VZCZCXRO2369
OO RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #2463/01 1520859
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 010859Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4134
INFO RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA PRIORITY 1356
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA PRIORITY 3786
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE PRIORITY 4918
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 2219

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 002463 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USTR FOR AUSTR CUTLER AND BEEMAN/MYERS 
USDA FOR TERPSTRA AND USDA/FAS FOR YOST 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/1/17 
TAGS: ECON EAGR PINR JA
SUBJECT: NORIHIKO AKAGI - NEW AGRICULTURE MINISTER, OLD 
APPROACH? 
 
REF: JAPAN ECONOMIC SCOPE - 10 MARCH 2007 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Thomas Schieffer, for reasons 1.5 (b and d). 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.   (C)  After a difficult search that took a couple days 
longer than expected, Norihiko Akagi will be Japan's new 
Agriculture Minister.  The 48 year-old, six-term Diet member 
from Ibaraki Prefecture replaces Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who 
committed suicide earlier this week in the face of growing 
corruption allegations.  Young by the standards of Japanese 
cabinet ministers, Akagi is not well known to the public.  In 
explaining the appointment on June 1, Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Shiozaki told reporters that PM Abe selected Akagi in part 
because "he understands Japan's agricultural policies and 
Japan's place in the world," and would be effective in 
representing Japan's national interests.  Shiozaki cited 
specifically ongoing WTO and FTA negotiations.  Although not 
reform-minded when we met Akagi earlier in the spring, it may 
be too early to draw any conclusions.  Akagi's grandfather 
was a six-time Agriculture Minister and the new minister 
served at the Agriculture Ministry (MAFF) for seven years 
after graduating from Tokyo University in 1983.  End summary. 
 
 
¶2.   (SBU) By some accounts we have heard, PM Abe had a 
difficult time finding a qualified person to replace previous 
Agriculture Minister Matsuoka, the embattled old-time LDP 
politician who hanged himself on May 28 presumably over 
corruption scandals that were closing in on him.  Most of the 
names to emerge had flaws.  The government wanted somebody 
who could step in and handle some difficult issues right away 
-- including the ongoing Doha Round trade talks and the 
FTA/EPA talks Japan launched in April with Australia. 
According to observers we have talked to, Abe viewed Matsuoka 
as a key to bringing Japan on board for a Doha agreement.  If 
Matsuoka was not particularly proactive in identifying a way 
forward for the talks, he would at least be effective in 
selling a deal back home where he remained popular with 
Japan's highly protectionist farm lobby. 
 
Comes With Credentials and Pedigree 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.   (SBU) For his part, Akagi has credentials and pedigree 
on his side -- although his political clout is not so 
certain.  A product of the prestigious Tokyo University Law 
Faculty, Akagi entered MAFF after graduation and gained a 
familiarity with agricultural issues from inside the 
bureaucracy.  Seven years later he left the ministry to run 
for the Diet from Ibaraki Prefecture, following in his grand 
father, Munenori Akagi's footsteps.  He rose up the LDP ranks 
as a member of the Komura Faction, which is relatively 
reform-minded, but small, with only 16 members.  Representing 
an agricultural district, Akagi has served on the LDP 
Agriculture Commission in the Diet and made farm issues a 
priority during his tenure.  He served briefly as a Deputy 
Director General of the Self Defense Agency in the first 
Koizumi government, a post his grandfather filled decades 
earlier. 
 
Protectionist Mindset? 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.   (C) We met Akagi in March, in his capacity as the head 
of the LDP's International Bureau, to discuss his views on 
Doha and agriculture reform issues.  He emphasized the need 
to protect Japan's struggling farmers and said Japan could 
not accept any compromise the United States and EU were then 
working on to lower tariff caps.  He betrayed skepticism that 
agriculture reform in Japan would yield any results -- 
Japan's farmers were "inherently" inefficient -- and the 
sector would need continued protection.  Akagi acknowledged 
that reform of the farm sector was being implemented, but 
said he did not see much room for further reform.  He 
professed not to know anything about the activities of the 
FTA and Agriculture Reform Subcommittee working under the 
prime minister's Council for Economic and Fiscal Policy 
(CEFP) -- a body which has been a thorn in the side of MAFF's 
protectionist-minded bureaucrats and which recently issued a 
report calling for an outward-oriented trade policy and 
sweeping reforms of Japan's farm sector. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002463  002 OF 002 
 
 
His Own Man 
----------- 
 
¶5.   (C) On Akagi's appointment, we called over to his former 
deputy at the LDP's International Bureau for her views on 
what type of Agriculture minister he would make.  Akagi is 
cerebral, with sharp analytical skills, she said.  He quickly 
grasps what is important and draws well reasoned conclusions. 
 He is not a member of the LDP's old boys network, preferring 
to keep some distance with his colleagues.  At the same time, 
he knows how to network.  Another former MAFF official we 
talked to who worked with him when Akagi was a junior 
bureaucrat at the ministry said Akagi was of outstanding 
character and "well brought up" -- by implication, in stark 
contrast to his roguish immediate predecessor.  And Akagi's 
clean image was a factor in his selection.  The reality, 
however, the same person observed, is that as a young 
politician from a small LDP faction, Akagi will be dependent 
on the party's more crusty old guard of the farm lobby -- 
including Yoshio Yatsu, Kazuaki Miyaji, and Shoichi Nakagawa. 
 (Each, by the way, was reportedly considered for the 
ministerial position but shot down for various reasons.) 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6.   (C) It is too early to draw conclusions about what sort 
of Agriculture Minister Akagi will be.  He is young and 
ambitious and will likely try to do the Prime Minister's 
bidding for the most part.  Japan's trade policies, such as 
they are under PM Abe, will not likely change much with Akagi 
replacing Matsuoka as agriculture minister.  As one 
agricultural economist quipped to us when we asked about the 
new minister, it scarcely matters since the bureaucrats at 
MAFF will stay the same.  Another observation we have heard 
is that the Trade Ministry in coming weeks will likely play a 
bigger role in the Doha talks than it has to date.  This may 
be true, but not necessarily meaningful as so many of the 
obstacles to a WTO deal remain on the agricultural side. 
What is more certain -- and worrying -- is that PM Abe's new 
Agriculture Minister will not have the credibility among 
Japan's trade protectionists that his predecessor had.  If a 
Doha deal is reached -- with or without Japan's active 
participation in the negotiations leading up to it -- PM Abe 
will have a more difficult time selling it at home. 
SCHIEFFER