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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TOKYO 006714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PARIS PLEASE PASS USOECD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECON JA ZO EAGR
SUBJECT: The Japan Economic Scope Q- Economic News At- 
A-Glance. 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Table of Contents 
 
¶3. Keidanren Releases Report Calling for Joint Study 
on U.S.-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement 
¶4. LDP Diet Member Katayama Supports U.S.-Japan FTA 
¶5. METI Senior Parliamentary Vice Minister Puts 
Priority on Doha Round, Asia Regional FTAs 
¶6. Will Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform 
Chairman Kusakari Struggle On? 
¶7. Telecoms MRA Talks Bear Fruit 
¶8. USG Invited to Recommend Ideas on Healthcare 
Services Policy 
¶9. MAFF Places Ban on Poultry and Poultry Products 
from the State of New York 
¶10. Wakayama Governor Arrested in Bid-Rigging Bust; 
More Press on Bid Rigging Scandals Expected 
¶11. Narita Airport Oversight and Japan Airports 
Discussion Group 
¶12. ExxonMobil Tokyo Looking to Improve Relations with 
Embassy 
¶13. $10 billion plus California High Speed Rail 
project and Japan; U.S. Domestic Content and the FRA 
¶14. Mission-wide Economic Conference (SBU) 
 
¶2.  (U) The Japan Economic Scope (JES) is a weekly e- 
newsletter produced by Embassy Tokyo's ECON section in 
collaboration with other sections and constituent 
Posts and published every Friday.  It provides a brief 
overview of recent economic developments, insights 
gleaned from contacts, summaries of the latest cables 
and a list of upcoming visitors.  This cable contains 
the November 24, 2006, JES, minus the attachments that 
accompany many of the individual stories in the e-mail 
version.  To be added to the e-mail list, please email 
ProgarJ@state.gov. 
 
¶3. (U) Keidanren Releases Report Calling for Joint 
Study on U.S.-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
Two weeks before the United States and Japan are to 
discuss the bilateral economic relationship in a sub 
cabinet meeting in Tokyo, the Japan Business 
Federation (Keidanren) issued a brief paper calling on 
the two countries to begin to study a new framework 
for its economic relationship, including possibly 
working on a free trade agreement. 
 
The November 21 paper is fairly consistent with what 
we heard would be in it and reported in last week's 
Scope:  it underscores the importance of the bilateral 
relationship and notes some of the accomplishments 
under the current U.S.-Japan Economic Partnership for 
Growth. 
 
It is time, according to Keidanren, for the two sides 
to study a "new institutional framework" for building 
closer ties. 
 
While generally upbeat and appreciative of the 
importance of the relationship, Keidanren is cautious, 
noting for example that both sides would need to give 
"full consideration to the sensitivity" of Japan's 
domestic agricultural sector.  Japan's biggest 
business group questions the appropriateness of 
Japan's increasing its dependence on the United States 
for food imports. 
 
4.(SBU) LDP Diet Member Katayama Supports U.S.-Japan 
FTA 
--- 
 
EMIN paid a courtesy call on House of Representatives 
member Satsuki Katayama on November 16 during which 
she expressed her support for a U.S.-Japan FTA, 
observing that if it came to pass, an Asia-wide FTA 
would almost certainly follow. 
 
TOKYO 00006714  002 OF 005 
 
 
 
Katayama noted, however, the challenge of a bilateral 
FTA, and that leadership in Japan on the issue needed 
to come from the top. 
 
She pointed out that she had been nominated to be vice 
chairman of the LDP Special Committee on Economic 
Strategy, which would be handling FTAs and EPAs, so 
she would be in a position to help. 
 
She promised to speak to LDP General Secretary Hidenao 
Nakagawa and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shoichi Nakagawa 
about it. 
 
Katayama told us that her contacts inside the 
Agriculture Ministry would prefer to negotiate a U.S.- 
Japan FTA rather than the Japan-Australia FTA they 
were working on at the moment, comments that we've 
heard expressed elsewhere in official Tokyo circles. 
 
A former MOF official and Tokyo University graduate, 
Katayama is a first term LDP diet member representing 
a district in Shizuoka and came to office as a strong 
supporter of former-PM Koizumi's reforms in the 
election on postal privatization in 2005. 
 
¶5. (SBU) METI Senior Parliamentary Vice Minister Puts 
Priority on Doha Round, Asia Regional FTAs 
------------------------------------------ 
 
EMIN paid a courtesy call on Senior Parliamentary Vice 
Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Kozo Yamamoto 
on November 17 during which Yamamoto outlined METI's 
international economic goals. 
 
He placed the conclusion of the Doha Round at the top 
of his list, followed by the ASEAN Plus Six FTA and 
then a U.S.-Japan economic partnership agreement 
(EPA). 
 
Yamamoto emphasized that an economic agreement between 
the United States and Japan should not be done in 
haste and suggested that a two- or three-year study 
was needed. 
 
Yamamoto reported that he recently told Keidanren that 
METI intended to apply international standards to 
triangular mergers. 
He expressed interest in collaborating with the USG on 
IPR issues 
 
¶6. (SBU) Will Council for the Promotion of Regulatory 
Reform Chairman Kusakari Struggle On? 
------------------------------------- 
 
Takao Kusakari, the new Chairman of the Council for 
the Promotion of Regulatory Reform (CPRR), told EMIN 
during a brief November 17 meeting that he is "not so 
happy" with his new position as it requires constant 
"fighting with the ministries." 
 
In fact, Kusakari will make a decision by the 
beginning of December as to whether he will continue 
in this job. 
 
He stated that his decision will be based on whether 
the members proposed for the next iteration of the 
Council are reform-oriented as well as what power the 
Council will be given to implement its 
recommendations. 
 
The Council needs to at least retain its current power 
to be at all effective and ideally would be given 
authority over the Ministries to force through change, 
he said.  There are some who would like to weaken 
CPRR's status, however. 
 
Kusakari's body language, general demeanor and heavy 
sighs suggested one who has been beaten down by 
constant struggle, although he's been in his position 
 
TOKYO 00006714  003 OF 005 
 
 
for less than a month. 
 
¶7.  (U) Telecoms MRA Talks Bear Fruit 
------------------------------------- 
 
In a successful videoconference on November 22, the 
United States and Japan finally agreed on a text for 
the first U.S.-Japan Mutual Recognition Agreement 
(MRA). 
 
The MRA will allow each two country to accept the test 
results for telecommunications equipment done by 
recognized testing laboratories in the other country. 
 
Both sides are aiming to have the agreement go into 
effect starting with Japan's 2007 fiscal year next 
April 1. 
 
Several steps remain in both the United States and 
Japan before the agreement can be signed including 
finishing the text for an exchange of letters on 
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and translating 
the text into Japanese. 
 
MOFA will submit the text to the Cabinet Legislative 
Bureau for review in early December. 
 
If all goes well the agreement could be signed as 
early as February 2007, but there has been no decision 
yet on whether the signing ceremony would take place 
in Tokyo or Washington. 
 
¶8. (SBU) USG Invited to Recommend Ideas on Healthcare 
Services Policy 
--------------- 
 
EMIN met with METI's Manufacturing Industries Policy 
Director General Keikou Terui on November 20 to 
discuss Japan's healthcare services. 
 
Terui described healthcare reform as a political not 
an economic issue and invited the USG to make 
healthcare policy recommendations. 
 
Terui told us that the Prime Minister's new Innovation 
25 initiative included healthcare and that the trend 
in Japan was shifting from curing illness to 
preventing it. 
 
 He expressed concern, however, that so many GOJ- 
sponsored committees are examining various aspects of 
healthcare provision in Japan -- he cited four 
altogether, including the CEFP and the regulatory 
reform committee -- that it will be difficult to come 
to a consensus on solutions. 
 
Terui also lamented that Japan's strict insurance 
system worked against reform and noted that Japan has 
only one privately owned hospital.  The facility, 
located in Yokohama, is part of a special economic 
zone (tokku), subject to very tight regulatory 
constraints and not likely to be emulated elsewhere 
 
¶9. (U) MAFF Places Ban on Poultry and Poultry Products 
from the State of New York 
-------------------------- 
 
The Agriculture Ministry's announcement on November 16 
was made after the Embassy notified them of a new 
avian influenza case found in the region. 
 
The virus, which was found in a "live bird market," 
was classified as a case of low pathogenicity - H5N2 
and the ban is to be placed retroactively to October 
2, 2007.  MAFF had just lifted a ban on poultry and 
poultry products from Pennsylvania and Connecticut on 
November 11. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Wakayama Governor Arrested in Bid-Rigging 
Bust; More Press on Bid Rigging Scandals Expected 
 
TOKYO 00006714  004 OF 005 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
Wakayama Governor Yoshiki Kimura was finally arrested 
November 15 on bid-rigging and bribery charges. 
Investigators also discovered evidence that Kimura had 
an undisclosed election slush fund with over 40 
million yen received from corrupt businesses since 
¶2000. 
 
Osaka Sankei Shimbun Editorial Writer Yoshihisa Saraki 
commented that this case was just one of many 
potential bid-rigging cases in this country. 
 
Saraki pointed out that Japanese public prosecutors, 
fanned by the sheer prevalence of bid rigging by 
politicians, have begun to compete with each other to 
try to land bigger cases. 
 
Media outlets also have become more aggressive in 
searching for cases of wrongdoing, since the scandals 
have sold well so far. 
 
Saraki felt that these factors meant it was difficult 
to extrapolate whether bid rigging was actually 
increasing, or if the spate of high-profile cases was 
due to the authorities finally looking harder. 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) Narita Airport Oversight and Japan Airports 
Discussion Group 
---------------- 
 
The Japan International Airports Discussion group is 
examining plans for privatization and oversight of 
Narita airport. 
 
ECOUS met with Prof. Yamauchi, Dean of the Graduate 
School of Commerce and Management at Hitotsubachi 
University, Tokyo, who chairs the discussion group on 
November 17. 
 
The discussion group is part of the Aviation 
Subcommittee of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and 
Transport's (MLIT) Transportation Policy Committee, 
which will be looking at airport operations policy as 
part of a review feeding into MLIT's project to create 
a 5-year plan for infrastructure in Japan. 
 
At the meeting, Prof. Yamauchi explained the work of 
his discussion group and talked about: 
 
Narita airport privatization; Narita airport 
oversight; Narita airport expansion costs; Narita 
airport pricing of services; revision of the aviation 
law; and foreign airlines input into the their work. 
 
¶12. (SBU) ExxonMobil Tokyo Looking to Improve 
Relations with Embassy 
---------------------- 
 
ExxonMobil told Econoff on November 17 that the 
company would like to build a strong relationship with 
the Embassy and that the company had created a 
government relations plan. 
 
ExxonMobil Japan Public Affairs Manager Kenichi 
Morishita said that after the retirement in March 2006 
of the company's Tokyo marketing strategist J.B. King, 
the Tokyo office had ceased its involvement with the 
Russia Sakhalin 1 energy project.  Instead, Sakhalin 1 
is being handled almost entirely out of Houston and 
Sakhalin. 
 
Morishita commented that without Tokyo involvement, 
chances of finding Japanese buyers for the project's 
natural gas supply were very slim.  The Tokyo office 
is focused almost exclusively on downstream energy 
projects. 
 
¶13. (SBU) $10 billion plus California High Speed Rail 
 
TOKYO 00006714  005 OF 005 
 
 
project and Japan; U.S. Domestic Content and the FRA 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
The State of California has appropriated $14.3 million 
this year to begin project implementation on a high- 
speed rail-line between San Diego, San Francisco, and 
Sacramento, and a referendum on a $10 billion matching 
fund bond proposal to support the first part of the 
project, an LA-SF line, is planned in 2008. 
 
At a November 15 reception for a California High-Speed 
Rail Authority delegation hosted by the Japan Overseas 
Rolling Stock Association a Japanese industry rep told 
ECONOFF that the five major wagon and three primary 
engine makers for the Shinkansen would probably create 
a consortium to make a bid.  He said U.S. domestic 
content would be defined in the contract, but 
expressed concerns that if Federal money was involved 
that would require more production in the United 
States, although this could be finessed by some parts 
of the project being entirely U.S. built Q e.g. rail 
lines and stations Q implying the wagons and engines 
with the key Japanese technology would be built in 
Japan. 
 
California delegation members said the source of the 
matching funds for the bond offer was not going to be 
specified in the referendum, but acknowledged the 
State's powerful congressional delegation might be in 
a position to swing Federal funds their way.  Their 
main concern at this time, however, is getting Federal 
Railroad Administration approval for the Shinkansen 
technology, which, despite the excellent safety record 
of the Shinkansen in Japan, could create delays in the 
project's implementation. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Mission-wide Economic Conference 
------------------------------------------ 
 
Tokyo Economic Section hosted a mission-wide Economic 
Conference to strategize on the Mission's economic 
work for the coming year on November 21-22.  Econ 
officers and FSNs from Tokyo as well as CGs, officers 
and FSNs from Naha, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, and 
Sapporo attended.  Apart from Ambassador Schieffer and 
DCM Joseph Donovan, speakers at the conference 
included Ambassador Michael Michalak, former Japanese 
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, and Boeing Japan 
President Dr. Robert "Skipp" Orr.  The presentations 
provoked some healthy discussion of our priorities and 
will help sharpen the reporting and analysis we 
provide to the front office and Washington. 
 
SCHIEFFER