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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 002897 
 
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 06/27/07-1 
 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule 
 
US-Japan comfort-women row: 
4) U.S. House Committee Passes 'Comfort Women' Resolution 
5) Abe diplomacy toward the US hurt by House passage of 
comfort-women resolution 
6) US has growing doubts about the historical views of the prime 
minister 
7) House Committee's passage of comfort-women resolution reveals 
increase of human-rights activists among Democrats in Congress 
8) Japan worried about comfort women resolution being treated as 
human-rights issue 
9) Government concerned that with passage of comfort-women 
resolution, the issue will spread across the US 
10) Government to make efforts to seek US understanding before full 
House votes on the comfort-women resolution (2 reports) 
11) Fear that House Committee passage of comfort-women resolution 
will lead to a chain of negative reactions 
12) Vote on comfort-women resolution by the full House expected next 
month 
13) Views in Japan on the comfort-women resolution are split 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
366 retired bureaucrats of independent administrative agencies land 
jobs through amakudrari, taking advantage of loophole in law 
 
Mainichi: 
Japanese left behind in China at the end of WWII: Ruling parties to 
propose paying additional 20,000 yen as allowance 
 
Yomiuri: 
Relief for students that obtained scholarships to be continued into 
next spring; Japan High School Baseball Federation to reach 
conclusion in November 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
Information on real estate prices to be consolidated; MLIT to create 
database 
 
Sankei: 
Prevention of leaks: GSDF members with foreign spouses to be 
transferred from intelligence sections 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Air pollution lawsuit in Tokyo: Plaintiffs to accept settlement 
 
Akahata: 
US House Committee to adopt "comfort women" resolution, calling for 
Japanese government to offer formal apology 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) SIA's summer bonus: Just returning bonuses will not do at 
private companies 
(2) High school students who obtain baseball scholarship: Rules 
 
TOKYO 00002897  002 OF 010 
 
 
befitting the times needed 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) SIA officials return their bonuses: Strange way of taking 
responsibility 
(2) High school students who get baseball scholarship: System that 
does not allow wrongdoings needed 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Pension premium payment determination committee: Priority should 
be given to swift and accurate recovery of pensioners' right 
(2) Bull Dog Sauce M&G: Investment fund incurred negative reaction 
from stockholders 
 
Nihon Keizai: 
(1) Another amendment to AML needed to root out bid-rigging 
activities 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Court decides to seize Chongryon headquarters: Use court 
enforcement in finding breakthrough 
(2) SIA officials return their bonuses: National feeling has not 
quieted down 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Return of summer bonuses by SIA officials: Attention should not 
be shifted from the pension fiasco 
(2) Revision to AML: Strengthening punishments unavoidable 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Minced beef labeling scam: Stick to starting point of providing 
safe food 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, June 26 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2)  (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
09:02 
Attended cabinet meeting in the Diet building. Internal Affairs 
Minister Suga remained in the office. Met later with State Minister 
Takaichi. 
 
10:07 
Met at Kantei with Finance Minister Omi and Vice Finance Minister 
Fujii. Omi remained in the office. 
 
11:00 
Attended ceremony for those who are awarded for their efforts for 
assistance second challenge program. Met with Cabinet Intelligence 
Director Mitani. 
 
12:03 
Had lunch with journalist Tahara. 
 
14:00 
Met with incoming and outgoing chairman of Japanese Bankers 
Association Masayuki Oku and Nobuo Kuroyanagi. Followed by Tsuyoshi 
Kajitani, chairman of the third-party committee on the pension 
record fiasco. 
 
TOKYO 00002897  003 OF 010 
 
 
 
15:44 
Met at LDP headquarters with Deputy Secretary General Mogi. 
 
18:04 
Met at Kantei with Guyana President Jagdeo. Attended signing 
ceremony and held joint statement. 
 
19:12 
Returned to his official residence. 
 
4) U.S. House Committee Passes 'Comfort Women' Resolution 
 
Kyodo, June 27, 2007 
 
WASHINGTON --The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs 
Committee passed a resolution Tuesday seeking an apology from Japan 
over the sexual exploitation of Asian women by the Japanese military 
during World War II. 
 
Tom Lantos, chairman of the committee, and some other members have 
proposed a change in wording in the resolution to somewhat soften 
the demand for an apology and also added a line to note the 
importance of Japan-U.S. relations. 
 
The changes were approved and the resolution passed the committee by 
a majority after deliberations. The move comes despite Tokyo's claim 
that Japanese prime ministers have repeatedly offered apologies over 
the issue. Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato has 
warned that the passage of what he says is a factually unfounded 
resolution would harm otherwise sound Japan-U.S. relations. 
 
Rep. Michael Honda, a California Democrat of Japanese descent, and 
some Republicans submitted the resolution in January urging the 
Japanese prime minister to offer an official apology to the victims, 
known euphemistically in Japan as "comfort women." 
 
Now that the committee has voted in favor of the resolution, 
attention will shift to whether it will be put to a vote on the full 
floor of the House, with Honda saying the resolution could be voted 
on possibly in mid-July. 
 
Similar resolutions have been submitted to Congress four times. The 
last resolution won committee-level approval in September, but a 
full vote by the lower chamber was blocked by the then majority 
Republican Party. 
 
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has previously offered an apology 
for the suffering endured by the women. He has also repeated that he 
stands by a 1993 official statement acknowledging and apologizing 
over the matter. 
 
Abe came under fire earlier this year when he said he believes the 
Japanese military did not use ''coercion'' in connection with the 
women. 
 
During his visit to the United States in April, Abe expressed regret 
about misunderstandings over his remarks and reiterated that he 
feels sorry for the women who suffered. 
 
5) Abe's US diplomacy stumbling: US House committee to adopt comfort 
women resolution despite Tokyo's lobbying against it 
 
TOKYO 00002897  004 OF 010 
 
 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
Japan's diplomacy toward the United States appears to be stumbling. 
The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs is expected to adopt on 
June 26 a resolution calling on the Japanese government to offer an 
apology to former comfort women. On the North Korean issue, Tokyo is 
apparently irritated at Washington's much more conciliatory attitude 
toward North Korea. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe officially stated, 
"The Japan-US alliance remains solid," but apprehensions and 
discontent are growing stronger in Japan. 
 
Hiroshi Maruya, Washington 
 
The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday afternoon 
discussed a resolution calling on the Japanese government to admit 
"historical responsibility" for the so-called wartime comfort-women 
issue allegedly caused by the former Imperial Japanese Army and 
apologize. The co-sponsors of the resolution have now numbered 145 
or one-third of the House of Representatives. The resolution is 
expected to be approved by a majority. The focus is now on whether 
the resolution will be adopted at the full session of the House. 
 
The resolution was introduced in the House by Representative Mike 
Honda (D-CA). It has no legal binding force, but the Japanese 
government has lobbied against the resolution by noting that Japan 
has acknowledged its responsibility and apologized, and that the 
contents of the resolution go against the facts. The ongoing 
development as to the resolution is likely to affect Japan-US 
relations, albeit subtly. 
 
Regarding this issue, Abe offered an apology when he met with 
members of Congress during his visit to the United States in April 
in his efforts to calm the situation. However, his remarks made 
before his US visit that "there is no evidence to prove coercion in 
the narrow sense" had provoked protests in the US. 
 
Afterwards, on June 14, an opinion advertisement prepared by a group 
of eminent Japanese individuals, including lawmakers from the ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party and opposition Democratic Party of Japan 
(Minshuto) as supporters for the advertisement, was put in the 
Washington Post denying coercion regarding the comfort-women issue. 
This advertisement gave an opportunity for civic groups aiming for 
the adoption of the resolution to lobby for it, observers analyzed. 
 
Yesterday evening, Abe, when asked by reporters at his official 
residence about the resolution expected to be put to the vote 
shortly, said: "When I visited the US, I explained my thoughts. I 
have nothing to add." "It is my firm belief that Japan-US relations 
are an irreplaceable alliance that remains solid," he emphasized. 
 
6) US suspicious of Prime Minister's historical views 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 7) (Abridged) 
June 27, 2007 
 
On June 26th, the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs 
Committee adopted a resolution calling for a formal apology from the 
Japanese government regarding comfort women. But over the long term, 
there is a possibility that the resolution, which appears likely to 
pass the full floor of the House, may be a "crossroads" in US-Japan 
 
TOKYO 00002897  005 OF 010 
 
 
relations. 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's remarks in March were one factor leading 
to this situation.  Responding to questions from the Diet, the prime 
minister stated that "there was no evidence to prove the coercion 
(of comfort women)."  Abe was criticized in the US media, and US 
support for the resolution increased dramatically. 
 
The Japanese government claims that the comfort women issue had been 
resolved after a 1993 statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Yohei Kono, apologizing and expressing remorse for colonial 
occupation during World War II, and the subsequent establishment of 
the Asian Women's Fund to provide monetary compensation to victims. 
 
Although the prime minister expressed "regret" for the comfort-women 
issue during his April visit to the US, and there were signs that 
the matter was calming down, the House committee did not listen to 
Japan's claims. 
 
Even if the full House passes the resolution, it is difficult to 
think that US-Japan relations will rapidly worsen.  However taking 
into consideration the reactions of the House and the media -- which 
were driven by emotion rather than logic -- this resolution can be 
seen as an expression of suspicion not limited to the comfort women 
issue, but rather directed toward Prime Minister Abe's revisionist 
stance toward history. 
 
Although the US expresses interest in constitutional amendments that 
would strengthen the US-Japan security alliance, judging from this 
event, it reacts strongly to efforts to revise history.  If Japan 
continues to move in this direction, friction could develop in the 
relationship between the US and Japan. 
 
7) US House panel to adopt resolution on comfort women; More 
Democrats for human rights 
 
YOMIURI (Page 7) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
WASHINGTON, LOS ANGELES-The US House of Representatives Foreign 
Relations Committee is expected to adopt a resolution on June 26 
calling for the Japanese government to apologize for the so-called 
comfort women issue. The US Congress is now likely to adopt the 
resolution in its plenary sitting. What lies behind the move is a 
change in the makeup of lawmakers in the US Congress. 
 
In September last year, a similar resolution was adopted over the 
comfort women issue for the first time in a meeting of the 
International Relations Committee of the Republican-controlled House 
of Representatives. However, the resolution was not brought to the 
floor of the House thanks to the good offices of Republican Rep. 
Henry Hyde, the then chairman of the International Relations 
Committee. Eventually, the resolution was scrapped. 
 
In January this year, however, the Democratic Party gained control 
of the US Congress as a result of last November's midterm elections 
in the United States. In the US Congress, key posts went into the 
hands of human-rights liberals, such as Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 
the speaker of the House of Representatives, and Tom Lantos, who is 
a survivor of the Holocaust and chairs the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee. 
by the committee like before, according to a source familiar with 
 
TOKYO 00002897  006 OF 010 
 
 
Japan-US relations. 
 
In the meantime, US-based Chinese and South Korean groups worked on 
the Democratic Party's leadership. Their lobbying also seemed to 
have had an influence on Congress. 
 
The resolution will likely be brought to a plenary session of 
Congress in mid-July for a vote. The House of Representatives 
currently has a total of 435 members, and 145 of them, or about 30 % 
 of all House members, sponsor the resolution. However, there is 
still no predicting whether the resolution can get a majority of 218 
votes. 
 
8) US House Committee passes comfort women resolution, warning Japan 
on human rights issue 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 26) (Excerpts) 
June 27, 2007 
 
The United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee 
is expected to pass a resolution on June 26 seeking an official 
apology from the Japanese government in connection with the wartime 
comfort-women issue during World War II. Many persons in Japan 
involved with this issue have criticized the government and the 
Foreign Ministry for their responses to the comfort-women issue. 
 
Postwar Compensation Network Chief of Secretariat Ken Arimitsu said: 
"Since the issue has not been prominently reported in Japan, people 
might think the resolution came out of the blue, but many 
resolutions on the comfort women and human trafficking issues have 
been submitted in the US Congress since 1990 as issues that should 
be addressed internationally." 
 
Arimitsu spoke of the contents of the resolution: "The resolution 
does not use anti-Japan expressions but points out the comfort women 
as a serious abuse of human rights. It implies that Japan as a 
nation contributing to the world should understand at least this 
point." 
 
Data Center for Asian Women Chief of Secretariat Noriko Motoyama 
stated: "Female victims, whom the government ignored, have died one 
after another. The government must meet face-to-face with them 
properly." 
 
In South Korea, the government under President Roh Moo Hyun, just 
after its inauguration in 2003, adopted a resolution calling on the 
Japanese government to tackle the issue. In Taiwan, the Legislative 
Yuan also adopted the same kind of resolution unanimously in 2002. 
In Japan, no deliberations on legislation related to the 
comfort-women have been conducted since 2003, but Arimitsu 
commented: "Japan is being tested over how it should take the 
judgment on this by the international community. Three opposition 
parties have submitted a bill to the House of Councillors Cabinet 
Committee, so the government should immediately start deliberations 
on the bill." 
 
9) Gov't concerned about US backlash on "comfort women" issue 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
June 27, 2007 
 
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will now 
 
TOKYO 00002897  007 OF 010 
 
 
adopt a resolution calling for the Japanese government to offer an 
official apology over the issue of comfort women. On this matter, 
the government takes the position that it will have to continue its 
efforts for understanding. "That's all we can do," Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Shiozaki remarked. Some lawmakers in the ruling Liberal 
 
SIPDIS 
Democratic Party are dissatisfied with the resolution. The 
situation, however, could affect Prime Minister Abe's advocacy of a 
"Japan-US alliance based on common values." The government therefore 
does not want the issue to continue. 
 
"This is a resolution of the US Congress," Abe told reporters 
yesterday at his office. "So," Abe added, "it's not a matter I 
should comment on." Abe also said: "I stated my view when I visited 
the United States (in April). I have nothing to add." 
 
Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato and other government 
officials have been lobbying people in the US Congress. 
Administrative Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said, "Japan has 
made efforts for their understanding of Japan's position and its 
people's feelings." One LDP lawmaker decried the resolution, saying: 
"That's really an insane resolution. Prime Minister Abe apologized 
in vain." Another LDP member lamented the lack of parliamentary 
diplomacy. 
 
10-1) Government to lobby against a vote in US House plenary 
session 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
Given the likelihood that the US House of Representatives Foreign 
Affairs Committee will pass on June 26 a resolution seeking Japan's 
formal apology over the so-called comfort women issue, the Japanese 
government is struggling to deal with the situation, as seen in a 
senior Foreign Ministry official's comment: "It's difficult for the 
Japanese government to block the US Congress' activities, which is 
regrettable." Although the government will refrain from openly 
filing a protest in order to avoid a strong reaction from the United 
States, it plans to continue lobbying behind the scenes against a 
vote on the resolution in a US House plenary session. 
 
10-2) US congressional resolution on "comfort women": Tokyo to seek 
US understanding by stressing its upholding of Kono Statement 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will 
likely adopt a resolution calling on the Japanese government to 
offer a formal apology for the wartime "comfort women" -- the 
Japanese euphemism for foreign women who were forced into sexual 
slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army. Following the move, the 
Japanese government intends to make efforts to calm down the 
situation, while seeking understanding from the US government for 
its stand to abide by the 1993 statement by then Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Yohei Kono, in which Japan expressed an "apology and 
 
SIPDIS 
regret" to the victims. 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters yesterday: "When I visited 
the United States, I stated my view on the matter." He indicated 
that he did his best by making an "apology" in accord with the Kono 
Statement to President George W. Bush and senior congressional 
 
TOKYO 00002897  008 OF 010 
 
 
leaders when he visited Washington in April. He only responded to 
questions by reporters, just saying, "I have nothing to add." 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, at a press conference 
yesterday, stated: "The prime minister made his and government 
positions clear to US congressional leaders. We would like to 
continue to make efforts to seek understanding from the US." 
 
A person close to Abe said, "The government though the prime 
minister obtained the US side's understanding when he visited 
Washington." The government, therefore, is surprised at the pending 
adoption of the comfort women resolution. However, because Abe's 
remark in March that there had been "no coercion in a narrow sense" 
(of women to become sex slaves) raised hackles in the US, the 
Japanese government intends to take a cautious response this time 
around. 
 
11) Fear that House Committee passage of comfort-women resolution 
will lead to a chain of negative reactions 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
June 27, 2007 
 
The immediate reason for the US House of Representatives Foreign 
Affairs Committee adopting a resolution calling on the prime 
minister of Japan to formally apologize for the comfort-women issue 
was the opinion ad that was run in the Washington Post on June 14. 
With 40 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition camps lending their 
names to the advertisement, the House resolution was a direct 
rebuttal to "a deliberate distortion of reality." 
 
The ad invited a storm of criticism, including Congressional 
Research Service specialist Larry Niksch, who stated: "It did not 
transmit the entire picture of what the former Imperial Japanese 
Army did." It served to worsen the atmosphere in the Congress that 
had been assuaged in late April when Prime Minister Abe visited 
Washington. 
 
According to an informed source, one House member whose election 
district was filled with "interest" on this issue, was prepared to 
vote for the resolution, but then was cautioned by the foreign 
affairs staff that the resolution was "not in the US' best 
interests." The member was then ready to practice self-constraint, 
but the ad completely destroyed that balance. 
 
One US government source stated: "A constructive response by Japan 
would be to make no response at all." If there is another Japanese 
reaction, such as a second opinion ad directed at the Congress, it 
would lead to a chain of negative reactions as the US side responded 
in turn. 
 
12) US House committee to pass comfort women resolution; Approval by 
plenary session in July likely 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
Fumi Igarashi, Washington 
 
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will pass 
a resolution seeking a formal apology from the Japanese government 
over the so-called comfort women issue on the afternoon of June 26 
 
TOKYO 00002897  009 OF 010 
 
 
(early hours of June 27, Japan time). There is a high likelihood 
that a House plenary session will take a vote on the resolution in 
July. Although the resolution is non-binding, a backlash from Japan 
is expected. It will be a second time for a House committee to pass 
a resolution condemning Japan over wartime sexual slavery following 
one in September 2006. 
 
The number of cosponsors of the resolution, submitted on Jan. 31 by 
Michael Honda (D-Cal.) of Japanese descent, grew to 145, Democrats 
and Republicans combined, as of June 26. Pointing out that the 
Japanese government issued official orders to recruit young women to 
serve as sex slaves for the former Imperial Japanese Army from the 
1930s through World War II, the resolution demands that the Japanese 
government officially acknowledge its responsibility, apologize, and 
accept its historical responsibility. It also urges the Japanese 
prime minister to release a statement of an official apology. 
 
The Japanese government has sought the resolution be retracted or 
revised, claiming that the coercive recruitment of young women for 
sex slaves and other matters are not based on objective facts. 
 
13) Views split on US House committee's resolution on comfort women 
 
ASAHI (Page 34) (Full) 
June 27, 2007 
 
Following the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs' passage of a 
resolution on the "comfort women issue," the Asahi Shimbun asked 
researchers and persons concerned for their comments. 
 
Koichi Sugiyama, a composer, ran an advertisement titled "The Facts" 
in the June 14 issue of the Washington Post noting that "there is no 
document proving the Japanese Imperial Army's coercion of wartime 
sex-slavery." Sugiyama said that the preparation of the opinion ad 
had stemmed from the judgment that if Japan remained mum on reports 
about the resolution, it would be taken that Japan recognized the 
reports as true. 
 
Sugiyama commented: 
 
"The resolution contains many factual errors. Although I deeply 
sympathize with the comfort women and their unfortunate 
circumstances, there is no evidence to back the allegation that the 
government or the Japanese Imperial Army coerced young Japanese and 
Korean women into sexual slavery. There will be no other means but 
for the government and the private sector to continue to patiently 
assert that the government at that time had prohibited coercion." 
 
Yoshiaki Yoshimi, professor at Chuo University, who authored the 
book titled Comfort Women, said: "Japan should seriously take the 
advice by the US recommending Japan offer an official apology." He 
added: 
 
"The compensation offered by the Asian Women's Fund and the letter 
of apology sent from the prime minister did not serve to completely 
resolve the problem. The Japanese government should acknowledge the 
responsibility of the government of the time and the Japanese 
Imperial Army. It also should issue a statement including an apology 
and state compensation. It might be necessary to take legal steps to 
provide compensation." 
 
Shinichi Arai, professor emeritus at Ibaraki University, said: "The 
 
TOKYO 00002897  010 OF 010 
 
 
US has taken the comfort women issue as a serious abuse of human 
rights. Should Japan take the wrong steps, the influence of the 
Japan-US alliance over Asia might be negatively affected." 
 
According to Arai, debate on Japan's responsibility for the war 
welled up in 1991-1992 and around 2000. He described the recent move 
as "the third wave." Arai sees behind "the third wave" a sense of 
alarm toward the trend of growing nationalism in Japan, set off by 
former Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Based on 
this view, Arai said: 
 
"Many Asians and people from the Asia-Pacific region are included 
among the lawmakers who supported the resolution. Human trafficking 
in various Asian countries is becoming a grave problem. In part 
because the comfort women issue was linked to the trafficking 
problem, an increasing number of Congress members supported the 
resolution." 
 
Professor at the University of Tokyo Yasuaki Onuma, who served as 
director at the disbanded Asian Women's Fund, stated: "The 
resolution defines the Asian Women's Fund as a private-sector fund 
and does not refer to the prime minister's letter of apology, which 
was well-received by victims." But he emphasized: "The perception 
shown in the resolution is proper. The Japanese government has not 
explained to the world that it has already carried out compensation, 
including the prime minister's letter of apology. So the 
responsibility for allowing the US Congress to adopt the resolution 
also rests with the government, in a sense." Onuma added: 
 
"The government is now being sought to offer compensation taking one 
step forward, instead of doing so since it was told by the US to do 
so." 
 
SCHIEFFER