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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 001360 
 
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 03/28/07 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Kono describes calls for a review of Kono Statement as 
"intellectually dishonest" in interview by Asian Women's Fund last 
November 
 
(2) Wartime comfort women issue: New Komeito Secretary General 
Kitagawa raps statement by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura 
 
(3) Editorial: Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura's remark 
undermines prime minister's apology 
 
(4) Abe cabinet as a group casting doubts on coercive recruitments 
of comfort women 
 
(5) "Comfort women" issue 
 
(6) Facts about SDF mission in Iraq (Section 2); Thinking of SDF as 
Japan's new garrison-SDF in transformation (Part 1): Random steep 
approach frequented to dodge missiles; "This is not a drill. It's 
actual warfare." 
 
(7) LDP plays baseball game with US Embassy leisurely on the day 
after Noto Peninsula quake 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Kono describes calls for a review of Kono Statement as 
"intellectually dishonest" in interview by Asian Women's Fund last 
November 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Full) 
Evening, March 27, 2007 
 
It has been learned that Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono, in an 
interview last November to the Asian Women's Fund (AWF, chaired by 
former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama), said, "it is 
Intellectually dishonest to discuss the wartime comfort women issue 
as if to deny the very existence of such women," just because 
documents showing the government's involvement in recruiting comfort 
women have not been discovered. 
 
In 1993, when he was serving as chief cabinet secretary, Kono 
released a statement expressing an "apologies and remorse" to the 
comfort women. In the interview, Kono severely criticized calls from 
various circles for a review of his statement. Kono's words will 
appear in the book, "Oral History: Asian Women's Fund," to be 
released shortly by the AWF. The organization was established 
following the Kono Statement with the aim of extending monetary 
compensation to the former comfort women. 
 
The Kono Statement noted, "Military authorities directly or 
indirectly took part (n the recruitment of comfort women)." 
Referring to this part, Kono stated clearly in the interview: "No 
matter what anyone might say, there was no question about that." 
Citing the results of the government's interviews with 16 former 
comfort women, Kono said, "They offered explanation after 
explanation on the situation known only to those who had experienced 
such tremendous hardships." 
 
He also said: 
 
"It is assumed that the Imperial Japanese Army disposed of the 
 
TOKYO 00001360  002 OF 010 
 
 
documents related to the recruitment of comfort women. I have no 
intention of avoiding responsibility (for the statement) or revoking 
the statement." 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's remarks were reported overseas earlier 
this month in connection with calls for revising the Kono Statement. 
As a result, Kono has been swamped with requests for interviews from 
the Western media. Kono, in an effort to quell the situation, has 
simply said, "I issued the statement with conviction." 
 
(2) Wartime comfort women issue: New Komeito Secretary General 
Kitagawa raps statement by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Full) 
Evening, March 28, 2007 
 
Speaking of the wartime comfort-women issue, Deputy Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Hakubun Shimomura recently stated during a press 
 
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conference, "My recognition of the issue is that there was no direct 
involvement by the former Japanese military." New Komeito Secretary 
General Kazuo Kitagawa during a press conference this morning 
criticized this statement: "The deputy chief cabinet secretary is 
not in a position to state his view on this matter. His role is to 
protect Prime Minister Abe. I would like him to be cautious about 
making a personal statement." 
 
He thus expressed strong displeasure with Shimomura, who expressed 
his own view while Prime Minister Abe has been reiterating his 
intention to abide by the stance taken by then Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Kono in his 1993 statement on the comfort women. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Shimomura during a press conference on Mar. 26 took a stance of 
denying the involvement of the former Japanese Imperial Army. He 
later explained to reporters: "My personal view is that since (no 
public documents) have been found, there was no coercive recruitment 
by the military or constituted authorities." 
 
(3) Editorial: Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura's remark 
undermines prime minister's apology 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
March 28, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Abe's remark about the so-called wartime comfort 
women set off a commotion that has yet to calm down. Sine his remark 
early this month, "Evidence does not exist to prove there was 
coercion," was roundly criticized at home and abroad, the prime 
minister has sealed his lips when it comes to referring to coercion, 
while repeatedly expressing his "apologies" to the former comfort 
women. 
 
Probably keeping in mind his upcoming first trip tot he Washington 
in late April, the prime minister is trying to quiet down the clamor 
by reiterating the stance of upholding the 1993 Kono Statement. 
 
However, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Shimomura has made 
remarks that could throw cold water on such efforts by the prime 
minister. In a radio program and at a press conference, he clearly 
denied any involvement by the Imperial Japanese Army. 
 
Shimomura flatly rejected the contents of the Kono Statement, which 
recognized the Imperial Japanese Army's involvement in the comfort 
women issue and offered an apology: 
 
TOKYO 00001360  003 OF 010 
 
 
 
"In Japan, there was an age in which (young women) were sold into 
prostitution. Like that, I think there were cases in which parents 
sold their daughters. The Imperial Japanese Army was not involved. 
 
"I myself perceive that there was no military involvement. Cabinet 
Office's Foreign Affairs Deliberation Office Head Hiroshi 
Hirabayashi said in a Diet reply in 1997 that evidence did not exist 
to prove the military's direct or indirect involvement." 
 
The deputy chief cabinet secretary is the No. 3 post in the Prime 
Minister's Office (Kantei). Statements by the person in this post 
naturally might be taken as representing the prime minister's views. 
In this light, Shimomura's remarks have undermined the prime 
minister's apologies. 
 
It is hard to understand why Shimomura brought about the Hirabayashi 
statement as the basis to deny the military's involvement. 
 
The Hirabayashi reply, when the Kono Statement was released, just 
recognized that no government document was found to prove the 
military's involvement in recruiting comfort women. It is not 
correct to think that the reply said, "The military was not involved 
in the issue." 
 
As acknowledged in the Kono Statement, it is apparent that the 
military was involved in the establishment and management of wartime 
brothels and the transportation of comfort women, forcing such women 
to "live in misery under a coercive atmosphere." 
 
No matter how picky the argument about whether there was coercive 
recruitment or not, nothing changes the historical fact itself. The 
prime minister, based on this view, has offered his apologies. The 
media in Asia, the US, and Europe all initially reacted to the prime 
minister's earlier remarks with dismay and outrage. Recently, the 
influential US daily Washington Post carried an editorial titled, 
"Shinzo Abe's double talk." The article denounced the prime minister 
for trying to turn a blind eye to war crimes committed by Japan, 
while eagerly tackling the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by 
North Korea. 
 
Prime Minister Abe refuted the editorial, claiming, "The abduction 
issue involves ongoing human-rights abuses, but the comfort women 
issue is not going on now." The prime minister missed the basic 
point about the issue. 
 
The prime minister is now being questioned on how eagerly he as the 
person representing Japan can address the historical fact that Japan 
deeply hurt the dignity and human rights of women. This is not a 
matter of the past. 
 
The prime minister should have expressed his views on the wartime 
comfort women issue in a more polite manner. 
 
(4) Abe cabinet as a group casting doubts on coercive recruitments 
of comfort women 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Slightly abridged) 
Eve., March 27, 2007 
 
Toru Hayano 
 
"I read it in a certain newspaper article the year my daughter went 
 
TOKYO 00001360  004 OF 010 
 
 
on to junior high school that that particular textbook would be used 
at that school," said Shoichi Nakagawa (53), currently chair of the 
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Policy Research Council. 
Sparked by this discovery, Nakagawa moved to establish the 
"Parliamentary League of Junior Lawmakers to Consider Japan's Future 
and History Education in February 1997 (TN: the words "Junior 
Lawmakers" were later deleted to read the Parliamentary League to 
Consider Japan's Future and History Education). Nakagawa found out 
that starting that April, junior high school textbooks (at his 
daughter's school) would begin carrying descriptions about "wartime 
comfort women." 
 
"I respect historical facts as facts. But I have doubts about simply 
putting descriptions about comfort women in textbooks, regarding 
which opinions are split," Nakagawa said. 
 
The secretary general of the Parliamentary League of Junior 
Lawmakers was Seiichi Eto (59), and the chief of the secretariat of 
the group was Shinzo Abe. Nakagawa was the chief representative of 
the group. He says he "shares basic political views with Eto and Abe 
about the Constitution and national security." The group invited as 
lecturers a number of scholars, government officials, textbook 
publishers and others to a total of 10 rounds of meetings, including 
question-answer sessions, that lasted until June (that year). 
 
There are only a few Japanese now who deny that the women working at 
"comfort stations" had horrible experiences. But were women forcibly 
rounded up by the Japanese military from Japan's colonies at the 
time, such as the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan? The group took issue 
with this point. 
 
Questions and answers were put together into a book, Rekishi 
Kyoukasho e-no Gimon (Questions about history textbooks) published 
by Tentensha. The book carries these comments by Abe: "Why wasn't 
there anyone who said that she was kidnapped like Megumi Yokota (a 
Japanese girl abducted to North Korea)?" and "There were so-called 
kaesong houses in South Korea, so such a thing (kidnapping) was a 
daily event." 
 
Does he mean that women went to the battlefields upon their own 
will? Abe, Nakagawa, and Eto all shared the perception that there 
was no evidence the Japanese military "broke into houses and rounded 
up" women. 
 
In January, a "comfort women resolution" calling on Japan to 
apologize to former comfort women was introduced in the US House of 
Representatives. In reaction to the resolution, Abe asserted: "There 
was no evidence to prove the existence of coercion as initially 
defined." Abe appeared to be representing the feelings of the 
"Parliamentary League of Junior Lawmakers" since he was a member. 
 
Shoji Motooka (76) was the lawmaker who first took issue with the 
"wartime comfort women issue" in the Diet in June 1990, when he 
served as a House of Councilors member of then Japan Socialist 
Party. Motooka was a former school teacher, who was sensitive to 
such issues as discrimination against Burakumin (descendants of 
outcaste groups of old) and Koreans. Motooka said: "The 
director-general of the Labor Ministry's Employment Security Bureau 
at the time took the floor to answer my question in the Diet and 
said that the actual state was unknown because private-sector 
brokers moved along with the military (bringing in women). That 
meant that the government was not responsible for the issue." 
 
 
TOKYO 00001360  005 OF 010 
 
 
In August 1991, however, a South Korean woman, Kim Hak Sun, 
identified herself as a comfort women. In January 1992, Chuo 
University Prof. Yoshiaki Yoshimi (62) discovered official 
documentation indicating that the former Imperial Japanese Army gave 
orders for wartime comfort facilities to be established. This 
discovery made it difficult for the government to ignore the issue. 
Asked by South Korea to conduct a fact-finding investigation, Japan 
issued a government statement signed by then Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Yohei Kono (Kono Statement) in August 1993. 
 
The statement includes such phrases as: "In many cases they were 
recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, and ... 
at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in 
the recruitments;" "to extend its sincere apologies and remorse to 
all those ... who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical 
and psychological wounds"; and "never to repeat the same mistake by 
forever engraving in our memories through the study and teaching of 
history." 
 
The statement confirmed the "military's involvement," even though it 
did not conclude that there was "coercion." During the period when 
the cabinet as led by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama (83), then 
chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Kozo Igarashi (81) established the "Asian Women's Fund," a fund 
based on public donations, that offered 2 million yen each as 
compensation money to former comfort women. 
 
Was this fund set up to allow the government to avoid its 
responsibility to pay compensation? This question came to Motooka's 
mind. At the time, he was a member of the Democratic Party of Japan 
(Minshuto). He then drafted a bill promoting the resolution of the 
issue of wartime victims of coerced sexual servitude. The bill was 
aimed at seeking compensation from the state. The bill is commonly 
called the "Motooka bill." Motooka remains passionate on the bill 
even now, though he has already retired from politics. "If a change 
of government occurs, this bill will be the first to be brought to 
fruition." 
 
Take a look at the "Parliamentary League of Junior Lawmakers." The 
names found on the roster are key members of the current Abe 
administration. The deputy representative of the league was 
currently Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka (62), the deputy 
chief of the secretariat working under Abe of the league was 
currently Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura. The 
deputy secretary general of the league was Sanae Takaichi (46). The 
league's committee members, Jinen Nagase (63), Yoshihide Suga (58), 
and Yoshimi Watanabe (55) are now in cabinet posts. Takumi Nemoto 
(56) is currently in the post of special advisor to the prime 
minister. Yasuhisa Shiozaki (56), who was listed as an observer, now 
serves as chief cabinet secretary. The name of Genichiro Sata (54), 
who resigned from the cabinet post over the political fund scandal, 
was also included in the roster. 
 
The Abe cabinet is viewed as a cabinet consisting of members of the 
"Parliamentary League of Junior Lawmakers." 
 
(5) "Comfort women" issue 
 
From the website of Nariaki Nakayama 
Posted March 8, 2007 
 
By Nariaki Nakayama, chair of the Liberal Democratic Party's 
Parliamentary League to Consider Japan's Future and History 
 
TOKYO 00001360  006 OF 010 
 
 
Education 
 
We in the Parliamentary League to Consider Japan's Future and 
Historical Education have established a subcommittee on the 
comfort-women issue, and since last December we have conducted an 
investigation and verification, based on documentation provided by 
experts, historical researchers and others, and taking into 
consideration the results of our interviews. 
 
We think we should always treat historical facts with sincerity and 
humbleness. We also think we need to assert our views and rebut in a 
clear and proper manner those criticisms that are not based on facts 
or lack evidence. 
 
In accordance with these principles, the members of the 
Parliamentary League to Consider Japan's Future and Historical 
Education propose the following to the government: 
 
(1) The resolution now being debated in the US House of 
Representatives is simply a unilateral view that is not based on 
objective historical facts, with such claims as: "The Imperial 
Japanese Army's coercion of young women into sexual slavery," 
"unprecedented (in its cruelty and magnitude), including gang rape, 
forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence," and "the 
largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century." The 
resolution calls on the government of Japan to apologize. For the 
honor of Japan, the government should continue diplomatic efforts to 
block the resolution, while urging domestic and foreign audiences, 
including the US House of Representatives, to have a correct 
understanding about the comfort women issue. 
 
(2) The mistaken perception on the "comfort women" issue, as found 
in the House resolution, stems from a statement released in 1993 by 
then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono (Kono Statement). At the time (of 
the war), a licensed prostitution system was in place, and we are 
aware that there were some among the comfort women who had been 
placed in that unfortunate situation. We cannot hold back our 
sympathy for them and we express our regret. According to our 
survey, there were cases of private brokers' forcing women to work 
in brothels against their will, but there was no fact that supported 
the charge that the military or the government coerced women into 
sexual servitude, except for the case of the Semarang incident on 
Java Island. Regarding this case, the persons involved were all 
punished immediately. This fact should be taken as evidence to show 
that the military did not coerce women into sexual servitude. In 
order to fully resolve the comfort-women issue, we ask the 
government to again conduct a fact-finding survey and fully disclose 
the results of the documents and matters. 
 
March 8, 2007 
 
All the member lawmakers of the Parliamentary League to Consider 
Japan's Future and Historical Education 
 
Likeminded lawmakers of the LDP, out of concern for the fact that 
the expressions "wartime comfort women" and "recruitment of women by 
force" are constantly used in Japan's history textbooks for junior 
and senior high school students, launched a Parliamentary League to 
Consider Japan's Future and History Education in 1997. We have since 
then worked to seek to eliminate those expressions going against 
historical facts. As a result, those expressions have now 
disappeared in most history textbooks, so we have been relieved 
(though they are still left in a portion of textbooks for senior 
 
TOKYO 00001360  007 OF 010 
 
 
high school students up for the next round of textbook screening by 
the Education Ministry). 
 
Upon learning that a resolution condemning Japan over the wartime 
comfort women issue was submitted to the US House of Representatives 
and that the resolution calls on the prime minister of Japan to 
apologize for comfort women, our group has resumed its activities. 
 
Similar resolutions were submitted to the House in the past but 
fortunately, as of last year, none were ever adopted. This year as 
well saw a similar resolution submitted to the House. A hearing on 
the resolution was held on February 15, and three women claiming to 
be former comfort women testified in the hearing. 
 
Congressman Mike Honda, the proponent of the resolution, has stated 
clearly that the resolution stems from a government statement issued 
in 1993 by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono (Kono Statement). But 
when we examined the Kono Statement in 1997, then Deputy Chief 
Cabinet Secretary Nobuo Ishihara, a responsible official at the time 
for the investigation of the comfort women issue, which had become 
the basis for the Kono Statement, told us: "No documents showing 
coerced recruitment of women by government authorities were found." 
Why was the Kono Statement, which gave the impression that Japan 
acknowledged the government authorities' coerced recruitment of 
women, released? At that time, then Prime Minister Miyazawa was 
planning to visit South Korea, and ahead of his visit to South 
Korea, officials in Seoul told Japanese officials that "if the term 
'coerced recruitment' were inserted in a government statement, South 
Korea would not bring up the comfort-women issue in the future." The 
Kono Statement was the result of a political compromise to calm down 
the public in South Korea. But it is well known that South Korea has 
constantly referred to the comfort-women issue even after that. 
Japan is now paying the price for its stop-gap diplomacy. 
 
Even our new investigation did not find any documentation showing 
forced recruitment by either the military or the police. An Imperial 
Army order issued in 1938 went: "Crack down on crooked brokers who 
are using the military's name to recruit comfort women." This fact 
is a clear evidence to prove that the military was not involved in 
the recruitment. 
 
In discussing the comfort-women issue, we need to take into account 
the historical background. On that occasion, we must have a good 
grip of the following points: 
 
(1) At the time, a licensed prostitution system was in place, with 
prostitution a business activity. Brokers, who were called zegen 
(meaning procurers), bought daughters from their parents and 
forcibly rounded up women. It is a fact that there were many women 
living in such an unfortunate situation. 
 
(2) The issue tends to focus on Korean comfort women, but most 
comfort women came from mainland Japan. Some comfort women came from 
the Korean Peninsula, which was Japan's territory at the time, and 
from other areas under Japan's occupation. 
 
(3) The US Armed Forces' intelligence unit investigated Korean 
comfort women on Java Island just days before the end of WWII. 
According to this investigation, the monthly earnings of (one 
comfort woman) were 1,500 yen, which was divided equally between the 
brothel owner and the comfort woman; as a result, each received 750 
yen. Given that the average monthly pay for Japanese soldiers was 
7.5 yen with 30 yen for the sergeant, the comfort-women business was 
 
TOKYO 00001360  008 OF 010 
 
 
very profitable, accounting for why those women would go to the very 
dangerous war zone. 
 
It is often the case among Japanese not to be straightforward with 
each other, out of consideration for the other side. But in the 
international community, remaining silent is taken to mean 
acknowledgment. We should rebut groundless criticism with 
resolution. 
 
Such is necessary in order to protect the dignity of the Japanese 
and the honor of many soldiers and civilians killed in the war. That 
is our responsibility, because we are indebted to them for the 
peaceful lives we now lead on the Japanese archipelago. 
 
March 10, 2007 
 
(6) Facts about SDF mission in Iraq (Section 2); Thinking of SDF as 
Japan's new garrison-SDF in transformation (Part 1): Random steep 
approach frequented to dodge missiles; "This is not a drill. It's 
actual warfare." 
 
TOKYO (Top play) (Full) 
March 25, 2007 
 
In November last year, an Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport 
plane was flying over the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad and nosed 
down to land at Camp Sather, a US military base. 
 
Suddenly, beep sounds reverberated in the C-130's cockpit. At the 
same time, dummy flares were automatically fired out of the C-130 
with heavy sounds. 
 
"Right turn!" The C-130, banking its wings, turned rapidly to the 
right and then to the left. The ASDF plane went on with its random 
steep approach in flapping motions until the beep sound stopped. 
 
The alarm is set off when a missile approach is sensed. Missiles 
floating around in Iraq are Soviet-made "SA-7" ground-to-air 
portable missiles. The SA-7 flies toward an aircraft's engine or the 
source of heat and bursts near its fuselage. 
 
The alarm is set on both sides of the pilot's seat. The C-130 turns 
to the right when the right alarm beeps and turns to the left when 
the left alarm beeps. The C-130 risks facing a missile, so any C-130 
pilots "take courage" to do so. Flares alone are not enough for them 
to escape. 
 
The ASDF's C-130 crewmembers who have flown to Baghdad think so. One 
of them said: "This is not a drill. It's an actual war." 
 
Japan currently stations about 200 ASDF troops at Ali Al Salem Air 
Base in Kuwait under the Iraq Special Measures Law. Based on the 
Japanese government's decision, the Kuwait-based ASDF detachment 
began its Iraq-bound flights on July 31 last year. What the ASDF's 
C-130s needed there was evasive action to dodge missiles. They did 
not have to do so when they airlifted Ground Self-Defense Force 
troops in their shuttle flights to and from Ali (formerly Taril) in 
Iraq's southern province. 
 
Surprisingly, the ASDF C-130s were "frequently" alarmed to get away 
from missiles, according to an ASDF staff officer for flight 
operations. In November last year, the alarm beeped frequently over 
one and the same area. 
 
TOKYO 00001360  009 OF 010 
 
 
 
Are the ASDF planes targeted? "They have never been shot," says GSDF 
Maj. Gen. Goro Matsumura, 48, director of the 2nd Operations 
Division at the Joint Staff Office. 
 
Was it a mechanical error? 
 
"I don't know," said ASDF Col. Hisaichiro Tanaka, 50, who commanded 
the ASDF's 10th Air Transport Squadron and returned home in December 
last year. "That's my accurate answer," Tanaka added. "ASDF 
crewmembers on board the C-130s watch out of the windows, but none 
of them have seen homing missiles," he said. 
 
If it was ascribable to an error, the question is why the alarm does 
not sound over Ali or Arbil. A missile attack cannot be ruled out, 
so the C-130s cannot but take such evasive action every time the 
alarm beeps. 
 
In September last year, an ASDF top brass officer called on Shinzo 
Abe, 52, the then chief cabinet secretary, at the prime minister's 
office to report ASDF activities in Iraq. 
 
ASDF officer: "They report to the multinational force that there are 
about 30 attacks on aircraft every month." 
 
Abe: "It's dangerous." 
 
ASDF officer: "That's why the SDF is there." 
 
Abe: "If they're shot, I guess that would kick up a row." 
 
ASDF officer: "I'm afraid that some people would ask why we are 
there in such a dangerous country." 
 
The SDF has been working in Iraq. Its activities there are based on 
the government's decision. If politicians play dumb, that's the same 
as pretending to help someone and pulling the ladder away from under 
him. Abe's answer to the ASDF officer's concern was: "Oh, you don't 
have to worry. We know Iraq is not safe, and that's what Prime 
Minister Koizumi (at the time) also stated in his Diet reply." 
 
Indeed, the then prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, stated in the 
Diet, "We're not in a situation where we can say we will not make 
any personnel contributions and we have only to give money." Abe 
meant to say the prime minister is the one who gave the go-ahead to 
the SDF's "dangerous" mission. 
 
Public interest in the SDF's Iraq deployment has rapidly waned off 
since the GSDF's pullout. The Defense Ministry has not disclosed 
anything in detail about the ASDF's airlift activities that are 
still going on in Iraq. The government, showing no point of 
contention, will extend the Iraq Special Measures Law, which is to 
expire in July. In this second section of a series, the Tokyo 
Shimbun will close in on the ASDF's activities unknown to the 
public. 
 
(This series is written by Shigeru Handa, Local News Section.) 
 
(7) LDP plays baseball game with US Embassy leisurely on the day 
after Noto Peninsula quake 
 
Express 
March 28, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00001360  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
On the night of March 26, 25 members of the Hachisan Kai, a group of 
freshman lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party, played a 
baseball game with a US Embassy team at Tokyo Dome. The game 
reportedly was intended to promote friendly relations between Japan 
and the US, as well as to promote a charity cause. The game, though, 
took place on the day after the major earthquake on the Noto 
Peninsula, when aftershocks were continuing. Some persons were 
overheard saying, "There should have been many things for the 
lawmakers to do on a priority basis, such as on-the-spot visits and 
reconstruction aid." 
 
Writer Chiaki Aso lamented the situation: 
 
"There was a strong earthquake registering 6, with the aftershocks 
still continuing. There was indisputably a state of emergency. I 
wonder it was proper (for lawmakers) to play a baseball game 
leisurely at such a time. They might be taking the earthquake as one 
that occurred in a depopulated, remote area. The thinking of 
politicians is out of line with that of ordinary people." 
 
The game was intended to promote friendly relations between Japan 
and the US and for charity's sake. The match was held between the US 
Embassy team and the team of members of baseball classes intended 
for elementary and junior high school students with former 
professional baseball players as teachers and of members of the LDP 
"Liberty 83" team. The rental fee for the Tokyo Dome was about one 
million yen. The costs were split between the Japanese team and the 
embassy team. The full amount of donations collected from audiences 
will go to the Ashinaga Scholarship Association. 
 
Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa threw the ceremonial first pitch, 
 
SIPDIS 
as he did at the game last year. House of Representatives member 
Tadami Nagashima, former Yamakoshi Village head, also enjoyed 
watching the game. Yamakoshi Village also suffered serious damage 
from the Chuetsu Earthquake in Niigata Prefecture in 2004. 
 
The US team took the lead in the initial stages, with Manager Hilman 
of Nippon Ham Fighters pitching well. With a performance by a 
glamourous cheerleader prepared by the US side before the start of 
the third inning, excitement in the stadium rose to a fever pitch. 
Although the Japanese team played hard until the final moments and 
pressed the American team hard, Japan was defeated 5-6. 
 
All the participants looked satisfied, but some took the view that 
"it certainly was unwise to play at this time." Lower House member 
Yoshitami Kameoka, player and manager, collected contributions for 
the relief of earthquake sufferers. He also disclosed that he 
cancelled a gathering planned after the game. 
 
Even so, Harumi Arima, a political commentator, had this bitter 
advice: "It is true that the game was already planned and could not 
be cancelled. But there should be other things that should have been 
done, such as a visit to the disaster-stricken area." 
 
Meanwhile, Lower House member Masatada Tsuchiya, representative and 
owner of the Japanese team, commented: "Though it is not a matter of 
whether people died, if more damage had occurred, like the case of 
the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake, we would have cancelled the game. We 
came here after doing what we had to do. It is not proper to 
constrain ourselves on everything." 
 
SCHIEFFER