokazu ran 
in an election for the House of Councillors. She garnered about 
320,000 votes in her home electoral district and overwhelmed her 
opponent who ran on the ruling ticket of the LDP's alliance with the 
New Komeito. She was the candidate whom all the six local political 
parties with different policies and ideologies could somehow 
recommend, so her defeat in the gubernatorial election was a great 
shock to them. 
 
However, although Okinawa's anti-base sentiment may weaken at times, 
it will never fade away as long as the overly heavy burden of 
hosting US military bases continues. 
 
On Nov. 20, the day after the gubernatorial election, Natsume Taira, 
a 44-year-old clergyman, was sitting in a tent with a group of 
several friends by the sea near Cape Henoko in the northern Okinawa 
city of Nago, where the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station is to 
be relocated, to protest Futenma airfield's relocation. 
 
"People aged up to 61 do not know an Okinawa with no military 
bases," Taira said. "Even so," he added, "300,000 people voted for 
Itokazu to demonstrate their antibase opinions, so it's really 
encouraging." 
 
The tent, on its outside, has number tags that show how many days 
the sit-in was going on. On Nov. 20, the tags were showing "Day 
946." In anticipation of more than 1,000 days, the tent already has 
a fourth-digit hook for tags to hang on. 
 
(2) Vacillating conservatism (Part 2): Dispersed philosophy with 
 
TOKYO 00006710  003 OF 009 
 
 
loss of focus of confrontation 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
November 23, 2006 
 
In the late evening of Nov. 19, after the results of the Okinawa 
gubernatorial election showed the winner to be Hirokazu Nakaima, the 
candidate backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and 
its junior coalition partner New Komeito, his rival candidate Keiko 
Itokazu, backed by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Japanese 
Communist Party (JCP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and other 
opposition parties, met the press. She made this comment with a 
fixed expression on her face: "Opposition parties were well united 
in campaigning and did their best. It's incorrect to view the 
outcome as progressivism's defeat." 
 
The election result was 350,000 vs. 310,000. The campaign split 
prefectural public opinion, bringing about a face-off between 
conservatives and progressives. But the choice between conservatism 
and progressivism no longer is a big campaign issue in Japan except 
for Okinawa, where the presence of US bases remains a major bone of 
contention. 
 
With the decline of progressivism, conservatism is proliferating, 
but the the nature of conservatism is becoming ambiguous. Itokazu 
received strong support from Minshuto, but even in that party, some 
are saying, "Prime MInister Abe is not a genuine conservative. 
Rather, our party Minshuto is the 'conservative mainstream.'" 
 
Minshuto's Acting President Naoto Kan, a civil society activist 
turned politician, is among those who make that claim. Recently, Kan 
has frequently used that phrase to criticize the Abe administration. 
According to Kan, that phrase means: "In postwar Japan, the way of 
thinking of the conservative mainstream is to pursue a policy of 
being a lightly-armed nation that stresses economic growth. This aim 
started with the administrations led by Shigeru Yoshida and then by 
Hayato Ikeda. Minshuto's way of thinking has many points in common 
with the so-called conservative mainstream rather than Prime 
Minister Abe, whose political approach is to keenly pursue something 
like national prestige as did his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, when 
prime minister." 
 
Postwar conservatism in Japan is often divided into two groups. For 
instance, former Prime Minister Nakasone once stated: "Past cabinets 
in (postwar) Japan may be classified as those that stressed the 
economy and those that were swayed by psychological factors, such as 
ethnicity. I think the cabinets led by (Ichiro) Hatoyama, Kishi, and 
myself were the ones that emphasized the importance of ethnicity and 
sovereignty." 
 
Masayoshi Ohira and Kiichi Miyazawa followed the so-called "Yoshida 
line of politics" or "Ikeda line" and emphasized having a country 
that was only lightly-armed in order to give more stress to the 
economy. But in the present LDP, there are few who view the faction 
led by Ohira and later by Miyazawa as conservative mainstream. 
 
Former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato, who headed the same 
faction after Ohira and then Miyazawa, stated coolly: "The phrase 
'conservative mainstream' has no definition. It is used merely for 
expediency." Kato made such a remark, presumably taking into account 
the fact that when Ohira and Miyazawa took the helm of the state, 
they had to act in concert with the Kakuei Tanaka faction and later 
its successor the Noboru Takeshita faction, which was clever 
 
TOKYO 00006710  004 OF 009 
 
 
tactically in the Diet and in elections. "It's not conservatism to 
leave the defense of Japan to America in the name o light armaments 
and to simply pursue money making. This notion should be called 
'materialist mainstream,'" Kato said severely. 
 
The main reason postwar conservatives succeeded in staying in power 
is "because there was an agreement reached between economic growth 
and national pride," said Takeshi Sasaki, professor at Gakushuin 
University. The traditional "LDP conservatism" had nowhere else to 
go with the Japanese public's loss of confidence in the Japanese 
economy, Sasaki added. 
 
With economic growth not expected to grow now as in the past, there 
is no room for the social democratic way of profit-allocation to 
work well as it once did. 
 
"What will be linked to national pride has become an important 
political subject at present. Isn't the Abe administration exploring 
a way for that? Perhaps, it is looking for something 'wonderful,' 
which Japan can be proud of in the world," Sasaki analyzed. 
 
The slogan of stressing the economy (over security) has now lost its 
luster with the end of the high economic growth era and the bursting 
of the economic bubble. A sea change in the security environment 
surrounding Japan at the end of the Cold War also has made a push 
for a review of the lightly-armed posture. 
 
Present-day conservatism cannot be viewed simply in the context of 
dualism between "Yoshida politics and Kishi politics." 
 
(3) Realism needed for security debate: Koike 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
November 24, 2006 
 
The following is an interview with Yuriko Koike, special advisor to 
Prime Minister Abe on national security: 
 
I have a very strong feeling of indignation at the fact that North 
Korea, which has upheld its policy of acquiring nuclear weapons for 
years, conducted a nuclear test as its ultimate card. They probably 
thought they had a new card. 
 
North Korea dumped the six-party talks and is aiming to go nuclear. 
This means that they can no longer see the world as it is. North 
Korea wants to maintain its regime, and that's its biggest purpose. 
Pyongyang doesn't think at all about its people's human rights or 
about the betterment of life for its people. This is really typical 
of military-first politics. In that sense, the issue of human rights 
for the North Korean people is a major challenge, as well as the 
issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea. This point must 
not be forgotten. 
 
North Korea maintained that the financial sanctions should be called 
off before its return to the six-party talks. This proves in itself 
that the tightening of financial controls is working well, so we 
must not loosen up on the pressure. 
 
The United States may reportedly change its policy toward North 
Korea as a result of the midterm elections. However, diplomacy is an 
exclusive area of matters for the president. So I don't think the 
United States will suddenly turn around to an appeasement policy. 
Excluding North Korea, the five countries for the six-party talks 
 
TOKYO 00006710  005 OF 009 
 
 
should keep sharing their understanding of cooperation. Each country 
may have its own circumstances. However, it's extremely important to 
cooperate in order to deal with North Korea, which is a big 
problem. 
 
We're concerned about North Korea's nuclear test. I think that there 
are various arguments about technologies, weapons, and strategies. 
However, it's true that the security environment of Japan has 
undergone a sea change. We should now think more realistically about 
what we should do to defend our country. Basically, politics is 
realism. We should be coolheaded to clear up the arguments with 
realism. We need to look hard at reality when talking about the 
problem, and we need respond in a realistic manner. 
 
(4) Conservatism: Interview with Koichi Kato, former LDP secretary 
general; LDP's mainstream conservatism opportunistic 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
November 23, 2006 
 
In Japan conservatism as an ideology has been a combination of 
liberalism, UN-centered principles, and being a member of Asia, 
while basing diplomacy on Japan-US cooperation. 
 
Conservatism as a policy comes second. Its notion is that good 
policies should be kept intact as much as possible. The Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) has drastically changed Japanese society. It 
disbanded many agricultural villages and the entire coal industry, 
which had once been one of the nation's largest industries. It has 
also changed society, based on the idea of globalization. 
 
Third, I would like to think about what mainstream conservatism in 
the LDP is. Some regard the administrations of Shigeru Yoshida and 
Hayato Ikeda as epitomizing mainstream conservatism. Then how can we 
categorize the Tanaka faction, which was the strongest group in the 
LDP? At a time when people felt that it was the right time for the 
Tanaka faction, a faction that had power or influence was considered 
mainstream conservatism. There is no definition for the words 
"mainstream conservatism." It is an opportunistic attitude. Even I, 
considered to be the legitimate son of the Kochi-kai Group, an 
outgrowth of Mr. Yoshida, thought it strange. It would be more 
understandable if mainstream conservatism is rephrased as the "old 
guard" instead. 
 
When Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) Secretary General 
Yukio Hatoyama criticizes the prime minister, he says, "You say that 
the view of the Kochi-kai Group is in agreement with your view, but 
you are just saying that Kochi-kai members are all good people." 
Deputy party head Kan's statement that the DPJ is "mainstream 
conservative" is also meaningless. 
 
People regard the recent rise of nationalism as a sign of a drift to 
the right. 
 
There are three types of nationalism. The first would be a 
contentious type of nationalism that fights with neighbors over 
territory and history. Second is a healthy competitive nationalism, 
as seen in people who save money to go see the World Cup and wave a 
Rising Sun flag during the games. Now, people are all seeking this 
kind of proud nationalism. 
 
In the area of domestic policy, there will be a time when a certain 
degree of constraint will be put on market principles. There will 
 
TOKYO 00006710  006 OF 009 
 
 
presumably arise a confrontation between the left wing, which wishes 
to constrain excessive market economy, attaching importance to Asian 
diplomacy, and the right wing, which would seek market principles 
that place importance on the private sector, by showing off 
nationalism in Asia. 
 
Koichi Kato: Born in Yamagata Prefecture. Graduated from the Tokyo 
University Law Department. Served in such posts as chief cabinet 
secretary and LDP secretary general. 67 years old. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
(5) Draft platform of Minshuto underscores Ozawa's policy imprint 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
November 24, 2006 
 
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) has entered the final stage of 
working out its policy platform, with an eye to the House of 
Councillors election next summer. The platform is likely to be in 
line with the Ozawa vision, a private plan presented by Ozawa in the 
September party presidential election. The main opposition party has 
long been dogged by the image of lacking consistency in its 
policies. By demonstrating party head Ozawa's original policy 
imprint in its platform, the party aims to erase the negative image 
and devote itself to confronting the ruling parties. On pension and 
security issues, however, views in the Ozawa vision are 
contradictory to the party's conventional stance. 
 
In a press conference on Nov. 22, Minshuto Policy Research Council 
Chairman Takeaki Matsumoto categorically said, "Since we lost (the 
election), the views the party presented for the election have 
already become invalid." 
 
In its manifesto for the House of Representatives election last 
year, Minshuto proposed unifying the nation's pension systems and 
raising the consumption tax on the premise of introducing a system 
to tax revenues (with 3% assumed) for paying basic pension benefits, 
which the party suggested should be equal across the board. But 
since Ozawa has rejected the idea of a tax hike, the draft policy 
platform finalized on Nov. 22 specified that the current 5% 
consumption tax rate would be kept unchanged. The party has decided 
to propose all revenues from the consumption tax be used for pension 
payments with insurance premiums making up for a shortfall. 
 
Minshuto's conventional call for tax revenues to be used to finance 
basic pension payments stems from a desire to reduce unfairness, 
like pension negligence, and stabilize the balance of financial 
resources and payments. But many party members criticize the 
decision to leave the burden that pensions place on the national 
treasury unattended. One member complained: "Pension reform was a 
main sales point in our policy platform, but Minshuto's plan will 
have no major differences from that of the government and the ruling 
camp." Another criticized, "Is it acceptable for lawmakers who won 
the election to neglect the party's manifest while citing our 
party's loss in that election?" 
 
In the security area, too, Minshuto's draft platform approves part 
of the right to collective self-defense, though it has consistently 
denied it. To play up Ozawa's policy imprint, the platform 
formulation committee (chaired by Hirotaka Akamatsu) composed of 
nine members including Ozawa, engaged in mapping out the draft. 
 
Ozawa plans to release the draft early next week and hold several 
policy council meetings to be joined by all party members, with the 
 
TOKYO 00006710  007 OF 009 
 
 
aim of finalizing the party's platform by year's end. Given 
dissatisfaction smoldering in the party at the party's policy of 
cooperating with other opposition parties in election campaigning 
and dealing with Diet affairs, party head Ozawa is required to 
demonstrate leadership in solidifying the "Ozawa setup" before the 
regular party convention in January. 
 
(6) Conservatism - part 1: Interview with Gakushuin University 
Professor Tsuyoshi Sasaki, who urges reconstruction of national 
pride 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
November 23, 2006 
 
Conservatism appeared in the course of history in reaction to the 
French Revolution. The notion of conservatism in Europe therefore is 
one of protecting the traditional order that includes a status 
system and a monarchy. With the United States, however, the story 
became more complex, since the US never had such an order, but 
worked to build its nation based on liberalism and republicanism, 
rising to eventually become a key player in the world. 
 
The conservatism of US President Reagan and British Prime Minister 
Thatcher in the 1980s gave momentum to playing up a way of life in 
those countries that focuses on self-reliance and responsibility and 
a way of life that does not rely on government, with a focus on 
market principles. Conservatism in this context was a movement to 
destroy social democratic liberalism, such as Keynesianism, which 
was totally different from the notion of maintaining the status quo. 
Instead, the two countries created a trend for reform of the status 
quo and for structural reforms. 
 
The conservatism of the Reagan era had two elements - nationalism 
and market principles. The stage moved a step forward with the 
emergence of globalism in the 1990s. Should conservatism aim for 
globalism or should it aim for unilateralism? The emergence of 
another axis, globalism, shook the traditional basis of 
conservatism. 
 
Japan's postwar politics fell into the pattern of 
conservatism-vs.-liberalism for decades. But there was a difference 
between this trend and that of Europe and the US. The Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) has functioned as a distributor of profits, a 
role played by socialist parties in other countries. Profit 
allocation has been a contentious issue not among political parties 
but within the LDP. 
 
The LDP administration has been bolstered by economic growth, which 
boosted national pride. The collapse of the bubble economy battered 
national harmony. People are no longer sure about where national 
pride can be found. LDP-style conservatism, which included many 
elements and was unlike the conservatism found in other countries, 
is now over. The party does not know where to head for now. 
 
If various arguments over searching for national pride crop up, the 
next stage would be a conservative-vs.-non-conservative pattern. 
 
I would venture to say that it might be a right way to stake 
national pride on challenges common to all human beings, such as the 
aging society and the environment. Japan has reached a stage where 
it should live on soft power. 
 
Takeshi Sasaki: Born in Akita Prefecture. Graduated from the Tokyo 
 
TOKYO 00006710  008 OF 009 
 
 
University Law Department. President of Tokyo University until March 
200t, after serving as associate professor and professor at Tokyo 
University. 64 years old. 
 
(7) Issue of reinstating postal rebels: Prime Minister Abe weaving 
between public opinion and sympathy 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 24, 2006 
 
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is now mulling the reinstatement 
of independent lawmakers, the so-called "postal rebels," who bolted 
the party in opposition to the government's postal-privatization 
bills at last year's Lower House election. In dealing with this 
issue, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wavered as to whether he should 
place priority on public opinion or sympathy for the postal rebels. 
Takeo Hiranuma, who represents the postal rebels, was Abe's senior 
in the Mitsuzuka faction. The two have similar views of the state 
and ideas and belief. Looking at the results of opinion polls, many 
opposed the LDP's plan to readmit the postal rebels, however. If Abe 
makes a mistake in handling the matter, the political base of his 
government, which has enjoyed high plurality since its inauguration, 
might be shaken and lose its momentum. 
 
"I didn't expect the matter took that direction and caused 
controversy," Abe said to a party executive member on Nov. 22. He 
indicated in his remarks that he had made a mistake in his 
calculation regarding the issue of reinstating the postal rebels. 
Some LDP lawmakers have predicted that it would be difficult for the 
party to smoothly readmit them since the issue has got complicated 
that much and that Abe may want first to form a parliamentary league 
with the postal rebels and then let them join the LDP after next 
summer's Upper House election. 
 
In his meeting on Nov. 22 with Hiranuma, Secretary General Hidenao 
Nakagawa demanded that the postal rebels submit to the party a 
written pledge as a precondition for their return to the party. The 
written pledge would include: their self-examination on their 
conduct at last year's Lower House election among other things. 
Nakagawa also told Hiranuma that the written pledge should be 
submitted before noon of Nov. 27. Hiranuma will delay rejoining the 
LDP since he has said that he voted against the postal-privatization 
legislation in accordance with his belief. 
 
The LDP started mulling the issue of readmitting the postal rebels 
during the campaign for the LDP presidential election in September 
after Abe had said the LDP should find ways to cooperate with (the 
postal rebels) if they head the same direction with the party. On 
Oct. 10 at a Tokyo hotel, Abe held a secret meeting with former 
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, Mikio Aoki, chairman of the LDP caucus 
in the Upper House, and Nakagawa. Abe arranged the meeting very 
carefully, announcing that he planned luncheon with his 
secretaries. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
In the meeting, Mori and Aoki called for an early reinstatement of 
the postal rebels. They urged Abe to resolve the issue as quickly as 
possible. Abe, however, did not give his assurance. After the 
meeting, the rumor went around the LDP that Abe concurred to 
reinstate all postal rebels, including those who were defeated in 
the Lower House election last year. Underlying such a rumor is the 
close relationship between Abe and Hiranuma. 
 
In the summer of 1998, when Mori succeeded to the Mitsuzuka faction, 
 
TOKYO 00006710  009 OF 009 
 
 
Shizuka Kamei, who currently heads the People's New Party, Hiranuma, 
Shoichi Nakagawa, and some other members left the faction. At that 
time, the rumor was that Abe would leave the faction along with 
Hiranuma and others. One postal rebel, who knows well about the 
relationship between Abe and Hiranuma, feels certain that he will be 
readmitted to the party. 
 
Hidenao Nakagawa's hard-line stance and the passage of time upset 
the calculation of the postal rebels. Nakagawa, who played a leading 
role in helping Abe become prime minister, was appointed secretary 
general and boosted his political sway. Nakagawa and Hiranuma, both 
of who are now serving in their 9th-term in the Lower House, were 
rivals when they belonged to the Mitsuzuka faction. There is a 
contrast between the two lawmakers: Hiranuma has strong flavor of 
being a hawk politically, while Nakagawa is regarded as a rather 
liberal politician. Nakagawa's reluctance about readmitting the 
postal rebels is not completely unrelated to his confrontation with 
Hiranuma. 
 
The issue of reinstating the postal rebels is asking Abe as to whom 
-- Nakagawa or Hiranuma -- he sides with. A delay in negotiations on 
the issue -- from sometime after the Lower House by-elections in 
October to after the Okinawa gubernatorial election in November -- 
drew more public attention to the issue. Although Nakagawa has 
advocated the importance of public opinion, Hiranuma has no choice 
but to go on the defensive. 
 
On the night of Nov. 22, Nakagawa reported on the phone to Abe the 
content of his meeting with Hiranuma, and Abe then simply replied, 
saying, "I understand." Hiranuma and other postal rebels are 
expected to discuss the matter again on Nov. 24. 
 
SCHIEFFER