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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 000401 
 
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 01/29/07 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Prime Minister Abe to set up a strategic council to counter the 
falling birthrate 
 
(2) Prime minister reprimands health minister for his inappropriate 
remarks referring to women as "child-bearing machines" 
 
(3) Government to conclude 80% of procurement contracts under 
competitive bidding system 
 
(4) Sending civilian policemen to East Timor: MOF positive toward 
dispatch, while NPA remains negative; Took five months in deciding 
to dispatch two personnel 
 
(5) Weak yen increasingly drawing international criticism: Likely to 
become focus of G-7; BOJ might use criticism as excuse for raising 
interest rate 
 
(6) Facts about SDF mission in Iraq (Section 1); Thinking of SDF as 
Japan's new garrison-SDF in transformation (Part 7): Limits to 
GSDF's own resources-Private contractors needed for GSDF's overseas 
activities 
 
(7) Commentary: Bush's Iraq war 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Prime Minister Abe to set up a strategic council to counter the 
falling birthrate 
 
ASAHI (Top Play) (Full) 
January 28, 2007 
 
In dealing with the declining birthrate, one of the key issues, 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to establish a panel to come 
up with comprehensive measures, including ones that would help 
revive regional communities and families, and review ways that 
people work. The panel, to be called "Strategic Council to Study 
Measures to Support Children and Families," will hold its first 
meeting in early February and compile a set of basic proposals in 
mid-June. The set of proposals will be included in the government's 
"big-boned reform policy guidelines for 2007." With an eye on tax 
system reform debate, including a consumption tax hike, which will 
begin after the House of Councilor election, Abe also plans to 
formulate a "priority strategy." 
 
With the decline in the birthrate continuing, and the population of 
juveniles expected to drastically drop from 2030, the government has 
no choice but to create effective measures to counter the trend. For 
this reason, Abe in his policy speech on Jan. 26 stated: "Children 
are national treasures. We must make Japan a country in which people 
can give birth and bring up children without anxiety. I will set out 
a full-scale strategy to reverse the declining birthrate." 
 
Abe has already instructed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki 
to look into the issue on a full scale. He intends to shift from 
traditional measures to counter the declining birthrate that mainly 
place emphasis on such economic assistance measures as child 
allowances and child support. Attaching importance to need for a 
balance between work and life, he plans to come up with measures, 
including revenue sources, in order to create a system under which 
the entire spectrum of society would support families raising 
 
TOKYO 00000401  002 OF 008 
 
 
children. 
 
The council will be made up of Shiozaki as chair, relevant cabinet 
ministers, experts and representatives from the labor and management 
organizations. Under the council, four sub-committees will be set 
up: 1) basic strategy; 2) reform of the way people work; 3) 
revitalization of regional communities and families; and 4) 
examination and evaluation. The four panels will discuss specific 
solutions. 
 
The basic strategy sub-panel will look into measures for economic 
assistance, including revenue sources, such as income compensation 
during childcare maternity. The sub-panel on reform of way people 
work will propose creating work environment under which people can 
work while raising children. 
 
The sub-panel on revitalization of regional communities and families 
will look for measures for communities to support children in 
difficulty such as being children of single-parents. The sub-panel 
on examination and evaluation will reexamine and review the measures 
set out by the government and local municipalities. 
 
The new measures to counter the falling birthrate the government 
compiled last year included 40 countermeasures such as adding 
infants to the category of child allowances. There are no financial 
resources allocated, however. Child allowances for infants for new 
fiscal year will be covered by surpluses from the special funds for 
emergency employment measures as a makeshift effort. Some criticized 
the Abe government for failing to draw up a grand design for the 
society that should be aimed at. 
 
In order to a comprehensive strategy, which includes how labor law 
should be revised and how the way people work should be changed, the 
new council to be established will come up with measures that the 
whole government will be engaged in carrying out. The cabinet will 
adopt big-boned reform policy guidelines that will include measures 
to improve the environment for child rearing. 
 
Members of Strategic Council to be set up 
 
Cabinet ministers 
Chief cabinet secretary (chairman) 
Mister in charge of declining birthrate 
Minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy 
Internal affairs and communications minister 
Finance minister 
Education minister 
Health, labor and welfare minister 
Economy, trade and industry minister 
Land, infrastructure and transport minister 
 
Experts 
Hiroshi Yoshikawa, profess of graduate school at University of 
Tokyo, who will head sub-panel on basic strategy 
Yoshio Higuchi, professor at Keio University, who will head 
sub-panel on reform of ways people work 
Katsuyoshi Iwabuchi, professor at Tohoku Fukushi University, who 
will head sub-panel on revitalization of regional communities and 
families 
Hiroki Sato, professor at University of Tokyo, who will head 
sub-panel on examination and evaluation. 
 
Representatives from labor and management sectors 
 
TOKYO 00000401  003 OF 008 
 
 
Morio Ikeda, Japan Business Federation's Committee on Falling 
Birthrate 
Nobuaki Koga, chief of secretariat of Japan Trade Unions 
Confederation 
 
Representative of local communities 
Keiko Kiyohara, mayor of the city of Mitaka, Tokyo 
 
(2) Prime minister reprimands health minister for his inappropriate 
remarks referring to women as "child-bearing machines" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
Eve., January 29, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this morning gave a strong warning to 
Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, who in a recent speech had 
referred to women as "child-bearing machines or devices," telling 
him: "You must be careful enough not to make a similar inappropriate 
remark in the future." This was revealed by Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Yasuhisa Shiozaki during a press briefing earlier in the day. 
 
According to Shiozaki, Yanagisawa telephoned Abe and Shiozaki this 
morning and explained why he had made such remarks and apologized to 
them. 
 
At the press briefing, Shiozaki brushed aside the possibility of 
Yanagisawa being driven to step down from his post for his 
inappropriate remarks, saying to reporters: "I think his remarks 
were inappropriate, but he was quick to correct them. It is 
important for Mr. Yanagisawa to work as a key member of the Council 
on Strategic Approaches to Deal with the Falling Birthrate to 
produce results." 
 
Prior to that, Yanagisawa this morning stressed to reporters in 
Tokyo that he had already retracted his remarks, saying: "I'd like 
to explain my true intentions through Diet deliberations." 
 
On the other hand, like-minded female lawmakers of three opposition 
parties -- the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto or DPJ), the 
Japanese Communist Party, and the Social Democratic Party -- this 
morning decided to call on Yanagisawa to resign as health minister. 
Minshuto Diet Policy Committee Chairman Yoshiaki Takagi at a press 
conference indicated that he would harshly pursue him at the Lower 
House Budget Committee and other committees, by noting: "This person 
is also a member of the Abe cabinet. The remarks he made were 
disgraceful, indeed." 
 
(3) Government to conclude 80% of procurement contracts under 
competitive bidding system 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Full) 
January 27, 2007 
 
The government decided yesterday to shift about 60% of its 
non-competitive contracts (zuii-keiyaku) to be concluded by 
government agencies for purchasing goods or ordering public works 
projects to a competitive contract formula, such as the open 
competitive bidding system. Such contracts amount to approximately 
2.1 trillion yen. The transfer process will start this fiscal year 
and be completed within FY2007. Of all the contracts to be concluded 
by the government, about 80% will be concluded based on a 
competitive bidding formula. Reflecting on the recent series of 
bid-rigging cases at the initiative of government offices, it is 
 
TOKYO 00000401  004 OF 008 
 
 
imperative to reduce the government's procurement costs. In 
addition, it is also necessary to make the contents of contracts 
more transparent by thoroughly disclosing information on government 
contracts. 
 
With the aim of preventing complicated procedures, many government 
agencies have placed orders with the same entities year after year 
in renting copying machines or entrusting research to private firms, 
instead of using a competitive bidding formula. Many anticipate that 
the planned introduction of competitive bidding formulas would 
reduce government agencies' purchase costs by about 10%. 
 
The value of contracts based on non-competitive formulas in FY2005 
totaled approximately 3.4 trillion yen. The government has judged it 
possible to adopt competitive contracts for about 1.4 trillion yen 
worth of contracts with government-affiliated organizations and for 
about 700 billion yen worth of contracts with private firms. The 
remaining contracts worth of approximately 1.3 trillion yen are for 
defense equipment and other products whose supply sources are 
limited, so the current non-competitive contract system for such is 
likely to be continued. 
 
As for 7.3 trillion yen worth of contracts for goods procured by the 
government in FY2005, an estimated 6 trillion yen worth of contracts 
will be shifted to a competitive formula, with 3.4 trillion yen 
worth of those set for competitive bidding and about 500 billion yen 
worth of those set for non-competitive contracts. 
 
The government intends to put the contents of all contracts each 
government agency concluded on their websites. If government 
agencies opt for non-competitive contracts, they will have to list 
the reasons. 
 
(4) Sending civilian policemen to East Timor: MOF positive toward 
dispatch, while NPA remains negative; Took five months in deciding 
to dispatch two personnel 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 28, 2007 
 
Two civilian policemen to be dispatched to the United Nations 
Integrated Mission in Timor (UNMIT), which is in charge of 
maintaining security in East Timor, will leave Japan on Jan. 31. 
However, there is a gap in the views of government officials on the 
matter with the Foreign Ministry (MOF) hoping to accumulating track 
record of the dispatch of personnel to UN peace-keeping operations 
(PKO) with the aim of gaining a permanent seat at the UN Security 
Council (UNSC), and the National Police Agency (NPA) cautious about 
dispatching its personnel with its personnel dispatched to Cambodia 
in the past killed. Prospects for the dispatch of civilian policemen 
abroad after a hiatus of eight years contributing to expanded 
personnel contribution are not favorable. 
 
This will be the third dispatch of NPA personnel, following the 
dispatch of one personnel to Cambodia from 1992 through 1993 and two 
personnel to East Timor in 1999. In Cambodia, an Okayama Police 
superintendent was killed by an armed force. Three policemen were 
dispatched to East Timor to assist its direct local referendum. 
However, security there sharply deteriorated soon after the 
referendum. There has been no dispatch of policemen for eight years 
since then. 
 
A senior NPA official said, "People might say that we have Cambodian 
 
TOKYO 00000401  005 OF 008 
 
 
trauma, but if personnel dispatched to abroad get killed, the 
administration will be overturned." 
 
It took about five months for the NPA to decide to send its 
personnel this time since the UNSC adopted a resolution to set up 
the UNMIT last August. Some criticized the NPA's decision to 
dispatch only two personnel with former UN Undersecretary General 
Yasushi Akashi saying, "The NPA is far too cautious. Japan's policy 
of attaching importance to the UN is not backed by action." 
 
NPA Director General Iwao Uruma said, "It is difficult to dispatch a 
large number of policemen because there is no system of law allowing 
the NPA to get involved in the dispatch, such as it can directly 
train personnel to be dispatched." If that is the case, it will be 
through the dispatch of Self-Defense personnel for Japan to 
accumulate a track record of dispatching personnel to carry out 
PKO." 
 
(5) Weak yen increasingly drawing international criticism: Likely to 
become focus of G-7; BOJ might use criticism as excuse for raising 
interest rate 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full) 
January 27, 2007 
 
Criticism of the weak yen is increasingly becoming strong, mainly in 
Europe. Behind the trend is a sense of alarm that the 
weak-yen-and-strong-euro trend could put a dent in European 
countries' international competitiveness. Many have cited Japan's 
ultra-low interest rate as a cause of the weak-yen trend. The 
National Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December, released by the 
Internal Affairs Ministry on Jan. 26, rose 0.1% on a year-on-year 
basis. The rate of the increase fell by 0.2% from the previous month 
with prospects for an interest hike becoming further dim. There has 
now appeared a possibility of the weak yen and the ultra-low 
interest rate, which is viewed as the cause the weak yen, being made 
the target of criticism at a meeting of finance ministers and 
central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations (G-7) to take 
place in Germany from Feb. 9 through 10. 
 
The yen's downward trend at the Tokyo foreign exchange market has 
kicked in with the Bank of Japan (BOJ) giving up the idea of hiking 
the interest rate on Jan. 18. On Jan. 26, the value of the yen fell 
to the middle of 121 to the dollar and the lower half of 157 to the 
euro. 
 
Following the recent weakening-yen trend, one senior German official 
on Jan. 24 checked Japan, " The weak yen issue might be brought up 
at the upcoming G-7 meeting." Finance Vice Minister for 
International Financial Affairs Hiroshi Watanabe on the evening of 
Jan. 25 counter-argued, "It is not our understanding that the G-7 
will take up concern about the weak yen." However, the observation 
is widespread among market players that some discussions on the 
possibility of correcting the weak yen trend might be pursued at the 
G-7. The market has started showing a sensitive movement, such as 
violent fluctuations of the yen exchange in response to statements 
by key officials. 
 
On the other hand, there is an aspect of the sudden weakening of the 
yen working as a positive factor for the BOJ, which wants to raise 
the interest rate in February. 
 
The greatest factor that would allow the BOJ to raise interest rates 
 
TOKYO 00000401  006 OF 008 
 
 
would be an increase in consumer prices. However, the rate of an 
increase in the CPI for December remained at 0.1%, which is lower 
than the November rate. The temporary lull in the rise of crude oil 
prices and a fall in the prices of digital consumer electronics as a 
whole are viewed as major causes of the sluggish increase in 
consumer prices. Personal consumption as a whole lacks vigor. The 
prevailing view on the market is that given the price and 
consumption movements, it would be difficult for the BOJ to insist 
on the legitimacy of an interest rate hike. 
 
Amid the BOJ unable to find data to justify an interest rate hike 
with the CPI staying flat contrary to its wishes, it has begin 
showing a move to check the government and the ruling parties, which 
are cautious about the idea of hiking the interest rate, taking the 
advantage of international criticism of the lowering yen. Vice BOJ 
Governor Toshiro Muto on the 25th called on a certain senior LDP 
official and asked for understanding toward the rising criticism of 
the weak yen. Some take this visit as a strategic move toward an 
early hike in the interest rate. 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki during a press conference on the 
26th noted, "It is only natural for the BOJ to determine its 
financial policy with the yen exchange in mind." He thus indicated a 
certain level of understanding toward the BOJ, which has begun 
stressing the causes of the weak yen. 
 
The movements of the yen exchange will determine the fate of the 
upcoming G-7 meeting. It also will likely have impact on the BOJ, 
which has started making efforts to persuade the government and the 
ruling parties for an early interest rate hike. 
 
(6) Facts about SDF mission in Iraq (Section 1); Thinking of SDF as 
Japan's new garrison-SDF in transformation (Part 7): Limits to 
GSDF's own resources-Private contractors needed for GSDF's overseas 
activities 
 
TOKYO (Page 1) (Full) 
January 16, 2007 
 
A uniformed member of the Ground Self-Defense Force was standing 
still in a daze. He was wearing a wheel badge for the GSDF's 
transport service. 
 
On Feb. 4, 2005, that GSDF member was waiting for a civilian plane 
at the Air Self-Defense Force's Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa 
Prefecture. The civilian plane, chartered by the GSDF, was to be 
bound for Kuwait with weaponry and ammunition onboard for GSDF 
troops to be dispatched to Iraq in rotation. However, the charter 
plane, which was to have arrived there on the previous day, did not 
show up. 
 
The GSDF's 5th Iraq Reconstruction Assistance Group-mainly composed 
of GSDF troops based at a GSDF garrison in the city of Nagoya-was to 
fly its component troops from the ASDF's Komaki Air Base in the city 
of Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, and was to airlift its supplies from 
Kansai International Airport. 
 
Shortly before the departure date, the airport refused the GSDF's 
charter flight. A South African civilian charter plane was to 
airlift weaponry and materiel supplies from Komatsu Air Base. 
However, the charter plane did not come in the end. 
 
On Feb. 18 that year, those weapons and ammo supplies were loaded 
 
TOKYO 00000401  007 OF 008 
 
 
onto another charter plane at Nagoya Airport, which is under the 
Aichi prefectural government's management. It was the Antonov, a 
superheavy-lift cargo carrier of Russian make. The GSDF's airlift 
plan was 15 days behind schedule. 
 
"At that time, my stomach was aching," said Col. Yuichi Kajiya, 44, 
who headed a transport squad in the GSDF Ground Staff Office. The 
squad, which was in charge of airlifts from Japan to Iraq, forwarded 
200 vehicles and 400 containers, or a total of 450,000 items. 
 
GSDF troops were flown mainly on civilian charter planes. "We put 
everything out to tender," Col. Kajiya said. According to him, 
travel agents and shipping companies bid for contracts with their 
respective proposals of rates for transportation in Japan, bus 
transportation after their arrival in Kuwait, and charter planes. No 
Japanese agents participated in overland shipping from Kuwait to 
Iraq. Col. Kajiya therefore looked for a local company and 
contracted that company. 
 
The Antonov was the only plane that could airlift a huge amount of 
cargo for GSDF troops at a time. Only two airliners had that plane. 
One was in the possession of a British company, and the other in 
Ukraine. Charter rates shot up with the worldwide release date of 
Beaujolais Nouveau approaching. 
 
Commercial transportation was not as stable as the ASDF's. In 
addition, the GSDF contracted a trading company to build its 
temporary camp in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. However, its 
work of setting up the camp there fell substantially behind 
schedule, and its prefabricated housing completed there was bent. 
"We thought it was a business chance." So saying, an executive of 
the trading company explained that the company gave first 
consideration to profitability as the primary reason for its 
contract. 
 
Even so, one of the lessons the GSDF has learned from its Iraq 
mission was to better use private contractors. 
 
GSDF Maj. Gen. Goro Matsumura, 48, who is in charge of troop 
mobilization as director of the 2nd Operations Division in the Joint 
Staff Office (JSO) of the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense 
Forces, explained: "Wars after the Cold War can be divided into 
combat areas and comparatively safe areas where civilians can get in 
like in Iraq. Foreign countries have been cutting back on their 
military spending, so their armed forces have now found it difficult 
to be self-contained." 
 
US forces are positive about utilizing private contractors. For 
instance, the US military has been hiring a Kuwaiti company for 
overland shipping to Baghdad. This company, well paid in its 
contract with the US military, replaced its trucks with new ones 
that are less troubled than old ones. The GSDF also contracted the 
same company, and its overland transportation became stable. 
 
In June 2006, when the GSDF began preparing its pullout from Iraq, 
one of its light armored vehicles overturned in a southern locality 
of Iraq. Three GSDF members were injured in that accident, and they 
were taken to a US military hospital in Germany. 
 
The JSO considered airlifting the three to Japan on an ASDF C-130 
transport. However, the C-130 would take four days because it is a 
propeller plane. According to Maj. Gen. Matsumura, the GSDF found a 
Japanese agent for medical airlift services using jet aircraft. "We 
 
TOKYO 00000401  008 OF 008 
 
 
didn't use it," he said. "But," he added, "the private sector's 
systems are more advanced than ours." According to Col. Kajiya, the 
GSDF's transportation staff is less than 100. "We have limits to 
what we can do, so we cannot do everything ourselves, and we need 
help from outside" Col. Kajiya said. 
 
The GSDF will now need to work together with its civilian 
contractors in its overseas activities. 
 
(This is the last of a seven-part series written by Shigeru Handa, 
Local News Section, Tokyo Shimbun.) 
 
(7) Commentary: Bush's Iraq war 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
January 29, 2007 
 
"Human beings are quite opportunists, and whenever they want to do 
something, they find excuses or reasons for such acts." This is one 
paragraph in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, an American 
politician who edited the Declaration of Independence. It would be 
better to add the words "especially politicians" to the paragraph. 
 
In the United States, President Bush and the Congress have clashed 
head-on over the president's plan to deploy more troops in Iraq. In 
Iraq, the war has cost many lives of American troops and Iraqis. It 
is apparent that the preventive war waged by President Bush to fight 
terrorism is the main cause for the current stalemated security 
situation there. 
 
This kind of notion (preventive war) had not existed before the Iraq 
war was launched. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., an expert on American 
history, in his book Presidents at War argues that although the US 
was about to opt for "a revolutionary change," there was no 
nationwide debate. 
 
Preventive war is intended to cope with a potential future threat, 
so thoroughly analyzing intelligence is absolutely necessary. As 
seen from the outcome of the Iraq war, however, it is impossible for 
a nation to perfectly analyze intelligence before it goes to war. 
 
Will the Iraq war be the last preventive war? Behind the president's 
plan to send more troops to Iraq seems to be his desire that the 
Iraq war be seen by history as a successful one. This is an attempt 
to justify preemptive war, and Iraq may not be the last one. 
 
The US government has protested Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma's 
remarks last week criticizing President Bush's decision to launch 
the war in Iraq. The Japanese government, concerned about a lack of 
unity in the cabinet over the US Iraq policy, is stepping up efforts 
to put the matter to the rest. But the government should also 
discuss what response it should take to war. If Japan remains 
silent, it will be disqualified from offering its opinion on 
America's preventive wars. 
 
DONOVAN