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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 002652 
 
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 06/12/07 
 
 
INDEX: 
(1) First in a series of polls on House of Councillors election 
 
(2) Interview with former Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister 
Takenaka on key points in economic and fiscal policy guidelines: 
Timing is important for prime minister to issue instructions 
 
(3) Editorial: US agrees to join new framework to combat global 
warming, but feasibility remains uncertain 
 
(4) 24 North Korean defectors in Japan stateless 
 
(5) Editorial: Expanded circle of cooperation and partnership hoped 
for 
 
ARTICLES: 
(1) First in a series of polls on House of Councillors election 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 8, 2007 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in percentage) 
 
Q: Do you support the Abe cabinet? 
 
Yes      32.9 
No53.7 
Other answers (O/A)   3.8 
No answer (N/A)   9.7 
 
Q: Are you interested in the upcoming election for the House of 
Councillors? 
 
Very interested   44.2 
Somewhat interested   27.7 
Not very interested   18.4 
Not interested at all  8.6 
N/A      1.2 
 
Q: Which political party's candidate are you thinking of voting for 
in the House of Councillors election this time in your electoral 
district? 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)    25.3 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto)  25.1 
New Komeito (NK)       3.5 
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)    2.8 
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto)  0.8 
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto)  0.4 
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon)   --- 
Other political parties      --- 
Independent candidate      1.0 
Undecided         34.8 
Nothing in particular 
N/A          6.4 
 
Q: Which political party's candidate or which political party are 
you thinking of voting for in your proportional representation 
bloc? 
 
LDP      22.2 
DPJ      23.9 
 
TOKYO 00002652  002 OF 007 
 
 
NK      4.5 
JCP      2.9 
SDP      1.7 
PNP      0.5 
NPN      0.1 
Other political parties  --- 
Independent candidate 
Undecided     36.7 
Nothing in particular 
N/A      7.4 
 
Q: Which political party do you not want to see increase the number 
of seats it has in the election this time? Pick as many as you like, 
if any. 
 
LDP      36.1 
DPJ      10.3 
NK      13.2 
JCP      14.4 
SDP      6.3 
PNP      2.2 
NPN      1.3 
Other political parties  --- 
Independent candidate 
Undecided 
None in particular (NIP)  31.4 
N/A      10.3 
 
Q: The LDP and New Komeito, which are the ruling parties, hold a 
majority of the seats in the House of Councillors. Would you like 
the ruling coalition to retain a majority of the seats, or would you 
otherwise like it to lose its majority? 
 
Retain its majority   32.0 
Lose its majority   48.8 
Can't say which   13.1 
N/A      6.1 
 
Q: About whether you will go to the polls in the House of 
Councillors election this time, pick only one from among those 
listed below. 
 
Will go to the polls for sure (including early voting) 64.0 
Will go to the polls if possible     27.3 
Will probably not go to the polls     4.8 
Will not go to the polls (abstain from voting)  0.4 
 
Q: What would you like to consider in particular when you choose a 
candidate or a political party to vote for in the election this 
time? Pick as many as you like from among those listed below. 
 
Economy      30.0 
Pensions      71.1 
Education      39.9 
Civil service reform   27.1 
Social divide     31.5 
Foreign, security policies  23.6 
Constitutional revision   24.9 
Politics and money    40.7 
O/A       1.4 
NIP       2.2 
N/A       1.9 
 
 
TOKYO 00002652  003 OF 007 
 
 
Q: Which political party do you support now? 
 
LDP      33.1 
DPJ      22.5 
NK      4.1 
JCP      3.7 
SDP      1.8 
PNP      0.3 
NPN      --- 
Other political parties  --- 
None      30.6 
N/A      3.9 
 
Q: On the issue of pension record-keeping flaws, the government has 
set forth a plan to create a new law intended to compensate the 
unpaid pensions and take other measures. Do you appreciate this 
government plan? 
 
Appreciate very much  14.1 
Appreciate somewhat   37.3 
Don't appreciate very much 23.9 
Don't appreciate at all  18.4 
N/A      6.4 
 
Q: Do you think Prime Minister Abe has appropriately responded to 
the issue of politics and money over former Agriculture, Forestry 
and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka? 
 
Yes   10.2 
No   79.7 
N/A   10.0 
 
Polling methodology: The survey was conducted across the nation from 
June 5 through June 7 on a computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) 
basis. A total of 1,593 households were found to have one or more 
eligible voters. Valid answers were obtained from 1,035 persons (65 
percent). 
 
(2) Interview with former Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister 
Takenaka on key points in economic and fiscal policy guidelines: 
Timing is important for prime minister to issue instructions 
 
NIKKEI (NIHON KEIZAI) (Page 7) (Full) 
Evening, June 7, 2007 
 
The Nikkei interviewed Heizo Takenaka. Takenaka was responsible for 
working out the government's annual guidelines for economic and 
fiscal policy for many years as state minister in charge of economic 
and fiscal policy. 
 
-- What is the significance of producing the annual guidelines on 
economic and fiscal policy? 
 
There are two roles. One is to present "strategic agenda (items)" or 
guidelines for structural reforms. When I assumed the ministerial 
post in the Koizumi administration, I was determined to write down 
in the annual guidelines specific challenges the government should 
pursue as part of structural reforms. I told then Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi: "Let's make the guidelines on economic and fiscal 
policy the bible or the control tower for structural reforms." 
 
Another role is to build a budgetary framework. Securing funding 
sources is necessary for policies to be implemented, but the Finance 
 
TOKYO 00002652  004 OF 007 
 
 
Ministry held both policymaking and budgetary-allocation powers. 
That was why groups of lobbyists swarmed to the Kasumigaseki 
government office area at year's end. These two roles quickly took 
hold. 
 
-- How do you think the relations between the bureaucratic heart of 
Tokyo and Japan's political center have changed recently? 
 
The first guidelines were completed smoothly. In 2002, our plan was 
almost squashed. In 2003, people around me began to suck up to me. 
We presented our agenda every year, and I think we were able to 
place a cap on budgetary allocations. A 10 PERCENT  cut in public 
works spending is a good example. We managed to end the nation's 
traditional demand-driven financial policies. 
 
-- How do you evaluate the Abe administration's approach? 
 
Rebuilding education and the Asia Gateway initiative are strategic 
agenda items, but I wonder what their ultimate purposes are. To put 
it in the terms of bowling, the direction of the ball is proper, but 
there is no center pin. It might be good to come up with such 
proposals as privatizing the University of Tokyo and making day 
trips to Singapore possible (by extending the operating hours of 
Japanese airports to accept late-night arrivals). Private-sector 
members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy should not feel 
restrained. They should boldly make one suggestion after another, 
for instance, cutting public works outlays. I hope the Abe 
administration will try to maximize earnings instead of minimizing 
outlays. 
 
-- Is there any problem with Prime Minister Abe's leadership? 
 
The prime minister has issued considerable instructions on his own 
will, but there is a problem with their timing. In the Japanese 
popular TV drama "Mitokomon," the main character shows the crest on 
the seal at around 8:50 p.m. in the final phase of the program. If 
he brought it out at another time, this ceremony would be 
meaningless. But the prime minister has shown the crest called "the 
prime minister's instruction" at 08:05 p.m. The prime minister 
should show the crest for the first time when cabinet ministers are 
attacked and public attention comes to bear. In this sense, I think 
State Minister in Charge of Administrative Reform Yoshimi Watanabe 
succeeded in his civil service reform. 
 
(3) Editorial: US agrees to join new framework to combat global 
warming, but feasibility remains uncertain 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 5) (Full) 
June 9, 2007 
 
The Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Germany agreed to jointly 
establish a new framework to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The 
United States and Europe managed to avert confrontation, but the 
feasibility of the new framework remains uncertain. 
 
On the controversial issue of global warming, the G-8 leaders agreed 
to seriously consider reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 
half by 2050 under a new scheme covering all the G-8 countries. 
 
The leaders also agreed to secure by 2009 a new framework to replace 
the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. 
 
At the outset of the summit, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, which 
 
TOKYO 00002652  005 OF 007 
 
 
hosted the Heiligendamm Summit, upheld the conventional view that 
greenhouse gas emissions should be cut more than 50 percent from 
1990 levels by 2050, locking horns with the US, which shied away 
from a specific deadline and any numerical targets out of 
consideration to its industrial circles. 
 
Japan tried to mediate between the two sides, stressing that they 
should look for not points of contention but points in common. Owing 
to Japan's efforts, the US and Europe made compromises in line with 
Japan's proposal that stopped short of mentioning a benchmark year, 
based on which cuts are measured. 
 
The US, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has not 
ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but it will join the new scheme. 
Negotiations on a post-Kyoto framework without the US would be 
meaningless. Given this, Japan's intermediary efforts should be 
appreciated. 
 
For now, though, only the stage of the United States' reintegration 
has been set and no more than this has been achieved. Any specific 
measures have yet to be worked out to meet the goal of halving 
greenhouse gas emissions. Some observers have already voiced 
skepticism about the feasibility of the 50 percent goal. 
 
The 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP13) will be held 
in Bali, Indonesia, later this year. The Toya Summit will also be 
held in Japan next year, and a new international conference is being 
planned under the initiative of the US and the UN. Under such a 
situation, the Japanese government is more responsible for playing a 
meditating role between the US and Europe in response to boosting 
global expectations. 
 
With the return of the US, a ray of hope is appearing for China to 
join the new scheme. Although China also announced its own reduction 
goal, it has maintained a stance of absolutely opposing any 
requirement being imposed on developing countries, including 
itself. 
 
Japan, the US and Europe are urged to devise a mechanism to induce 
China and other developing countries into a new framework by 
offering financial and technical assistance in exchange for their 
taking part in the next reduction scheme. 
 
(4) 24 North Korean defectors in Japan stateless 
 
YOMIURI (Top play) (Full) 
June 12, 2007 
 
Of the North Korean defectors who have settled in Japan, at least 24 
are registered as "stateless aliens," sources revealed. One reason 
for this development is the lack of a national policy for those 
defectors, and another is that each local government is allowed to 
handle registering aliens under its own rules. Unless those 
stateless people have a nationality, they are discriminated against 
in looking for employment and are unable to earn a steady income. 
They also face difficulty in becoming a naturalized Japanese 
citizen. While the number of North Korean defectors who settle in 
Japan is rising, the lack of a government-backed support system for 
those defectors has been revealed. 
 
North Korean defectors began coming to Japan in the latter half of 
the 1990s, when the economic situation in the North decline. In most 
 
TOKYO 00002652  006 OF 007 
 
 
cases, those defectors fled to China by land and ran into the 
Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang or other facilities to seek 
political asylum. Of those defectors, former North Korean residents 
of Japan who emigrated to North Korea under the (pro-Pyongyang 
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan's 
(Chongryon)-sponsored) project, as well as their Japanese spouses 
and children, are given visas on the grounds that they have 
relatives in Japan. As of the end of 2006, some 130 North Koreans 
have settled in Japan, and nine North Korean defectors since the 
beginning of this year have already entered Japan. 
 
In February, groups supporting North Korean defectors checked the 
alien registrations of 82 North Korean settlers whom groups were 
able to contact. As a result, 24 children and grandchildren of 
Japanese wives were registered as "stateless." Of the remainder, 
some reacquired Japanese nationality, as the Japanese wives were 
naturalized as Japanese citizens. Others were registered as "North 
Korean nationality" (but most of them shifted to South Korean 
nationality afterwards). 
 
In 1966, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) issued a notice entitled 
"Description in the original nationality column when Koreans (South 
Koreans) are newly registered." In line with this notice, in 1971 a 
precedent was created that those coming from the Korean Peninsula 
were put down as North Korean nationality. "This precedent is 
supposed to be followed by every municipality even now," an 
immigration official said. But some officials of local governments 
contend that because North Korean defectors fail to carry passports 
or other identifying documents, they have to be classified as 
"unidentified nationality." 
 
Reportedly, under the Nationality Law of Japan, Japanese wives can 
easily reacquire Japanese nationality, but their children and 
grandchildren will find it difficult to be naturalized as Japanese 
citizens unless they are recognized as those earning an income 
sufficient to cover their needs. 
 
However, when defectors looking for jobs produce their registration 
card showing their nationality as "stateless," firms suspect them of 
having entered the country illegally. For this kind of prejudice and 
other reasons, some of them are unable to get jobs. It is difficult 
for them to have a steady income. Moreover, there have been some 
defectors who were not allowed to join a night junior high school on 
the grounds that there was no precedent for accepting stateless 
people. 
 
Comments by Yasuhiro Okuda, professor (of international family law) 
at Chuo University: 
 
"The alien registration card is one of the most important 
identification cards for foreign people. The way municipalities 
automatically register them as 'stateless' is questionable. If local 
immigration officers encounter cases on which they can't decide, the 
Ministry of Justice should investigate the facts as to those cases. 
The ministry is responsible for handling registration business 
appropriately." 
 
(5) Editorial: Expanded circle of cooperation and partnership hoped 
for 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 10, 2007 
 
 
TOKYO 00002652  007 OF 007 
 
 
The inaugural meeting of the Japan-Australia Security Consultative 
Committee of foreign and defense ministers (2 plus 2) was held 
recently in Tokyo. In the meeting, the two countries agreed to step 
up bilateral cooperation for the peace and security of Asia and the 
world. 
 
The latest 2+2 -- Japan's first with a country other than its ally 
the United States -- took place in accordance with the 
Japan-Australia Declaration on Security Cooperation, signed in March 
by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart John 
Howard. 
 
Japan and Australia are not only US allies but also share the same 
democratic values as countries deeply committed to regional peace 
and stability. The two countries have increased bilateral 
cooperation through such events as the Self-Defense Forces' 
humanitarian and reconstruction activities in the southern Iraqi 
city of Samawah, efforts to ensure their safety, and relief efforts 
in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. 
 
Although Japan tends to regard security in Asia solely in the 
context of the Japan-US alliance, the security environment 
surrounding Asia and the world has drastically changed in the 21st 
century, as seen in the rise of China and the nuclear programs of 
North Korea and Iran. In the wake of Vice President Dick Cheney's 
visits to Japan and Australia in February, Washington eyes increased 
strategic dialogue among Japan, the United States, and Australia. 
 
Australia also pins high hopes on Japan, as evidenced by Australian 
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's words: "There is no friend in 
Asia that is closer than Japan." It is essential for Japan and 
Australia to increase bilateral cooperation as quasi-allies in order 
to supplement their alliances with the United States. We welcome 
increased Japan-Australia cooperation as a framework contributing to 
regional peace, security, and stability. 
 
In the 2+2, Japan and Australia agreed to urge North Korea to 
implement the six-party agreement and join efforts for resolving the 
abduction issue. They also adopted a number of cooperative themes, 
including: (1) a security cooperation action plan, (2) humanitarian 
assistance joint drills, (3) increased exchanges of information on 
weapons of mass destruction, and (4) a dialogue on development aid 
to small island nations in the Pacific. 
 
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Australia Trade 
Agreement. Serious efforts for concluding a Japan-Australia free 
trade agreement (FTA) are expected on the economic and trade fronts, 
as well. We would like to see the two countries earnestly proceed 
with those challenges steadily. 
 
They should result in a multilayered security cooperation system in 
the Asia-Pacific region and help the Abe administration achieve 
"assertive diplomacy." We would like to see an expanded circle of 
partnership that shares the same values and interests based on 
cooperation among Japan, the United States, and Australia. 
 
SCHIEFFER