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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 TOKYO 001865 
 
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 04/26/07 
 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule 
 
Abe-Bush summit April 27: 
4) US, Japan to sign joint statement on environment at summit 
meeting 
5) NSC director does not anticipate comfort-women issue coming up at 
the summit meeting 
6) NSC director gives assurance that US will not remove North Korea 
from terrorist list without resolution of Japan's abduction issue 
 
7) LDP bill amending North Korea human rights law to specifically 
link results on abduction issue to assistance to that country 
 
World War II issues: 
8) Former Japanese soldiers testify to military "coercion" of 
comfort women during WWII 
9) Another diary from 32 years ago by aide to Emperor Showa reveals 
imperial views, including Yasukuni Shrine and war-criminal issue 
 
Defense and security issues: 
10) Prime Minister Abe orders Cabinet Legislation Bureau to consider 
new constitutional interpretation of use of right of collective 
self-defense 
11) Blue ribbon panel appointed by Abe to start meeting May 18 
charged with reaching conclusions on collective self-defense 
scenarios by the fall 
12) Objections smoldering in the ruling parties to Abe's push on 
collective self-defense 
13) Okinawa governor tells Defense Minister Kyuma that the 
environmental survey of Futenma relocation sight is on track 
14) City of Yokosuka agrees to construction work to prepare for 
deployment of US Navy nuclear-powered carrier 
 
15) Defense Ministry to issue for first time long-term guidelines 
for defense technology 
16) METI to expand investment restrictions of foreign capital in 
three areas where potential lies for military application 
17) Government is balking at cooperating with Minshuto plan to make 
fact-finding survey to Iraq where ASDF still operates 
 
Political merry-go-round: 
18) Abe's civil service reform bill will not likely be passed this 
Diet session 
19) Weekly Shukan Asahi apologizes to Prime Minister Abe in ad for 
publishing an article falsely linking former aide to gangster who 
shot Nagasaki mayor 
20) Reconciliation reached in lawsuit by Abe against Sentaku 
magazine over defamation of character article 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Chamberlain's dairies over 32 years depict final days of Emperor 
Showa 
 
Mainichi: 
Government prepares guidelines about child-raising for parents 
 
 
TOKYO 00001865  002 OF 012 
 
 
Yomiuri: 
Over 30% of hospitals for cancer treatment lacks experts 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
Sony to take financial unit public, raising 300 billion yen 
 
Sankei: 
Man Gyong Bong used to transport abductees, according to North 
Korean agents 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Panel eyed to consider collective self-defense 
 
Akahata: 
Government to set up panel to allow collective self-defense 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Uncover activities by North Korean agents suspected of abducting 
two children 
(2) Second anniversary of JR West crash: Respond to distrust among 
bereaved families 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Collective self-defense: Open debate needed 
(2) JR West accident: More thorough safety measures urged 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Questioning executives of Chongryon necessary over abduction of 
two children 
(2) Seibu payoff scandal: High School Baseball Federation's 
responses questionable 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
(1) Time for Japan to consider concluding FTAs with US, EU 
(2) Prime minister should demonstrate own identity in Middle East 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Abe should make efforts to narrow gap in Japan-US alliance 
(2) Second anniversary of JR West crash: Final report urged to 
clarify causes 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) High School Baseball Federation: New guidelines needed 
(2) JR West should establish system giving top priority to safety 
 
Akahata: 
(1) One month after Noto earthquakes: Offer aid to victims 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, April 25 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2)  (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
08:51 
Met with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Suzuki at Kantei. 
 
09:22 
Met with Kansai Economic Federation Chairman Akiyama and afterwards 
 
TOKYO 00001865  003 OF 012 
 
 
State Minister in Charge of Gender Equality Takaichi. 
 
09:58 
Met with Defense Minister Kyuma and Senior Vice Defense Minister 
Kimura in Diet. 
 
10:01 
Attended an Upper House plenary session. 
 
11:15 
Met with former US Deputy Secretary of State Armitage at Kantei, 
joined by MOFA's North American Affairs Bureau Director-General 
Nishimiya. 
 
12:43 
Attended a ceremony in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 
enforcement of the Constitution of Japan at the Kensei Kinenkan Hall 
at Nagata-cho. 
 
14:02 
Met Deputy Foreign Minister Yabunaka, MOFA's Middle Eastern and 
African Affairs Bureau Director-General Okuda, METI's Trade and 
Economic Cooperation Bureau Director-General Ishida. 
 
15:30 
Met with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Matoba. 
 
16:22 
Attended a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. 
 
17:41 
Met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki, and later Director of 
Cabinet Intelligence Mitani. 
 
18:30 
Met with Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Watanabe, 
and afterwards, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications 
Suga. 
 
19:13 
Arrived at Kantei residence. 
 
4) Japan-US to compile joint environment paper stipulating technical 
cooperation: Plan to be formally released during upcoming bilateral 
summit 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Slightly abridged) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The governments of Japan and the US yesterday agreed to compile a 
joint statement advocating cooperation for settling the global-scale 
environment issue, including climate change caused by global 
warming. The plan is expected to be formally released during the 
bilateral summit between Prime Minister Abe and US president Bush on 
Apr. 27. Tokyo and Washington will confirm during the talks their 
determination to press ahead with close talks on the environment 
issue. The Japanese government wants to pave the way for the US to 
take part in the framework replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which has 
set a global warming gas emissions target to be achieved by 2012 on 
each party. 
 
The joint paper "measures on energy, security, clean development and 
 
TOKYO 00001865  004 OF 012 
 
 
climate change" (tentative name) will mention technical cooperation 
between the two countries, including the development of underground 
carbon dioxide, substance causing global warming, storage 
technology, noting that the two countries will jointly tackle 
development of innovative technology. 
 
It is absolutely necessary for the US, the world's largest CO2 
emitter, to join the post-Kyoto Protocol framework. Though the US is 
positive toward providing technical cooperation on the environment 
issue, it is refusing to sign the post-Kyoto Protocol. The president 
will unlikely refer to US participation in the post-Kyoto Protocol 
during the summit. 
 
5) "Comfort women" issue unlikely to be put on agenda for Japan-US 
summit, according to a US official 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
Yasuyuki Oguri, Washington 
 
Meeting reporters yesterday ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's 
planned visit to the United States, Dennis Wilder, senior director 
for East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), 
referred to the wartime "comfort women" issue and predicted that the 
issue would not be taken up in the upcoming Japan-US summit set for 
tomorrow, noting: "This issue has been discussed between the top 
leaders of the two countries. It is unlikely to be treated as a 
major topic for the upcoming summit meeting." 
 
Wilder also noted: "Prime Minister Abe has been ironing out the 
misunderstanding about the issue over the past few weeks." 
 
Meanwhile, on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North 
Koreans,  Wilder said, "The US has no intention to separate the 
abduction issue from the question of whether to remove North Korea 
from the list of state sponsors of terrorism," reiterating an 
intention not to respond to the call for removing that country from 
the list unless the abduction issue makes progress. 
 
6) US will not divorce the question of delisting DPRK as state 
sponsor of terrorism from abduction issue 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
Fumi Igarashi, Washington 
 
Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asian Affairs at the 
National Security Council (NSC), yesterday morning told reporters 
about the question of whether to delist North Korea as a state 
sponsor of terrorism: "We won't divorce it from the issue of 
abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea." He thus emphasized 
that the US would not remove North Korea from the list of state 
sponsors of terrorists unless there is progress on the abduction 
issue. In addition, Wilder indicated that in the upcoming Japan-US 
summit slated for April 27, the North Korean issue would be high on 
agenda for discussions. 
 
Meanwhile, when asked about whether the summit meeting would deal 
with the so-called wartime "comfort women" issue, Wilder said: 
"Prime Minister Abe has done a lot of things over the past few weeks 
 
TOKYO 00001865  005 OF 012 
 
 
to dispel misunderstanding. I don't think this issue will be among 
the major subjects for the summit." 
 
7) LDP draft bill amending North Korean Human Rights Law to provide 
that without progress on abduction issue, no assistance forthcoming 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Excerpt) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on April 25 completed its bill 
amending the North Korea Human Rights Law so that if there is no 
progress on the abduction issue, no assistance can be provided to 
North Korea. The aim is back up Japan's hard-line stance so that it 
will not crumble, as long as North Korea does not show a sincere 
stance. The party will coordinate now with the New Komeito and 
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), aiming at passage of the bill 
in May. 
 
8) Former Japanese soldiers, speaking at gathering held ahead of 
Prime Minister Abe's visit to US, testify to "coercion" of comfort 
women (during WWII) 
 
AKAHATA (Page 14) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The "Action Network on the Issue of Japanese Military Comfort Women" 
yesterday held a press conference and an emergency rally calling on 
the Diet to make a sincere apology and provide compensation. Seventy 
persons gathered for the rally. 
 
In the meeting, footages of former South Korean, Chinese and 
Philippine comfort women's testifying their experiences were shown, 
and former Japanese soldiers, Ichiro Koyama and Kiyoshi Sakakura, 
told the audience about their own experiences. 
 
Koyama said: "I learned of the existence of a 'comfort station' soon 
after being trained as a raw recruit in China. Some 50 Chinese women 
in their late teens to 30s were lined up there. Each solder picked 
one from among them and went with her to a room. When our unit moved 
to another place, there was also another comfort station, where I 
saw six Korean women working there." 
 
Sakakura, who revealed his story for the first time at the 
gathering, described his experience that he had gone to a comfort 
facility and picked out a young girl, but the girl  would not stop 
crying, so he had left the facility without touching her. He added: 
"Prime Minister Abe's employing sophistry is no use." 
 
A South Korean TV reporter asked the former soldiers: "Prime 
Minister Abe has stated there was no evidence to prove those women 
had been forced into prostitution." In response, Koyama said: "A 
comrade in arms who worked as a medic and carried out a medical 
examination of those women once a month told me that 'I feel sorry 
for them because they were all tricked by someone to work there.'" 
 
Angelina De Araujo (TN: phonetic), 27, who came from East Timor, 
reported on testimonies by former "comfort women" living in East 
Timor and their present situation. She said: "Of the 17 former 
comfort women we interviewed, two have already died. I hope the 
Japanese government will take every possible action to help them 
recover their dignity." 
 
 
TOKYO 00001865  006 OF 012 
 
 
9) Chamberlain's dairies over 32 years depict final days of Emperor 
Showa 
 
ASAHI (Top Play) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The late Ryogo Urabe, who served Emperor Show (Hirohito) in his late 
years and the empress, kept a diary every day for 32 years. Urabe 
left the diaries with the Asahi Shimbun during his lifetime. He 
recorded in detail what was happening in the Imperial Palace during 
the last days of the Showa era after the emperor fell ill. Regarding 
the reason why the emperor had ceased visiting Yasukuni Shrine, 
Urabe noted, "He was strong displeased at the enshrinement of 
Class-A war criminals." There are descriptions showing the emperor's 
warm personality everywhere in the diaries, such as his regrets for 
World War II and his consideration to the public. The diaries could 
be a valuable record of the history of the Showa period. 
 
The diaries depict in detail the life of Emperor Showa after he fell 
ill. The emperor had indicated a strong eagerness about the planned 
first visit to Okinawa in the postwar period, but the tour was 
cancelled due to health reasons, according to the diaries. 
 
There are descriptions about the cancellation of a visit to Yasukuni 
Shrine. On April 28 in 1988, several days after the last press 
conference by the emperor, it was noted: "I visited the Fukiage 
Palace at the emperor's summon. (The emperor) referred to the 
enshrinement of war criminals at Yasukuni Shine, criticism of China, 
and the Okuno statement." The sentence following "Yasukuni" is 
redlined. 
 
The same date is marked on the memorandum of former Imperial 
Household Agency Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita that reveals that the 
emperor had expressed his displeasure at the enshrinement of Class-A 
war criminals. The diaries show that the emperor had also talked 
about the problem of enshrinement of war criminals to Urabe, almost 
at the same time as he did to Tomita. Urabe noted on July 31, 2001, 
just before he died: "Since the emperor was unhappy about the 
enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals, he stopped visiting 
Yasukuni Shrine." 
 
10) Collective self-defense: Premier orders case studies for 
constitutional reinterpretation 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
April 26, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered Cabinet Legislation Bureau 
Director General Reiichi Miyazaki to study reinterpreting the 
Constitution to allow Japan to exercise its right to collective 
self-defense in some specific cases, government sources revealed 
yesterday. The government, in its constitutional interpretation, has 
prohibited Japan from participating in collective self-defense. The 
government announced yesterday that it would set up a panel of 
experts in mid-May over the right of collective self-defense. The 
panel is expected to come up with its conclusion around this fall 
about specific areas where the Self-Defense Forces can exercise the 
right to collective defense. 
 
Factoring in the SDF's increased activities overseas, Abe deemed it 
indispensable for the SDF to exercise the right of collective 
self-defense to a certain extent within the current constitutional 
 
TOKYO 00001865  007 OF 012 
 
 
framework. The premier has ordered four case studies: 1) shooting 
down US-bound ballistic missiles over Japan; 2) fighting back if and 
when a US naval vessel running alongside a Japanese vessel is 
attacked on the high seas; 3) fighting back if and when a foreign 
country's military members come under attack while Japan's SDF 
members are acting in concert with them; and 4) engaging in 
rear-echelon support for foreign forces, such as transporting 
weaponry. The government currently prohibits Japan from taking part 
in any of these four cases. 
 
11) Expert panel on use of collective defense to hold first meeting 
on May 18 and reach conclusion on four cases by the fall 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The government announced yesterday that it would set up a panel of 
experts to study specific cases of the contingencies for the use of 
the right to collective self-defense. The panel called the Meeting 
about Re-establishing the Legal Basis of National Security will hold 
the first meeting on May 18. It will not likely reach a conclusion 
until the fall as to whether the present Constitution would allow 
four applications of collective self-defense, including the use of a 
missile defense (MD) system to intercept ballistic missiles aimed at 
the United States. Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for a 
review of the interpretation of the Constitution, which bans the 
exercise of the right of collective defense, the focus is now on 
whether the panel will delve deep into a review of the 
interpretation. 
 
The panel, headed by former Ambassador to the US Shunji Yanai, has 
13 members, including scholars and former Foreign Ministry and 
Defense Ministry officials. 
 
The issues to be discussed include: (1) whether Japan can use the MD 
system to intercept ballistic missiles aimed at an ally, (2) whether 
the Self-Defense Forces SDF) can counterattack when a warship from 
another country sailing with a SDF vessel is attacked on the high 
seas, (3) whether the SDF can counterattack when other countries' 
forces are attacked while carrying out its mission, such as in Iraq 
where multinational forces are deployed, and (4) whether the SDF can 
provide logistical support to foreign militaries. 
 
The government initially planned to study the use of arms separately 
in order to avoid the interference with United Nations peacekeeping 
operations, but it has now decided to debate such cases as the Iraqi 
reconstruction assistance, including a study of the possibility of 
the SDF providing logistic support to foreign forces. 
 
12) Objections strong in LDP on changing constitutional 
interpretation of collective defense; New Komeito says individual 
defense right sufficient for various situations 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
April 26, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to establish an expert council 
possibly in mid-May with the aim of opening the way for exercising 
the right to collective self-defense is likely to press the ruling 
and opposition camps to review their basic positions regarding the 
Constitution and security policy. Although establishing the 
country's independent constitution is a goal of the Liberal 
 
TOKYO 00001865  008 OF 012 
 
 
Democratic Party, there is a broad range of views in the party over 
constitutional revision and strengthening the Japan-US alliance. The 
New Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, is largely cautious about 
reinterpreting and revising the Constitution. Consolidating views 
may take time. 
 
LDP Security Research Commission Chairman Taku Yamasaki, who keeps 
his distance from Prime Minister Abe, took this view in an interview 
to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun: "If the country is to exercise the 
collective defense right, the Constitution must be revised. Revising 
Article 9 is the correct way." Some in the LDP are supportive of 
enhancing the Japan-US alliance, while some others are also opposed 
to making changes to the government's interpretation of the 
Constitution. 
 
The New Komeito is also showing a mixed reaction. Secretary General 
Kazuo Kitagawa in a press conference yesterday gave a warning to the 
matter, saying: "The government's traditional interpretation must 
not be reviewed. The matter must be discussed openly in the process 
of constitution revision debate." Touching on the option of 
intercepting a ballistic missile targeting the continental United 
States, Kitagawa also indicated that such a case must be studied 
within the framework of the individual defense right. He said: "The 
country can deal with many cases within the range of its 
interpretation of the individual defense right." 
 
Meanwhile Ichiro Ozawa, president of the major opposition Minshuto 
(Democratic Party of Japan) bluntly told a press conference 
yesterday: "If the prime minister is to put constitutional 
reinterpretation forward, he must have his own logic. Without it, 
there is no use to hear other people's views." 
 
Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono attended yesterday a commemorative 
event for the 60th anniversary of the Constitution, in which he 
said: "I would like to the Constitution discussed from a broad 
perspective with a mind to study history humbly with a sense of 
responsibility for the future of the country and its people." 
Belonging to the former Kochikai led by former prime ministers 
Hayato Ikeda and Shigeru Yoshida, Kono is a leading dove. 
 
Cautious views are also rife in the former Keiseikai (currently the 
Tsushima faction) led by former Prime Minister Eisaki Sato. 
 
SIPDIS 
Skepticism is deeply seated in the LDP toward the Abe 
administration, which prioritizes constitutional revision and 
security. 
 
13) Okinawa governor agrees to accept prior surveys for Futenma 
relocation 
 
SANKEI (Page 4) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma met with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu 
Nakaima and Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro at the Defense Ministry 
yesterday. Nakaima revealed that Okinawa would accept environmental 
surveys prior to the environmental impact assessment in preparation 
for the planned relocation of the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air 
Station (Ginowan) to a coastal area of Camp Schwab (Nago). Regarding 
the plan to construct a V-shaped pair of runways, agreed on between 
the governments of Japan and the United States, Nakaima, while 
saying, "I have no particular objection," stressed, "I want you to 
listen to local voices." He thus called on the government to give 
 
TOKYO 00001865  009 OF 012 
 
 
consideration to the Nago municipal government, which insists that 
the construction site be moved further offshore. 
 
14) Yokosuka agrees to prep work for CVN deployment 
 
TOKYO (Page 3) (Abridged) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture has now agreed on a plan 
to dredge its port in the US Navy's Yokosuka base for the USS George 
Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be deployed to the 
base. Yokosuka Mayor Ryoichi Kabaya clarified his consent yesterday 
to the Defense Facilities Administration Agency's Yokohama bureau. 
 
The work of dredging the port is indispensable for the safety of an 
inbound and outbound carrier. The George Washington is scheduled to 
arrive at Yokosuka in August next year for deployment. The DFAA has 
now gone through legal procedures to start the dredging work, and 
Yokosuka will go ahead with its readiness to host the carrier. 
 
According to the DFAA's work plan presented to the municipal 
government of Yokosuka City, the planned work is to dig down about 
two meters on average to the depth of 15 meters in an area of about 
30 hectares near the naval base's aircraft carrier berth. Dredged 
soil, amounting to about 600,000 cubic meters, will be dumped into 
the sea. The work will be completed by May next year. 
 
15) 1st mid-, long-term guidelines out for defense technologies in 
20 areas, including search robot, drone 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute 
(TRDI) yesterday worked out a report on its efforts for 
future-oriented technology research as a documentation of guidelines 
for defense technologies that need to be developed over the 
mid-to-long term. In order to deal with newly emerging threats like 
ballistic missiles and terrorist attacks, the report lists 20 
technology areas, including a ground-probing robot and a 
reconnaissance drone. The Defense Ministry will push ahead with 
Japan's defense buildup in reference to the report. 
 
The report sets a period of time-ranging from 5 years to 15 
years-for a breakthrough in each of the 20 areas in order for TRDI 
to develop technologies in these areas. For example, the report 
specifies networking robots in 5-10 years. The report also suggests 
the need for TRDI to develop in 5-15 years an unmanned aircraft 
system that can be tasked with multiple missions, such as gathering 
intelligence and engaging in combat action. In addition, TRDI 
expects to develop within 10 years an advanced intelligent firepower 
system that will make it possible to quicken counteractions in 
individual fighting. 
 
16) Rules regulating investment by foreign companies to be expanded: 
Three more areas with technologies that can be diverted for military 
use to be included 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) yesterday 
 
TOKYO 00001865  010 OF 012 
 
 
revealed a plan to expand business areas subject to a prior 
notification system applied to foreign companies that invest in 
Japan. Three more areas - advanced materials, such as special steel 
and carbon fiber, etc., which can easily be diverted for military 
use; material processing, such as machine tools, measuring 
instruments, etc.; and key areas, such as robotics and biotechnology 
- will be added to the list of regulated areas. 
 
The aim is to ensure security by preventing the outflow of 
technology in the high-tech sector. The measure will apparently be 
taken also with an eye on the lifting of a ban in May on triangular 
mergers, which will make it easier for foreign corporations to buy 
out Japanese companies. METI's study group has compiled a report 
including this policy. METI and the Finance Ministry will amend in 
June the ministry ordinance and notification based on the Foreign 
Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law. A revision of the investment 
rules regulating foreign companies is the first since 1991. 
 
The existing system of obliging notification only covers companies 
subject to the regulation. However, the new regulation will also 
target holding companies that have regulated businesses under their 
umbrellas. The government will also look into the possibility of 
establishing a regulation forcing foreign corporations that 
illegally purchased Japanese companies to sell off the stocks they 
hold. 
 
17) Government balks at Minshuto's request for cooperation on 
fact-finding trip to Iraq; "Iraq must be very dangerous," says 
Haraguchi 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The major opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) asked for 
the government's cooperation in conducting a fact-finding survey in 
Iraq with the aim of using its results in discussing a bill amending 
the Iraq Special Measures Law, but the government rejected its 
request, Minshuto Lower House member Kazuhiro Haraguchi said. 
 
According to Haraguchi, Minshuto planned a trip to Iraq and its 
neighboring countries for six days from May 1 to take a firsthand 
look at the safety of Air Self-Defense Force troops and the security 
situation in those countries, and asked for the government's 
cooperation in flying into Iraq on a C-130 transport plane. 
 
But the Foreign and Defense Ministries responded to its request 
reluctantly, saying, "The C-130 is not designed to carry lawmakers." 
They also called for caution on the option of flying into the 
country on a civilian plane. 
 
Touching on past trips to Iraq by the foreign minister and ruling 
party executives, Haraguchi said sarcastically: "They gave me the 
impression that Iraq is really dangerous." 
 
18) Bill amending public servant law: Enactment during current Diet 
session difficult; Will likely become campaign issue for upcoming 
Upper House election 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
It has become difficult to obtain Diet approval during the current 
 
TOKYO 00001865  011 OF 012 
 
 
session for a bill amending the National Civil Service Law, which 
features a ban on government agencies providing placement services 
for their retired officials to take up cushy jobs in companies they 
previously used to regulate (amakudari practice). The government 
submitted the bill to the Diet on Apr. 25. However, the Lower House 
will unlikely start deliberations before mid-May. The ruling parties 
will carry it over to the next session, characterizing it as a 
campaign issue for the July Upper House election, hoping it will be 
passed into law during the extraordinary Diet session in the fall. 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Diet Policy Committee Chairman 
Toshihiro Nikai yesterday conferred on the matter with State 
Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Yoshimi Watanabe and 
conveyed to him that the current Diet session's schedule is too 
tight to fit in the National Civil Service Law amendment bill. The 
ruling camp will instead prioritize deliberations on the national 
referendum bill and three bills related to educational reform. Upper 
House Diet Policy Committee Chairman Tetsuro Yano of the LDP on Apr. 
23 made a proposal to Nikai, "I would like to have key bills 
intended to get through the current Diet session sent to the Upper 
House by three weeks before the end of the session." 
 
As a counter-proposal, the Democratic Party of Japan plans to submit 
in May an amakudari practice eradication bill (tentative name). The 
bill calls for introducing stricter rules on the amakudari practice 
than the government-sponsored bill. 
 
19) Shukan Asahi apologizes to Prime Minister Abe for advertisement 
 
YOMIURI (Page 38) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
The Shukan Asahi carried in its May 4-11 issue an article that there 
had been trouble between a former secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo 
Abe and the suspect in the murder of the Nagasaki mayor. Abe then 
criticized the weekly magazine for fabricating the article. In this 
regard, the Asahi Shimbun carried in its morning edition on April 25 
a statement by the magazine's chief editor Kazuomi Yamaguchi: "We 
apologize for the headline of our advertisement carrying an 
inappropriate expression suggesting that Prime Minister Abe has 
connections with the suspect." The magazine responded to a question 
by the Yomiuri Shimbun about the content of the article: "We believe 
that there is no problem with the content of the article since we 
carried it based on the results of an interview with a senior police 
officer." 
 
Asked about the apology article by reporters yesterday at the Prime 
Minister's Official Residence, Abe expressed displeasure, 
responding, "I haven't received any apology." He indicated that he 
would take legal action. 
 
Abe criticized the weekly magazine again, saying: 
 
"There was a small article expressing something of an apology in 
this morning's edition. Since the magazine carried the fabricated 
article as extensive advertising, they must publish a clear apology 
easy for the public to understand." 
 
He added: "I think since I am prime minister, I should be prudent. 
However, for the sake of the secretary and his family, I will 
naturally take legal actions." 
 
 
TOKYO 00001865  012 OF 012 
 
 
20) Prime Minister Abe, Sentaku settle dispute 
 
YOMIURI (Page 38) (Full) 
April 26, 2007 
 
A lawsuit seeking 50 million yen filed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 
against the monthly magazine Sentaku for an article damaging his 
honor was settled yesterday at the Tokyo High Court. 
 
DONOVAN