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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 001482 
 
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: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 04/05/07-1 
 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule 
 
US diplomacy: 
4) Weighed down by the comfort-women issue, North Korea policy, 
Prime Minister Abe will visit the US April 26-27 for an 
alliance-strengthening summit 
5) Abe is trying to calm the waters over the comfort-women issue 
before his summit meeting with President Bush 
6) Group of rightwing LDP lawmakers will visit Washington to explain 
Japan's position on the comfort-women issue 
 
7) Russia to accept nuclear inspectors as precondition for Japan 
entrusting it to enrich its uranium for power plant use 
 
8) US, Japan to sign GSOMIA next month to protect defense secrets 
and widen scope of materials subject to classification 
 
Beef about US beef: 
9) Survey shows Japanese consumers still leery about eating US beef 
as unsafe 
10) US-Japan debate over expanding beef shipments going nowhere, 
with US insisting on international standard and Japan sticking to 
20-month age limit 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi, Yomiuri, Sankei & Tokyo Shimbun: 
Seibu Lions paid 62 million yen to five amateur players for 27 
years 
 
Mainichi: 
Health Ministry's survey: 128 Tamiflu users showed abnormal behavior 
 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
Companies see opportunities in hospital, nursing care funds for 
improving medical quality 
 
Akahata: 
JCP talking to voters through election campaigning 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Reform of special post offices is first test for new Japan Post 
President Nishikawa 
(2) Landscape ordinance would be trump card for revitalizing Kyoto 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Kansai Telecasting has yet to completely take responsibility for 
fabrication scandal 
(2) Japan ranks third in ODA disbursement: Need to expand 
international contribution 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Article 722 of the Civil Law: DNA analysis can be used to 
determine biological parent and child 
(2) Japan-Thailand EPA should be Japan's economic strategy in Asia 
 
TOKYO 00001482  002 OF 007 
 
 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
(1) Japan should overcome restriction on ODA budget from strategic 
viewpoint 
(2) Why was Japan-Thailand EPA delayed? 
 
Sankei: 
(1) MSDF intelligence leakage: Securing secrets is indispensable for 
alliance 
(2) Kansai telecasting's fabrication scandal: Restore pride as 
broadcasting member 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Japan ranks third in ODA contribution: Japan should debate 
whether it is good for it to continue decreasing ODA budget 
(2) Yellow sand from China: End the problem using combined wisdom of 
Japan, China and South Korea 
 
Akahata: 
Illegal use of political affairs fund: JCP making efforts to 
increase transparency of use of political affairs fund so that tax 
money will not be wasted 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, April 4 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2)  (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
10:30 
Met with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura at the Prime 
Minister's Office (Kantei), followed by Deputy Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Matoba. 
 
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11:07 
Opening ceremony for joint training session for new-comer national 
government employees at the National Youth Center Commemorating the 
Tokyo Olympic Games at Kamizono-cho, Yoyogi. 
 
11:43 
Arrived at the Kantei. 
 
14:01 
Met with female NHK and commercial TV casters who are serving as 
ambassadors to promote terrestrial digital media broadcasting 
 
14:43 
Absentee voting for Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly member election 
at Chiyoda Municipal Office in Kudan-Minami. 
 
15:30 
Met with Yasuo Hayashi and Osamu Watanabe, the incoming and outgoing 
directors of JETRO at the Kantei. 
 
17:02 
Food, Agriculture and Agricultural Village Promotion Headquarters. 
Then met with Finance Minister Omi. 
 
18:43 
Met with LDP Policy Affairs Research Council Chairman Nakagawa and 
Acting Chairman Kawamura and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki. 
 
TOKYO 00001482  003 OF 007 
 
 
 
4) Abe to make 1st US visit; Comfort women, North Korea on agenda 
 
TOKYO (Page 2) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Abe is set to make his first visit to the United 
States as premier on April 26-27. Abe has been in the "run-up" for a 
half year to wait until the time is ripe to make the visit, 
according to one of his aides. The US side will welcome Abe's visit, 
with President Bush and his wife planning to host a dinner for the 
prime minister and his wife Akie. 
 
"The Japan-US alliance is the basis for our country's national 
security," Abe told reporters yesterday. "I'd like to talk with the 
president about strengthening the alliance," Abe added. With this, 
the prime minister stressed the importance of the bilateral 
alliance. 
 
In October last year, when North Korea announced its nuclear test, 
Abe was visiting South Korea and talked immediately with Bush over 
the telephone. In November, Abe met with Bush for the first time in 
Vietnam on the occasion of an international conference. Abe and Bush 
then held talks over lunch for about one and a half hours. 
 
Abe has said since before becoming premier that Japan's relationship 
with the United States is "the axis of Japan's foreign policy." Abe 
was therefore believed to choose the United States for his first 
foreign trip, excluding international events. However, he visited 
China and South Korea first. He next made a round of trips to 
European countries. He will now visit the United States as a third 
stop. This shows his confidence in the Japan-US relationship. 
 
In the United States, however, Abe has been criticized for his 
remarks over wartime comfort women. On April 3, Abe called Bush to 
explain what he really meant to say. 
 
On the issue of North Korea's nuclear programs, the United States 
has shifted to a flexible policy as seen from its lifting of 
financial sanctions on North Korea. The gap with Abe's hard-line 
stance toward North Korea is widening. How far can Japan and the 
United States keep up their bilateral cooperation? Challenges are in 
store for the premier. 
 
5) In telephone conversation with President Bush, Prime Minister Abe 
prior to visit to US trying to calm waters of criticism of him on 
"comfort women" issue 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
Jin Omae 
 
With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first visit to the United States as 
prime minister approaching, the government is frantically trying to 
calm down criticism in the US of him over the so-called wartime 
"comfort women" issue. In a telephone conversation on April 3 with 
President Bush, Abe conveyed his attitude of standing by a statement 
issued in 1993 by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono 
acknowledging the former Imperial Japanese Army's involvement in the 
comfort-women issue, with the president expressing his understanding 
of Abe's stance, but it is still unclear whether the source of 
 
TOKYO 00001482  004 OF 007 
 
 
trouble has been removed. 
 
"Out of concern that my remarks might not have been reported 
correctly by the media, I explained my true feelings to the 
president just in case," Abe told reporters yesterday to explain why 
he had mentioned the "comfort women" issue (during the telephone 
talks). Abe reiterated the expression "just in case" twice in order 
to emphasize he has obtained America's understanding or for other 
reasons,. 
 
Faced with strong reaction to the "comfort women" issue, many 
officials were initially optimistic, believing that an end would be 
put to the issue on March 11, when Abe gave the same explanation on 
an NHK TV program. But the issue was later reignited by remarks by 
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura denying the 
Japanese army's direct involvement in the issue. One US diplomatic 
source expressed disappointment: "We've strengthened the opinion 
that the 'Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei)' is a group 
of nationalists." 
 
Alarmed by the possibility that the "comfort women" issue may be 
taken up in the upcoming Japan-US summit meeting, the government 
began preparations for a telephone conference late last week. At a 
press conference yesterday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa 
Shiozaki indicated the issue would not be on agenda for the upcoming 
bilateral summit talks, noting: "I believe the president has now 
fully understood the prime minister's intentions." 
 
In fact, Bush did indicate his understanding during the telephone 
call, saying, "Present-day Japan is different from what it was 
during World War II." But a resolution calling on the prime minister 
to apologize for the former "comfort women" issue now being debated 
in the US House of Representatives is likely to be adopted after the 
prime minister's visit to the US. The issue is viewed as a 
"sensitive human rights issue," according to a source connected with 
Japan-US relations, and it also raises the question of how to face 
up to the "past" or WWII. 
 
6) Junior LDP lawmakers to visit US on comfort-women issue 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
Final coordination is now underway for a visit to the United States 
in late April by junior members of the Liberal Democratic Party's 
(LDP) "Council of Diet members concerned with the future of Japan 
and historical education," it was learned yesterday. The purpose of 
their US trip is to explain the Abe government's stance on the issue 
of wartime comfort women, which has come under fire in the US, in 
the hopes of preventing the House of Representatives from adopting a 
resolution calling on the Japanese government to issue a formal 
apology to the former comfort women. The group's position on the 
comfort women issue is that there was no proof that the government 
or Imperial forces coerced women into brothels. 
 
The lawmakers planning to make a trip to the US include Yasuhide 
Nakayama, chairman of the sub-committee on the comfort women issue. 
They plan to arrive in Washington immediately after Prime Minister 
Shinzo Abe visits the US on April 26-27. 
 
7) Russia to accept nuclear inspections; A step forward for Japan's 
uranium enrichment in Russia 
 
TOKYO 00001482  005 OF 007 
 
 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
April 5, 2007 
 
MOSCOW-Russia will accept International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
inspectors for its uranium enrichment facilities, Russian Atomic 
Energy Agency Director Kirienko told the Nihon Keizai Shimbun 
yesterday. Meanwhile, Japan has entered into negotiations with 
Russia, asking Russia to enrich uranium for use as fuel at atomic 
power plants. This, however, is premised on Russia's establishment 
of a nonproliferation regime. Russia's acceptance of IAEA inspectors 
will likely push ahead the uranium enrichment deal with Japan. 
 
Kirienko will visit Japan shortly from April 10. Russia does not 
have to accept IAEA inspections under the Nuclear Nonproliferation 
Treaty (NPT). However, Kirienko clarified that Russia would accept 
IAEA inspectors for its uranium enrichment facilities at Angarsk in 
eastern Siberia. He also stressed that there was no obstacle to 
accepting IAEA inspections. 
 
Russia calls the Angarsk facilities an international nuclear fuel 
center. Russia plans to do business, collecting spent uranium from 
foreign countries and reenriching residual uranium to extract fuel 
for atomic power plants. Russia will advertise late this year for 
countries that want to enrich uranium, Kirienko said. 
 
Tokyo and Moscow agreed in late February to enter into negotiations 
for an atomic energy treaty premised on asking Russia to enrich 
uranium. The Japanese and Russian governments will talk about this 
matter during Kirienko's visit to Japan. "We may complete the work 
of concluding the treaty within the year," he said. 
 
8) Japan, US to enter into defense info security agreement 
 
TOKYO (Page 1) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
Japan and the United States will enter into a general security of 
military information agreement (GSOMIA) in a two-plus-two foreign 
and defense ministerial meeting of their intergovernmental security 
consultative committee to be held in Washington on May 1, officials 
said yesterday. GSOMIA is intended to prevent defense secrets from 
leaking. 
 
The Japanese and US governments finalized a report last year, 
incorporating an agreement to realign US forces in Japan. The report 
stressed the need for the Self-Defense Forces and US forces to 
improve their interoperability in missile defense shielding, 
security planning, and other areas. Japan and the United States are 
expected to share higher-level military intelligence from now on. 
The two governments therefore deemed it indispensable to consolidate 
information security. 
 
Japan and the United States will now gearing up for military 
integration. Meanwhile, their defense policies are also likely to 
become unclear with the widening scope of confidentiality. 
 
Concerning the protection of defense secrets, between Japan and the 
United States have concluded a bilateral mutual defense assistance 
agreement. Based on this arrangement, Japan created a 
confidentiality protection law. Under this law, the Japanese 
 
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government has taken steps to protect technologies and information 
 
TOKYO 00001482  006 OF 007 
 
 
regarding equipment like vessels, aircrafts, and weapons. The 
government has punished those who violated the law. 
 
Police authorities are now investigating a Maritime Self-Defense 
Force member over his taking out of unauthorized data on Aegis 
ships. In this case as well, the MSDF member is alleged to have 
violated the law. 
 
The newly planned agreement is to widen the scope of 
confidentiality, classifying information not only about hardware but 
 
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also about software, such as: 1) documentation and imagery received 
from the United States about operations and training exercises; and 
2) technical data regarding joint research and development between 
Japan and the United States. 
 
9) Survey on imported food products targeting housewives: "Problem 
about safety" is image of North American food 
 
MAINICHI (Page 11) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
A poll conducted by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Finance 
Corp. found that about 85% of housewives take into account whether 
products are domestically-produced or imported, when they buy food. 
The survey also revealed that due to the BSE issue, they still have 
a strong image that food products from North America have problems 
in terms of safety. 
 
The poll was conducted online in February targeting 2,078 housewives 
in the 20-60 age bracket. 
 
To a question about the image of food by country of origin (multiple 
replies were allowed), East Asia and North America topped the list 
of areas on which pollees have the image of having problems in terms 
of safety. As the image of Southeast Asian and Oceanian food, the 
largest number of respondents cited that they are cheap. The number 
of those who replied that food products from Oceania are safe came 
to 36.8% because of no occurrence of BSE there. The survey also 
found that respondents prefer domestically-produced food when they 
buy beef (21.4% ), chicken (19.5% ) and Chinese mushrooms (19.0% ), 
even if their prices are more than 30% higher than imported ones. 
 
10) Arguments on US beef imports at impasse: Japan remains unable to 
start inspections: US urges Japan to totally open its beef market on 
strength of OIE standards: Japan calls for observation of 
20-months-or-younger age criterion 
 
MAINICHI (Page 11) (Full) 
April 5, 2007 
 
Washington is strengthening its request to Japan to completely 
liberalize US beef imports. At present, only beef from cattle aged 
20 months or younger is eligible for exports to Japan. However, 
calls for the scrapping of this age criterion are intensifying. The 
Japanese government has asked the US government to allow it to 
inspect meat-processing facilities, taking the position that whether 
US meatpackers are abiding by the current import conditions must be 
confirmed first. However, the US has declined this request. 
Discussions on a possible revision of the import conditions in such 
a way as the US wants to see remain deadlocked. 
 
The six-month examination period, established in order to monitor 
 
TOKYO 00001482  007 OF 007 
 
 
whether US meatpackers are observing the import conditions set by 
Japan following the decision last July to once again resume US beef 
imports, passed on Jan. 27. If matters had gone smoothly, there 
would have been the possibility of the two countries entering talks 
to discuss whether to ease the import condition and adopt the 
30-months-or-younger age criterion, after the Japanese side 
confirming that its inspection of US facilities found no problems. 
 
However, the scenario Tokyo and Washington had envisaged began to 
derail with a shipment of products without age certificates in early 
February. The US did not submit an investigation report until Mar. 
21, more than a month since the incident. During this period, Japan 
was unable to start inspection of meat processing facilities, the 
premise for proceeding to the next step, as a senior Agriculture 
Ministry official said. 
 
Concerning BSE risk in the US, Washington on Mar. 9 announced an 
outlook that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will 
recognize that US beef is on the level that requires no age 
criterion for exports. 
 
This has triggered the US offensive against Japan. 
 
President Bush in a speech given on Mar. 28 called on Japan to scrap 
the age criterion, saying, "If overseas markets are more open, 
livestock farmers' lives will become better off. He also indicated 
his intention to place the issue on the agenda of the bilateral 
summit meeting slated for later in the month. 
 
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on Mar. 29 made a negative remark 
on the acceptance of inspection by Japan, saying, "Japan should 
first pledge to follow the OIE standards." On Apr. 3, United States 
Trade Representative Susan Schwab during a phone conversation with 
Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka formally called for the 
total opening of Japan's beef market. 
 
The US livestock industry has strong political influence. The Bush 
administration, which is suffering from sluggish support ratings, 
has no other choice but to give consideration to the industry in 
view of the presidential election next year. Amid the Democratic 
Party, which makes up a majority in the US Congress, criticizing the 
expansion of trade deficit with Japan, the administration appears to 
be motivated by the desire to regain its power base. 
 
Japan is maintaining the position that the examination period will 
not end unless inspection is completed. Whatever requests the US 
makes, Japan's stance will remain unchanged, as the same senior 
Agriculture Ministry official put it. Since the US going straight to 
making such a request as to ease the age criterion could break the 
agreement reached last summer, some are perplexed at its move 
saying, "I do not understand why the US is adamantly rejecting 
Japan's request for inspection." 
 
SCHIEFFER