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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 TOKYO 002033 
 
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 05/08/07 
 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule 
 
Historical issues: 
4) Prime Minister Abe secretly visited Yasukuni Shrine during April 
spring festival, offered gift paid from own pocket money 
5) Association of bereaved families of the war dead enshrined at 
Yasukuni being shaken by internal calls for separate enshrinement of 
Class-A war criminals 
6) WWII prime minister Hideki Tojo's granddaughter may run for a 
seat in the upcoming Upper House election 
7) Congressman Mike Honda does not consider Prime Minister Abe's 
comfort women remarks in Washington as an "apology" 
 
Defense issues: 
8) Government to establish new organization, CI Center, next April 
to prevent leaks of classified information 
9) Defense Minister Kyuma determined to reconsider three 
weapons-export principles but Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki balks 
 
10) Elephant Cage antenna field in Okinawa's Yomitan-son being 
dismantled as part of planned reversion of land 
11) Lower House expected to pass the two-year extension of the Iraq 
special measures law on May 15 
12) Government depicting 2-year extension of ASDF dispatch as 
"Iraq's request," despite Prime Minister Maliki's assurance troops 
soon no longer needed 
 
13) Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers sent letters to US Congress 
seeking to block North Korea from being taken off terrorist list 
 
14) Prime Minister Abe thinks election of Zarkozy as new French 
president will have good impact on Japan's relations with France 
 
Politics: 
15) LDP accepts political funds bill revision that would require 
receipts for office expenses 
16) Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) head Ozawa finally agrees 
to oft-postponed debate Abe in Diet session 
 
17) US, Japan to start joint study of EPA 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
MLIT plans to adopt stricter regular inspection system, following 
roller coaster accident; Local governments oversee lax inspections 
 
Mainichi: 
Seibu Lions demote president over secret payoffs: Goto named new 
owner of team 
 
Yomiuri: 
Social Insurance Agency treats 690,000 persons as having no 
registered address in collecting pension premiums: Aim was to 
increase premium payment ratio? 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
Market testing: Government to mandate multiple-year contracts for 
 
TOKYO 00002033  002 OF 012 
 
 
promotion of privatization; Personnel expenses of government 
agencies to be disclosed 
 
Sankei: 
Pregnancy after divorce: Birth registration attached with doctor's 
certificate to be accepted; Justice Ministry to take relief measures 
against 300-day rule 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Roller coaster accidents reach18 in four years throughout nation: 
MLIT fails to fully use information 
 
Akahata: JCP to carry out emergency petition drive to stop hike in 
local tax next week 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) French presidential election: French voters opt to work more 
(2) Accounting scandal by Nikko Cordial Securities not settled yet 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) French presidential election: Voters opt for free competition 
(2) Roller coaster accident: Strengthen inspection standards and 
thorough implementation 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) French presidential election: Voters sought breakthrough in 
impasse 
(2) Coaster accident: Amusement parks' major selling point should be 
safety 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
(1) Challenges for Sarkozy administration, which places importance 
on competition 
(2) Slighting safety causes disaster at amusement park 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Sarkozy elected: How he steers foreign relations noteworthy of 
attention 
(2) Stabilization of Asian currencies: Realize Asian Monetary Fund 
at the initiative of Japan 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) French presidential election: Hopes pinned on administration in 
creating new Europe 
(2) Coaster accident: Make sure safety inspections are carried out 
thoroughly 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Studies on possible lifting of ban on arms exports: It is 
outrageous to aim at becoming death merchant 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, May 6 & 7, 2007 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2)  (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
May 6 
 
 
TOKYO 00002033  003 OF 012 
 
 
Morning 
Spent the morning at his villa in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi 
Prefecture. 
 
16:04 
Left JR Otsuki Station 
 
17:07 
Arrived at JR Shinjuku Station. 
 
17:17 
Dined with his wife, mother, and others at a Japanese restaurant in 
the Park Hyatt Tokyo. 
 
29:59 
Returned to his official residence. 
 
May 7 
 
09:35 
Met at the Kantei with Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Ota, 
joined by Cabinet Office Senior Vice Minister Omura, Special Advisor 
Nemoto, Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Saka, and others. 
 
10:37 
Met Social Insurance Agency Director General Murase. 
 
11:32 
Met Secretary General Nakagawa. 
 
13:23 
Met Association of Corporate Executives Chairman Sakurai, Deputy 
Chairman Yasufumi Kanemaru, and others. Followed by Lower House 
member Takuji Yanagimoto. 
 
14:06 
Met State Minister in Charge of Declining Birthrate Takaichi. 
Followed by former Foreign Minister Machimura and former Foreign 
Minister Komura. Later, met Special Advisor Nemoto. 
 
16:32 
Met Acting Secretary General Ishihara. Followed by Health, Labor and 
Welfare Minister Yanagisawa. 
 
17:02 
Attended a party executive meeting in the Diet building. 
 
17:23 
Arrived at the Kantei. 
 
19:02 
Returned to his official residence. 
 
4) Abe first prime minister to make offering to Yasukuni during 
shrine's spring festival since Nakasone 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an offering to Yasukuni Shrine using 
his title as "prime minister" on the occasion of the shrine's spring 
festival from April 21-23. Abe has become the first Japanese prime 
 
TOKYO 00002033  004 OF 012 
 
 
minister to make an offering to the shrine since Yasuhiro Nakasone 
did so about 20 years ago. Abe has been elusive about visiting 
Yasukuni Shrine, telling people, "I have no intention of saying 
whether or not I will visit or have visited the shrine." Abe 
apparently showed some consideration to the shrine by making an 
offering instead of visiting. 
 
According to a shrine source, Abe offered a potted masakaki plant 2 
meters tall. The pot is now lined with other masakaki plants 
alongside the wooden steps leading to the inner shrine. The pot 
carries a wooden label that says "prime minister." 
 
Such persons as the Lower House speaker and the chairmen of the 
Japan War-Bereaved Association and the Association to Acknowledge 
the Divine Spirits of the Dead have offered masakaki plants to the 
shrine annually. But no prime minister has made an offering since 
Nakasone. When former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited 
Yasukuni, he offered flower wreaths. 
 
The shrine sent a letter to Abe asking for his attendance at its 
spring festival and an offering, and in response Abe paid 50,000 yen 
for the plant. 
 
Yasukuni Shrive invites guests to its April and October festivals, 
which carry greater importance than the August 15 end-of-the-war 
anniversary. The spring festival this year occurred just after 
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan. 
 
The shrine source welcomed Abe's offering, saying: "I think Mr. Abe, 
who has been abstaining from visiting the shrine since becoming 
prime minister, showed his feelings. We appreciate it." 
 
5) Japan War-Bereaved Association shaken up by argument for separate 
enshrinement 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
May 8, 2007 
 
The Japan War-Bereaved Association will today hold its first study 
session to discuss the way Yasukuni Shrine should serve. Makoto Koga 
of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who heads the 
association at present, seeks debates on such questions as whether 
to separately enshrine Class-A war criminals now enshrined at 
Yasukuni Shrine, but some senior association members are cautious 
about debating the so-called Yasukuni issue, a controversial 
question, out of concern that such a debate may cause a rift within 
the association. The argument for separate enshrinement is shaking 
up the association ahead of the July Upper House election. 
 
Last November, the association decided to establish a study meeting. 
But no such meeting has been held until recently partly because it 
has given priority to preventing the organization from splitting 
up. 
 
The establishment of the study meeting was proposed by Koga, who has 
favored separate enshrinement. 
 
Prior to the LDP presidential election in last September, Koga came 
up with a policy proposal that included a suggestion on separate 
enshrinement and highlighted a clear difference from Koizumi 
diplomacy, which had deteriorated relations with China and South 
Korea as a result of Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine. 
 
TOKYO 00002033  005 OF 012 
 
 
 
However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who calls himself a successor of 
Koizumi, has avoided making clear whether he will visit the shrine. 
Perhaps for this reason or some other reasons, relations with China 
and South Korea have been improving at present. The argument for 
separate enshrinement is no longer an urgent political agenda. 
 
Yet, Koga cannot drop his pet argument. When the National Diet 
Library recently released a document showing that the former Health 
and Welfare Ministry has been involved in the enshrinement of 
(Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine), Koga emphasized: "The 
question of separate enshrinement should be thoroughly discussed." 
He also indicated to the Koga faction led by himself that a study 
session would be set up. 
 
Young association members tolerant of separate enshrinement 
 
Even in the war-bereaved association, young members are reportedly 
tolerant of separate enshrinement. Meanwhile, some are criticizing 
Koga's move, arguing, "He seems to be using the association for 
political reasons." 
 
Yasukuni Shrine has consistently maintained that "separate 
enshrinement is impossible," and the association has insisted that 
the question of separate enshrinement should be handled by the 
shrine." One senior association member murmured: "A penetrating 
debate on (separate enshrinement) could divide the association." 
 
Future schedules for the study session, which will be held at a time 
when a board meeting takes place, remain unclear. The first study 
session set for today is expected to have a discussion based on 
documentation related to the history of the shrine prepared by the 
association's secretariat. "It's difficult to reach a conclusion in 
one or two years of discussions," one senior member commented. 
 
The study session will discuss a broad range of questions, including 
separate enshrinement in order to prevent Koga from losing his face, 
but it will try to avoid jolting the war-bereaved association 
excessively. The association, which is said to be losing organizing 
power owing to a decrease in the membership and aging, is put in a 
difficult situation. 
 
6) Granddaughter of former Prime Minister Tojo to run in the 
summer's Upper House election 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Yuko Tojo, a granddaughter of former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, 
announced yesterday her candidacy for this summer's House of 
Councillors election. The 67-year-old Tojo heads a non-profit 
organization. She intends to play up her opposition toward the idea 
that the souls of Class-A war criminals, including her grandfather, 
now enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine should be separated from it. She 
will make a decision this week on whether she will run in the race 
as an independent in the Tokyo constituency or if she will establish 
a party to run as a candidate for the proportional representation 
segment in the election. 
 
Tojo told reporters yesterday: "Some in the Liberal Democratic Party 
(LDP) have called for removing Class-A war criminals from Yasukuni 
Shrine. I wonder if it is good to completely deny the past." 
 
TOKYO 00002033  006 OF 012 
 
 
Referring also to the discovery of former Imperial Household Agency 
grand steward's diary, which wrote that the Emperor Showa expressed 
unhappiness with the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals in 
Yasukuni, she stated: "I feel something that is intentional and 
political. The Emperor Showa is being used for the purpose of 
removing them from Yasukuni." 
 
7) Rep. Honda: Prime Minister Abe's recent "apologies" can't be 
taken as apologies for former comfort women 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), who has introduced in the House of 
Representatives a resolution calling on the Japanese government to 
admit its historical responsibility and for the prime minister to 
offer a formal apology for former wartime comfort women, met with 
Japanese lawmaker Masaharu Nakagawa, a House of Representatives 
member from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto or 
DPJ), when Nakagawa was visiting the United States. Honda indicated 
to Nakagawa that he would continue his efforts to get the resolution 
adopted. Referring to Prime Minister Abe's recent apologies made in 
his talks with President Bush, Honda said: "I don't think the issue 
has been fully finalized. I can't take them as an official apology 
in the true sense of the term." This was revealed by Nakagawa during 
a press conference yesterday. 
 
Nakagawa held a one-hour meeting with Honda. According to Nakagawa, 
in the session, Honda explained that the US Congress legally 
admitted its responsibility for violations of Japanese immigrants' 
human rights at camps in wartime and compensated for them, adding: 
"Japan's approach is that every time the prime minister is replaced, 
a new prime minister will say whatever he likes. I wonder what is 
with laws and Diet resolutions and how the Diet has been involved in 
the issue." 
 
8) Government to set up new organization to prevent leaks of 
classified data 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
The government decided yesterday to set up a new organization called 
the "counterintelligence center" (tentative name) next April to 
tighten measures to prevent the leaks of classified intelligence. 
The CI center will be tasked with examining, based on a uniform 
standard to be set by the government, whether each government agency 
has properly introduced measures to protect classified information. 
Following the United States government signing an agreement with 
Japan to expand military intelligence to be shared between the two 
countries, it has urged Japan to strengthen its information 
management system. 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated in his policy speech in January 
the importance of strengthening the Cabinet Office's 
intelligence-related functions. Reflecting his desire, the 
government's Counterintelligence Promotion Conference, chaired by 
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Junzo Matoba, will include the plan 
to establish the CI center in its interim report due out in August. 
 
If the center finds a leak of classified data, the government 
intends to apply existing rules in the National Civil Service Law or 
 
TOKYO 00002033  007 OF 012 
 
 
the Self-Defense Force Law for the time being. 
 
The governments of Japan and the US concluded a General Security of 
Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) at the Japan-US Security 
Consultative Committee meeting (2+2) on May 1. Based on the accord, 
the two countries will share more secret intelligence. 
 
9) Defense minister wants to consider easing Three Principles on 
Arms Exports: Chief cabinet secretary remains cautious 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma during a meeting of the Lower House 
Special Committee on Prevention of Terrorism and Assistance to Iraq 
held yesterday once again expressed his intention to look into the 
possibility of easing the Three Principles on Arms Exports. He said: 
"The cost of R&D for equipment is considerably high. Is it all right 
for Japan to do it on its own? Joint research with a foreign country 
would reduce purchasing costs." To be precise, he exemplified the 
making of protective clothing against bio-chemical weapons as the 
subject of joint research. 
 
The government has limited joint research and development with the 
exception of part of such activities, including Japan-US joint 
development and production of the missile defense system, since 
exchanges of parts as a result of joint research infringe on the 
Three Principles. However, Kyuma stated in the speech given during 
his recent visit to the US, "It is the time to consider whether the 
present situation is all right or not. 
 
In response, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a press 
conference yesterday morning, "The government will continue to be 
cautious in dealing with the control of arms exports in view of the 
basic ideals of a pacifist nation Japan, including the Three 
Principles on Arms Exports." He thus underscored that there would be 
no change in the government's stance of firmly maintaining the three 
principles. 
 
10) "Elephant cage" being demolished 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
The Sobe communications site in Yomitan Village, Okinawa Prefecture 
(commonly called the elephant cage; 530,000 square meters) is being 
demolished. Along with Futenma Air Station, the site has been a 
symbol of the base issue in the prefecture since the 1995 schoolgirl 
rape incident. Heavy machinery that entered the site in April has 
been digging up the underground net-line antennas. 
 
The Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau plans to remove 
all components, including the 28-meter-tall cage-shape antennas, 
from the site in June. 
 
The US military started using the site during the 1945 Battle of 
Okinawa. The military communications facility equipped with the 
antennas lined up 200 meters in diameter was completed in 1953. An 
agreement was reached in 1996 to return it to Japan in four years. 
Due to a delay in its relocation to a new site in the prefecture, 
the land was totally returned to Japan at the end of last December. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002033  008 OF 012 
 
 
11) Ruling camp expects bill extending Iraq Special Measures Law for 
two years to pass Lower House on May 15 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Excerpts) 
May 8, 2007 
 
In the current Diet session, the final stage started yesterday. The 
ruling camp has decided to have a bill to extend the Iraq 
Reconstruction Special Measures Law for another two years adopted at 
a House of Representatives Special Committee meeting on May 11 and 
clear the Lower House on the 15th. But Minshuto (Democratic Party of 
Japan) has presented a bill to scrap the said law. Both camps are 
ready to engage in an all-out confrontation. 
 
In a Liberal Democratic Party executive meeting yesterday, Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the participants to make utmost 
efforts to have key bills enacted in the final stage of the current 
Diet session. Abe said: "The Diet session has come to the final 
phase, and the House of Councillors election is drawing closer. I 
want the government and the ruling parties to work together as one 
team. I expect you to make efforts to display the fundamental 
strengths of the LDP." 
 
In particular, it is an imminent task for the government to pass the 
bill on the Iraq Reconstruction Special Measures Law, which is due 
to expire at the end of July. The prime minister agreed with United 
States President Bush in their recent meeting on the view that "the 
Japan-US alliance is irreplaceable." Given this, Abe gives top 
priority to enacting the bill in the current Diet session. Senior 
ruling party members, including LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman 
Toshihiro Nikai and New Komeito Diet Affairs Committee Chairman 
Yoshio Urushibara, also affirmed the need to have the bill adopted 
in the Special Committee meeting on the 11th and that a vote be 
taken in a plenary session on the 15th. 
 
12) Government: Extending SDF mission in Iraq for two years came 
from Iraq 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Abridged slightly) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Did Iraq ask Japan to extend the Self-Defense Force's mission in the 
country for two years? The government and the opposition bloc locked 
horns in a Lower House Iraq reconstruction special committee session 
yesterday over the rationale for extending the SDF mission. 
 
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki had indicated to some Japanese media 
outlets that the presence of Japanese troops in his country would 
become unnecessary later this year. Based on this statement by 
Maliki, Kazunori Yamanoi of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) 
asked: "Prime Minister Maliki said that the presence of the SDF 
would become unnecessary this year. Why must the SDF mission be 
extended for two more years?" In response, Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Shiozaki explained: "It will take time for the Iraqi government to 
be able to run the country stably." Foreign Minister Aso also said: 
"We have confirmed with the Iraqi government that its request for 
the continued SDF mission is unchanged." 
 
Seiken Akamine of the Japanese Communist Party also posed a similar 
question. In response, Aso indicated that a request had come from UN 
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as well, in addition to Prime Minister 
 
SIPDIS 
Maliki. 
 
TOKYO 00002033  009 OF 012 
 
 
 
13) LDP group to send letters to US Senate and House urging them not 
to remove North Korea from US list of state sponsors of terrorism 
 
SANKEI (Page 3) (Abridged slightly) 
May 8, 2007 
 
A Liberal Democratic Party group to consider North Korea policy 
decided yesterday to send letters to all US congressional members 
urging them not to remove North Korea from the US list of state 
sponsors of terrorism unless the abduction issue is settled. The 
purpose is to give a boost to the pressure policy line that was 
agreed upon between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President George 
¶W. Bush in their talks on April 27. The group intends to encourage 
opposition lawmakers to sign the letters to express their support 
for the move. 
 
The group includes such members as Internal Affairs and 
Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga, Senior Vice Justice Minister 
Kenichi Mizuno, and Upper House member Ichita Yamamoto. The group 
took the initiative in legislating the Law Banning Specific Ships 
from Entering Japanese Ports that allowed the government to ban 
North Korean ships from entering Japan. The group will send letters 
to the US Senate and House later this month urging them to keep 
North Korea on the US terrorist-sponsor list. 
 
In his talks with Abe on April 27, President Bush indicated that he 
would keep the abduction issue in mind regarding a removal of North 
Korea from the terrorist-sponsor list. He also said after the 
summit: "I have strong feelings about the abduction issue and they 
will not wane." 
 
But the six-party joint statement specifies that the United States 
would start work toward delisting North Korea from its 
terrorism-sponsor list, and US-DPRK talks have already started. 
President Bush finds it difficult to run the Congress due to the 
Republicans' defeat in the midterm elections last November. Given 
the situation, speculation is still rife in the LDP, including 
junior members, that President Bush would lean toward "appeasement 
policy" depending on moves in the Congress. Behind the 
letter-sending plan lies the motive to increase Japan sympathizers 
in the US Congress. 
 
Some LDP members had planned a trip to the United States to lobby 
against a US House of Representatives resolution condemning Japan 
over the so-called comfort women issue. But they gave up the plan 
for fear of adverse effects. Their attempt also exposed weak ties 
between Japanese and US lawmakers. 
 
Learning bitter lessons from this case, LDP members are also trying 
to cultivate strong ties between the two political communities by 
sending letters to be prepared against an unexpected event. Yamamoto 
took this view: "Unless strong communication channels are 
established between the Japanese and American lawmakers who are 
moved by the abduction issue, parliamentary diplomacy in time of an 
emergency is not possible." 
 
14) Prime minister welcomes election of pro-US Sarkozy as president 
in France, anticipating favorable effect on Japan-US alliance 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00002033  010 OF 012 
 
 
 
Prime Minister Abe welcomes the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy, a pro-US 
conservative, in the French presidential election, defeating 
Socialist Segolene Royal. Given that relations between the United 
States and France have been sour since incumbent President Jacques 
Chirac reacted negatively to the Bush administration's decision on 
the Iraq war, the prime minister anticipates that an improvement in 
the US-France relations and an increase in International confidence 
in the US would enhance the importance of the Japan-US alliance. 
 
When he met visiting Prime Minister Abe this January, President 
Chirac made a remark critical of President Bush, perplexing Abe and 
accompanying Japanese officials. 
 
During that visit, Abe met with Sarkozy and Royal, who were 
preparing for the presidential election, for 30 minutes separately. 
 
In the meeting with Abe, Sarkozy expressed his eagerness to improve 
the strained relations with the US, saying: "I am aware of the 
importance of close relations with the US in dealing with 
international challenges." Abe praised Sarkozy's diplomatic stance, 
saying: "European countries, including your country, which shares 
basic values with Japan, are an important strategic partner to us." 
 
Even so, as Foreign Vice Minister Shotaro Yachi said, "President 
Chirac knows a lot more about Japanese culture than many Japanese," 
but in contrast, Sarkozy has been remotely related with Japan. 
 
Abe and Sarkozy will hold their first summit on the sidelines of the 
Heiligendamm Summit in early June. Although both sides are expected 
to agree on a pro-US policy line, it remains to be seen if they can 
establish a personal relationship of trust. 
 
15) Revision of Political Funds Control Law: LDP agrees to require 
attaching receipts to political funds reports; Revision bill to be 
submitted to current Diet session 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
May 8, 2007 
 
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) decided yesterday to 
submit to the ongoing Diet session a bill revising the Political 
Funds Control Law to require political fund management organizations 
to attach to politicians' funds reports receipts for expenditures of 
50,000 yen or more for their operating expenses. Many LDP lawmakers 
had opposed the attachment of receipts. At the behest of Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe, who is positive about a law revision, however, 
Nobuteru Ishihara, who heads the party's Reform Implementation 
Headquarters, reported the party's decision to Abe yesterday. Abe 
then gave his concurrence. 
 
With the House of Councillors election coming up in July, the LDP 
gave consideration to the New Komeito, which has called for the 
clarification of political funds. There was a strong objection in 
the LDP, but the dominant view in the party is that in line with the 
prime minister's will, the bill should be passed through the Diet 
during the current session. However, since the law would require 
only political fund management organizations to attach receipts, 
politicians' expenditures through other political organizations will 
probably become loopholes. The main opposition party Minshuto 
(Democratic Party of Japan) sees this as a problem. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002033  011 OF 012 
 
 
16) Minshuto President Ozawa finally agrees to hold debate with 
Prime Minister Abe 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
May 8, 2007 
 
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) President Ichiro Ozawa held a 
meeting with Acting President Naoto Kan and Secretary General Yukio 
Hatoyama. In the meeting, he confirmed that he would hold a 
one-on-one debate at the Diet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 
 
Up until now, no debate has occurred between the two during the 
current session of the Diet since Ozawa has placed priority on his 
stumping tour of local areas with this summer's House of Councillors 
election in mind. Because of this, the ruling Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP) Diet Affairs Committee Chief Deputy Chairman Goji 
Sakamoto criticized Ozawa for "thinking lightly of the Diet." Kozo 
Watanabe, a supreme advisor to Minshuto, also expressed unhappiness 
with Ozawa, saying, "It is a problem that he doesn't want to hold a 
debate." 
 
Ozawa appears to have decided to hold a debate based on his judgment 
that since he was an advocator of the party-heads debate in the 
Diet, it would not good for him to be criticized when thinking his 
party's campaigning for the summer's Upper House election. 
 
LDP's Sakamoto welcomed Ozawa's decision, saying, "I think he has no 
choice but to respond to a debate. Otherwise, Minshuto won't be able 
to fight in the Upper House election." 
 
Minshuto intends to hold a debate on May 16. However since there is 
a basic rule that no debate occurs during a week when the prime 
minister attends a plenary session or committee meeting. Therefore, 
whether a debate between Abe and Ozawa will be held on the 16 is 
uncertain. 
 
17) Private-sector members of CEFP to propose joint studies on 
Japan-US EPA as well as agricultural reform 
 
ASAHI (Page 11) (Excerpts) 
May 8, 2007 
 
The specifics of proposals for internationalization, which 
private-sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy 
(CEFP) plan to offer at a council meeting tomorrow, have been 
released. As a feature a set of proposals will call on the 
government to expedite talks on economic partnership agreements with 
countries and areas, including the US and the EU. Gross domestic 
products (GDP) combining that of Japan and the US, the world's 
second and first largest economies, account for approximately 40% of 
that of the entire world. If Japan and the US start EPA talks, the 
move is bound to have a major impact on the multilateral trade talks 
(Doha Round) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
 
A draft report compiled by an experts research council, which forms 
the base of the planned proposals, highly evaluates Japan-US EPA 
talks, noting that such a pact, if concluded, will activate trade 
and investment between the two countries as well as to further 
strengthen bilateral close ties. It characterized the signing of a 
Japan-US EPA as a key agenda in the future, pointing out the 
possibility of Japanese companies finding themselves in a 
disadvantageous position on the US market, compared with South Korea 
 
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companies, due to the recent agreement between the US and South 
Korea to sign an EPA. The draft calls on Japanese and US industries, 
government, and scholars to exchange information on the EPAs and 
FTAs they have so far signed with other countries on a full scale. 
The trade amount between Japan and the US accounts for approximately 
20% of that of the entire world. Many in government circles and the 
ruling camp are against the idea of the two countries signing an EPA 
arguing that such an accord will not be compatible with WTO talks, 
where liberalization of multilateral trade is being looked into. 
 
DONOVAN