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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 002411 
 
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 05/30/07 
Part-1 
 
 
INDEX: 
(1) Interview with Defense Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya on 
collective self-defense: Environmental changes should be reflected 
in debate 
 
(2) Ruling bloc introduces special exemption to statute of 
limitation bill for public pension system; Targets of relief 
measures unclear 
 
(3) Abe government shaken (Part 1): Prime Minister Abe's weak 
political footing 
 
(4) Abe government shaken (Part 2): LDP, New Komeito at odds over 
politics and money issues 
 
(5) Self-Defense Forces in transformation (Part 2): Maritime Staff 
Office's leadership evokes suspicion among Defense Agency officials 
not in uniform 
 
(6) Self-Defense Forces in transformation (Part 3): MSDF eager to 
demonstrate its presence through US-led PSI 
 
ARTICLES: 
(1) Interview with Defense Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya on 
collective self-defense: Environmental changes should be reflected 
in debate 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
May 26, 2007 
 
-- What is the main reason why the government has launched a 
full-scale debate on the right of collective self-defense? 
 
We once believed that the end of the Cold War would usher in an era 
of global peace with the collapse of the bipolar structure of 
antagonism between the United States and the then Soviet Union. In 
actuality, the international community began to face new challenges 
that had not existed in the cold-war era. Since a single country is 
unable to deal with such new challenges, cooperation among countries 
has become imperative. The world has stepped into a new security 
environment. 
 
The first challenge is the proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction, in particular, ballistic missiles. The second one is 
terrorism by Islamic fundamentalists using mass-transportation means 
such as mails containing anthrax and aircraft, as represented by the 
events of 9/11. The third challenge is the spread of ethnic 
conflicts. 
 
-- Is it difficult to determine if actions to get rid of 
international terrorism or guerrillas come under the category of 
exercising the right of belligerency? 
 
This issue has already been discussed in the international 
community, but the US insists that counteractions against Islamic 
fundamentalists, who attacked the US on Sept. 11, be regarded as 
acts of self-defense. We must also keep such points in mind. 
 
-- Does intercepting a missile heading toward the US fall under 
collective self-defense? 
 
The US has a vast territory that stretches from Alaska to the border 
 
TOKYO 00002411  002 OF 009 
 
 
with Mexico. Missiles directed at Hawaii or Guam (from North Korea) 
naturally fly over Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has raised a 
question about whether it would be acceptable for Japan to do 
nothing toward a missile flying over Japan and heading in the 
direction of the US, although Japan is now technically capable of 
intercepting it. 
 
-- The New Komeito has asserted it is difficult to interpret such 
acts as coming under individual self-defense, hasn't it? 
 
When the government introduced a missile defense system for the 
first time, it prepared legislation to enable Japan to intercept 
incoming ballistic missiles under individual self-defense, as well 
as to shoot them down with police authority. I would like to 
carefully watch how discussion on the issue develops at the council 
(of experts set up by the government) and then judge if Japan is 
allowed to handle such acts under the government's current 
interpretation of the Constitution. 
 
(2) Ruling bloc introduces special exemption to statute of 
limitation bill for public pension system; Targets of relief 
measures unclear 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Almost Full) 
May 30, 2007 
 
In order to deal with 50 million cases of pension-contribution 
records having unknown contributors, the ruling bloc yesterday 
introduced a special exemption to the statute of limitation bill for 
the public pension system. This will pave the way for pensioners to 
receive their due benefits. However, how many people are eligible 
for the application of the bill is not known. The government and the 
ruling parties are trying to demonstrate this relief measure to a 
maximum extent. However, the opposition parties are increasingly 
opposing the bill as being insufficient. 
 
To what extent investigation into 50 million cases can be made 
unclear 
 
LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa yesterday played up the 
government's stance of determining names of contributors whose 
pension contribution records are missing: "The government will have 
the Social Insurance Agency (SIA) sort out all of the missing 50 
million cases by 2010 as its remaining duties before it is 
disbanded. I want to make it a principle for the state to carry that 
out with responsibility." 
 
If names of contributors making up those 50 million cases are 
tracked down, they will be notified the correct amount of pension 
benefits they are entitled to receive. However, under the present 
law, even if the amount of pension benefits is reinstated as a 
result of correction to the pension contribution records in 
question, pensioners can only receive an amount going back five 
years as a lump-sum payment. In order to make it possible for such 
pensioners to receive the full amounts, the ruling parties have 
introduced a bill to give a special exemption to the statute of 
limitation for the public pension system. 
 
However, the SIA says that they have no idea how many people would 
be given such an opportunity. 
 
Chances are that approximately 28.8 million cases are for pensioners 
 
TOKYO 00002411  003 OF 009 
 
 
aged 60 years or older. The SIA views that most of the records are 
for those who died before they reached an age entitled to receive 
pension benefits. If that is the case, the bill will cover an 
extremely small number of people. 
 
The government will call on pensioners and those who are 
contributing to the public pension system to pay attention to their 
own pension contribution records in order to reduce pension 
contribution records in limbo. It estimates that this will cost 
approximately 1 billion yen. 
 
However, in order to identify contributors concerning 50 million 
cases, it is insufficient just to call public attention. SIA 
officials will have to confirm individual cases of deaths or job 
changes of pension contributors, which would cost even more. 
 
Following the ruling parties' call for personnel cutbacks, the SIA 
is now implementing a personnel cutback program, under which 29,000 
incumbent SIA officials will be reduced to two-thirds by fiscal 
¶2012. Chances are, however, it would be difficult for the SIA to 
deal with the new task of investigating pension contribution records 
to identify contributors as well as to handle the most important job 
of improving the rate of the collection of national pension premiums 
with a reduced number of personnel. 
 
Perception gap over evidence to prove premium payments 
 
Though the government and the ruling parties have come up with a new 
measure, they have yet to determine whether they should address the 
issue in a positive manner or remain passive. Some participants in a 
meeting of the LDP Health, Labor and Welfare Committee on May 29 
called on young people as well as pensioners to check their pension 
premium contribution records. However, the Ministry of Health, Labor 
and Welfare did not agree. They indicated a wait-and-see attitude as 
before, saying that records of contributions by young people will be 
unified by the time they begin receiving pension benefits. Another 
issue is disappeared pension records, meaning neither contributors 
nor the SIA has pension contribution records. 
 
The prime minister during the meeting of the Health, Labor and 
Welfare Committee raised his voice, "Do you mean the government 
should pay pension benefits to all claimants?" The prime minister 
has pledged a flexible response from the perspective of those who 
come up as claimants, by backing off from its previous pedantic 
approach of acknowledging only receipts as evidence. However, he did 
not give in on the need for claimants to show some sort of evidence, 
noting that pension benefits payouts are financed by premium 
contributions by many people. 
 
Regarding evidence, LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi 
Nakagawa during a TV talk show on May 27 indicated that a moderate 
measure should be taken. He said, "The issue will have to be handled 
from a perspective of good intention, such as estimation or 
circumstantial evidence. However, a deep-seated view in the 
government and the ruling parties is if one can receive benefits 
only by claiming that one has paid contributions, some may lie. 
Should that occur, those who have paid contributions properly would 
become unhappy. In that case, the pension system will fail. 
 
Prime Minister Abe on May 28 revealed his intention to establish 
within the government a third-party body to determine whether to 
correct records in the event of neither side having no contribution 
 
TOKYO 00002411  004 OF 009 
 
 
evidence. However, how such a body reaches decisions, based on what 
guidelines, is not yet in sight. 
 
(3) Abe government shaken (Part 1): Prime Minister Abe's weak 
political footing 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) 
May 29, 2007 
 
"Due to public distrust in the pension program and the agricultural 
minister's suicide, we will fight an uphill battle in the House of 
Councillors election," said a senior member of the Tsushima faction 
in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on the afternoon of May 
¶28. A plummeting cabinet support rate and the unprecedented suicide 
of an incumbent cabinet minister during the weekend have now 
completely changed the political landscape. Although Prime Minister 
Shinzo Abe appeared to have gained confidence by putting forward his 
policy of prioritizing constitutional amendments and educational 
reform, his political footing has been surprisingly weak. The ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) campaign strategy relying on Abe's 
popularity for the Upper House election easily collapsed. 
 
Abe was informed of the news about Agriculture, Forestry and 
Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka at around 12:45 p.m. on May 
28 in a car returning to the Prime Minister's Official Residence 
(Kantei) from Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo where an 
annual ceremony in remembrance of unknown soldiers and others who 
died during wartime or in postwar internment. After holding a 
meeting at Kantei with Rengo (Japan Trade Unions Confederation) 
President Tsuyoshi Takagi, Abe arrived at Keio University Hospital 
at 3:00 p.m. After viewing the body, he told reporters at Kantei: 
"The suicide was regrettable. I'm overwhelmed by it. His face looked 
peaceful." He was nearly in tears when responding to questions by 
reporters. He consistently backed Matsuoka when the opposition 
pursued him in the Diet session last week, and he in turn criticized 
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) President Ichiro Ozawa's 
political fund issue. 
 
Another obstacle shaking the foundation of the LDP's campaign 
strategy for the Upper House election is public distrust in the 
pension system. According to a poll conducted on May 26-27 by the 
Mainichi Shimbun, the public support rate for the Abe cabinet 
dropped 11 points from the previous survey to 32 percent. In a 
survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun during the same 
timeframe, the cabinet approval rate plummeted 12 points to 41 
percent. According to the results of the Mainichi poll, the rates of 
non-support from men in their 30s and 40s soared to 55 percent and 
57 percent, respectively. During the time when the polls were 
conducted, the media was reporting heavily about 50.95 million 
missing records if individual pension premium payments, hinting, 
too, about the possibility of the moneys having been siphoned off. 
 
Only two weeks before, in a meeting on May 14 of the LDP Policy 
Research Council held at the hall in the 9th floor of party 
headquarters, the atmosphere was completely different. Amid a 
stalled discussion on the details of the party's manifesto (campaign 
pledges) for the Upper House, a Lower House member representing the 
Chugoku-Shikoku region got applause for his remarks that campaign 
issues should be vague, as the prime minister asserts that he will 
create a "beautiful country." 
 
On the evening of May 27, Abe telephoned LDP Secretary General 
 
TOKYO 00002411  005 OF 009 
 
 
Hidenao Nakagawa and instructed him to submit to the current session 
a bill to address record-keeping errors in pension management as a 
relief measure to cover full unpaid benefits for pensioners. The 
ongoing session will run until June 23. The ruling coalition 
initially planed to submit the bill to the next Diet session. 
Learning the results of the opinion polls, however, the prime 
minister changed the plan. 
 
Hokkaido University Prof. Jiro Yamaguchi analyzed: 
 
"I presume that salaried workers who are in their 30s and 40s may 
begin to think that politicians are not seriously dealing with the 
issues as they should be, including the pension issue. This is an 
indication that the public is calling for substantive policy 
debate." 
 
(4) Abe government shaken (Part 2): LDP, New Komeito at odds over 
politics and money issues 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
May 30, 2007 
 
Set off by suicide of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister 
Toshikatsu Matsuoka, it was expected that the keen awareness of 
politicians toward "money and politics" scandals would increase. 
However, just the opposite seems to be occurring in the ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). 
 
A senior LDP member explained the mood in the party about a bill to 
revise the Political Funds Control Law requiring political fund 
management organizations to attach to fund reports receipts for 
expenditures of 50,000 yen or more for operating expenses. The 
lawmaker noted, "Some in our party say that it is a question of 
whether the law should be amended now that Matsuoka has died since 
the bill as proposed was meant to deal with the issue of his 
claiming huge utility expenses (for a cost-free office)." 
 
At 10:10 a.m. on May 29, the next day after Matsuoka's suicide, a 
press conference by Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister 
Tetsuzo Fuyushiba started. 
 
Asked about his opinion on politics and money issues, Fuyushiba 
responded: "The only way to resolve the issue is to increase 
transparency. We should make clear the use of political funds and 
leave the matter to the discretion of the public. The law is strict 
with funds received, but I never assumed that a problem would arise 
regarding expenditures." 
 
Fuyushiba is a member of the New Komeito, which has always advocated 
its clean political affairs. So he took a positive stance toward 
tougher regulations on expenses, although he had been cautious about 
his remarks in order to avoid sounding at odds with the cabinet. He 
expressed unhappiness with the LDP, which has been oblivious to 
"politics and money" issues. 
 
On May 29 the LDP General Council took a vote on the bill revising 
the Political Funds Control Law. The LDP finally agreed to the 
legislation In the form of suggested by the New Komeito. However, 
the session focused on the issue of Minshuto (Democratic Party of 
Japan) President Ichiro Ozawa's fund management organization's 
acquisition of huge chunks of real estate. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002411  006 OF 009 
 
 
Former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said: "Penalties for the 
acquisition of real estate should be included in the bill." 
 
Former MITI Minister Takashi Fukaya stated: "We should not allow 
illegalities." 
 
General Council Chairman Yuya Niwa concluded the session by saying, 
"I want to make the issue pending until the party's reform 
implementation headquarters gives a convincible explanation." The 
council then put off the submission of the bill on May 29 that the 
LDP had agreed to co-sponsor with the New Komeito. 
 
Hearing the LDP General Council's decision, a New Komeito official 
became upset, saying, "Even though the bill is aimed at covering the 
LDP's mistakes, if they make such a decision, we will have to say 
what we must say." 
 
The delicate differences between the New Komeito, ostensibly a peace 
party, and the Abe administration, which seeks to amend Article 9 of 
the Constitution, have been revealed. On constitutional reform, the 
dominant view is that the extent of cooperation by the New Komeito 
with the LDP is limited to enacting a National Referendum Law. Abe 
said that the LDP would make constitutional reform a campaign issue 
and that the LDP started studying a review of the government's 
interpretation of the right of collective defense. These stances 
have widened the gulf between the LDP and New Komeito. 
 
Appearing on a NHK talk show on May 27, New Komeito Chief 
Representative Akihiro Ota stated: "If LDP candidates for the Upper 
House election take substantially different views from our party, we 
cannot support them." The public support rate for the Abe cabinet 
plunged that day. 
 
With the plummeting cabinet support rating, the LDP has no choice 
but to increase its reliance on the New Komeito in the Upper House 
election. The bill to revise the Public Funds Control Law should 
have become the cement that bound the LDP and New Komeito together. 
But now with Matsuoka's suicide, the LDP has lost enthusiasm to 
cooperate, and discord has broken out with the New Komeito instead. 
 
(5) Self-Defense Forces in transformation (Part 2): Maritime Staff 
Office's leadership evokes suspicion among Defense Agency officials 
not in uniform 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
May 28, 2007 
 
"The Maritime Self-Defense Force will assist the United States in 
any way possible." 
 
"Thank you. I appreciate your offer." 
 
This conversation took place on the phone between then MSDF Chief of 
Staff Toru Ishikawa and Rear Adm. Robert Chaplin, commander of the 
US Naval Forces Japan, late on Sept. 11, 2001, immediately after the 
terrorist attacks on America's nerve centers. 
 
True to Ishikawa's words, the Maritime Staff Office immediately 
decided to send security personnel to Tokyo Bay and Sasebo Bay that 
were close to US bases. Destroyers and minesweepers carrying MSDF 
crewmembers sailed for those ports on the early morning of Sept. 12. 
The SDF's steps did not end there. 
 
TOKYO 00002411  007 OF 009 
 
 
 
The airspace over the Yokosuka Naval Base contained flight paths for 
planes from and to Haneda Airport. Flying passenger planes reminded 
US servicemen of the hijacked planes that struck the World Trade 
Center towers. 
 
On Sept. 21, four US warships, including the Kitty Hawk, left 
Yokosuka reportedly for joining the campaign in Afghanistan. But in 
reality, the move was for evacuating the US vessels following the 
contingency. Sandwiched by two MSDF destroyers, the Kitty Hawk 
sailed on. 
 
Harbor patrol and escorting the US aircraft carrier were done in the 
name of research and study under the Defense Agency Establishment 
Law. The law governs the Defense Agency's administrative work, 
meaning the management of the Self-Defense Forces. And defending 
Japan is the SDF's duty. 
 
Defending US forces would result in closer ties between Japan and 
the United States and an enhanced system for the defense of Japan. 
At the same time, the step could be taken as exercising the right to 
collective self-defense, which was prohibited under the 
Constitution. 
 
The step caused tumultuous debate in a conference in the Defense 
Ministry before allowing the SDF destroyers to escort the US 
warships. A defense official not in uniform argued, "The grounds 
were too ambiguous." The Maritime Staff Office in the end 
successfully convinced the internal bureaus, asking, "Are you 
prepared to see the Japan-US alliance collapse?" 
 
Having making joint efforts with the US to contain Soviet submarines 
during the Cold War era, the MSDF has the closest ties to the United 
States of all the three forces in Japan. Openly referring itself as 
the direct descendent of the former Imperial Japanese Navy, the MSDF 
is independent minded and takes pride in itself as having played a 
main role in the Japan-US alliance. 
 
The Maritime Staff Office miscalculated the situation, however. The 
escort of the US aircraft carrier by the MSDF destroyers elicited 
displeasure from the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
saying, "We did not hear anything about it," There was a rumble as 
well from the Liberal Democratic Party: "The MSDF overplayed its 
hand." 
 
It was also the LDP that later forced the MSDF to remove the 
high-performance Aegis system from its vessels dispatched to the 
Indian Ocean apparently for the sake of civilian control. But 
questions still remain about civilian control. 
 
Eight days after 9/11, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 
unveiled a seven-item emergency response, including refueling US 
warships. The same item appeared on the MSDF's set of support 
measures, independently compiled by the Maritime Staff Office. The 
MSDF's report also clearly mentioned the Indian Ocean as the area of 
activities. 
 
The Defense Agency internal bureaus were unaware of Prime Minister 
Koizumi's seven-item list because the Foreign Ministry independently 
drafted it. 
 
"The internal bureaus considered the option of dispatching a 
 
TOKYO 00002411  008 OF 009 
 
 
government plane for evacuating American people. We didn't think 
there was demand (for refueling). We though that was out of the 
question," a former senior Maritime Staff Office member said, 
looking back on those days. Uniformed officers later began making 
quiet contact with the Foreign Ministry. 
 
On November 9, 2001, three MSDF vessels departed Japan for the 
Indian Ocean under the pretext of research and study - the same as 
escorting the US aircraft carrier in accordance with the Defense 
Agency Establishment Law. The only difference was that the Kantei 
had given the go ahead to the Indian Ocean mission. 
 
"The Maritime Staff Office pulled the wires behind the scenes." The 
suspicion the internal bureaus harbored back then still grips them. 
 
 (6) Self-Defense Forces in transformation (Part 3): MSDF eager to 
demonstrate its presence through US-led PSI 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
May 30, 2007 
 
The Maritime Self-Defense Force participated for the first time in a 
multinational Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) interdiction 
training exercise held in Singapore in August 2005. The MSDF sent 
one destroyer and two P3C patrol planes to the exercise. 
 
Patrol planes also searched waters in the South China Sea based on a 
scenario in which a Northeast Asian vessel carrying illicit 
chemicals was cruising in waters there. The MSDF conducted a 
difficult nighttime search. Their discovery of three suspicious 
ships by using an infrared sensor impressed crewmembers of other 
countries. 
 
Looking back on the exercise, commander Eiji Terashima, 50, said, 
"It helped increase the level of teamwork among participating 
countries." What is difficult in PSI is not front-line training. A 
lack of unity was already evident in the tabletop training on the 
first day, pointing to mounting problems. 
 
In the case of Japan, for instance, only the Japan Coast Guard is 
allowed to carry out maritime interdictions in waters under domestic 
law. The Maritime Self-Defense Force is not allowed to engage in 
such activities unless the government orders maritime security 
operations or the ship inspection law is invoked following a 
contingency like a war in areas surrounding Japan. 
 
US President George W. Bush first proposed the PSI in May 2003. 
 
Ships are free to navigate on the high seas under the UN Convention 
on the Law of the Sea. Maritime interdictions are limited to such 
cases as trafficking in persons, acts of piracy, and ships of 
unknown or false nationality. Countries can crack down on some cases 
that occur in their territorial waters under their domestic law. An 
increase in the number of PSI participants, which now stands at 75, 
can help prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction 
(WMD). 
 
A certain event occurred last October following North Korea's 
nuclear test that made Japan realize that it has a perception gap 
with the United States. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution 
banning the trade in WMD-related materials with North Korea. The 
resolution simply urged the member countries to deal with the 
 
TOKYO 00002411  009 OF 009 
 
 
situation as necessary under their respective domestic law and 
international law instead of mentioning the need for maritime 
interdictions, including firing warning shots. 
 
The United State, which led the UN Security Council, gave priority 
to the wishes of China and Russia over Japan's call for tough 
sanctions. Washington's primary concern was a third country gaining 
possession of nuclear materials from North Korea rather than the 
reclusive country itself, which does not have the military 
capability to attack the United States. 
 
Inspection activities combining international law and domestic law 
resulted in the PSI. America's UN ambassador at the time was John 
Bolton, who had devised the PSI during his tenure as under secretary 
of state. Washington's intention to establish the PSI to guarantee 
the security of the United States became clear. 
 
Countries subject to the PSI depend largely on America's decision. 
Bolton once called for nonproliferation from North Korea and Iran, 
labeling them rogue states. The term "Northeast Asia" in the PSI 
exercise in Singapore clearly pointed to North Korea. 
 
That is why China and South Korea, which have friendly ties with 
North Korea, have not joined the PSI. Some other countries are also 
keeping their distance from the PSI based on the bitter lessons from 
the Iraq war, which was initiated by a "coalition of the willing." 
 
"Still, joining the PSI carries some significance," a senior MSDF 
officer said. Armed with naval vessels and patrol planes, the MSDF 
is the only entity in Japan that can give life to the PSI. The MSDF 
undoubtedly regards the PSI as a good venue to demonstrate its 
presence regardless of restrictions under domestic law. 
 
SCHIEFFER