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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 003129 
 
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 07/09/07-2 
 
 
(3) Farm Minister Akagi's office expenses scandal, Support 
association president revises statement 
 
(4) Local expectations subside with Defense Minister Koike's 
rejection of Futenma revision talks 
 
(5) Great Tokyo Air Raids targeted civilians right from beginning: 
Book analyzing incident reprinted for first time in 17 years; New 
facts as told by prominent researcher of US military data 
 
(6) Seiron (Opinion) column: Reason and emotion over debate on mass 
suicide in Battle of Okinawa 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(3) Farm Minister Akagi's office expenses scandal, Support 
association president revises statement 
 
YOMIURI ONLINE (Full) 
July 9, 2007 2:34 pm 
 
Regarding the office expenses scandal involving Farm Minister 
Norihiko Akagi's political organization "The Norihiko Akagi Support 
Group," the president of the group, a former Ibaraki prefectural 
assembly member, stated in an interview with Yomiuri Shimbun 
yesterday evening, "I have been the (support group) president since 
(Akagi's grandfather and former Farm Minister) Munenori Akagi's 
time, and I continue to remain in the position under Farm Minister 
(Norihiko) Akagi.  It just happened naturally." 
 
Initially, the former assembly member said, "I learned that I was 
listed as the (support group) president after receiving inquiries 
from the media.  I want an explanation (from Akagi)." 
 
The scandal revolves around the registration of Akagi's parents' 
home in Chikusei City, Ibaraki Prefecture as the "main office" of 
the support group.  At first, Akagi's parents stated, "We didn't 
receive any money for rent or utility costs.  Private secretaries 
and office staff come before elections, but they are not here on a 
continuous basis."  Yesterday, however, they released a statement 
explaining, "(The house) still functions as the base for local 
operations." 
 
(4) Local expectations subside with Defense Minister Koike's 
rejection of Futenma revision talks 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Pages 26, 27) (Abridged slightly) 
July 7, 2007 
 
Yuriko Koike has come back to the political spotlight, replacing 
gaffe-prone Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma. In a press conference 
immediately after taking office, new Defense Minister Koike declared 
that the realignment of US forces in Japan was her top priority, 
rejecting Okinawa's call for making changes to the Futenma Air 
Station relocation plan. It was a disappointment to Okinawa. 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed Koike, who had served as state 
minister in charge of Okinawa affairs, as new defense minister on 
July 3. Hearing the news, Mayor Yoshikazu Numabukuro of Nago, the 
relocation site for Futenma Air Station, commented high-spiritedly 
on the same day: "She seems to be keenly aware of Okinawa's 
situation." A similar mood enveloped the city assembly, as well. 
 
TOKYO 00003129  002 OF 007 
 
 
 
The mood entirely changed with Koike's inaugural press conference 
the following day. 
 
Koike, while referring to the subject of US force realignment as her 
top priority, simply turned down Okinawa and Nago's proposal to 
construct V-shaped pair of runways further offshore than the 
currently planned, citing time constraints. 
 
Okinawa's revision plan is designed to shift the government's plan 
to build a V-shaped pair of airstrips on the coastline of Camp 
Schwab several hundred meters further out to sea. Okinawa Gov. 
Hirokazu Nakaima also expressed his support for the revision plan 
presented by Nago this January. 
 
Koike's news conference drew a negative reaction from Nago City 
Assemblyman Takashi Nagayama, who is supportive of the Futenma 
relocation plan: 
 
"I had high hopes for Ms. Koike, who seemed considerate of Okinawa 
and is close to Prime Minister Abe. But she brushed off the revision 
plan without talking to prefectural and city representatives." 
 
Koike's predecessor, Kyuma, used both hard and soft approaches in 
dealing with Okinawa. For instance, he angered Washington by saying: 
"The US must not make high-handed remarks. I've been in talks with 
the governor, so the US must wait for a while. The US must leave 
Japanese affairs to Japan." At the same time, he sent a Maritime 
Self-Defense Force minesweeper tender to waters near Henoko to 
assist in the government's preliminary environmental survey. Koike 
appeared to be a person with stronger will than Kyuma in the eyes of 
some observers. 
 
One of them is Yoshitami Oshiro, an anti-base city assemblyman, who 
took this view: 
 
"Ms. Koike is the most faithful practitioner of the Abe 
administration's hawkish policy. She is expected to press ahead with 
the Japan-US agreement more forcibly than Mr. Kyuma did, ignoring 
local voices. The marine habitat for dugongs, other rare species, 
and the local living environment would be destroyed. She might 
implement the plan without prior consultations with local 
authorities, citing a lack of time." 
 
Sakae Toyama, secretary general of the peaceful citizens' liaison 
committee, also reacted unexcitedly to Koike's appointment: 
 
"During her tenure as environment minister, she even didn't try to 
halt the drilling survey. She has no awareness that the government 
is forcing US bases on Okinawa. She would just act out what is told 
by the prime minister. Nothing would change. Her image that she is 
amiable and flexible is running ahead of her. In reality, she lacks 
independent perceptive and is elusive. She is the kind of person who 
is difficult to deal with and find a settlement line." 
 
Former Nago Mayor Yutoku Toguchi commented: 
 
"I hoped she would show some flexibility about making changes to the 
relocation plan. To my disappointment, she flatly ruled out revision 
talks. I knew right then that nothing would change. I think she will 
just work hard to implement the government's plan." 
 
 
TOKYO 00003129  003 OF 007 
 
 
Tensions have been running high between the Okinawa anti-base group 
and the survey firm over the preliminary survey that started on May 
18 to study the living conditions of coral and dugons in waters off 
Camp Schwab. 
 
Even after the MSDF minesweeper tender left Okinawa, anti-base 
protesters have been trying to block activities by some 20 research 
boats by mobilizing canoes everyday except for weekends. 
 
A new problem has arisen in Okinawa -- a relocation of the helipad 
due to the planned partial return of the Northern Training Area to 
Japan. 
 
Helipad construction began on the morning of July 3 in the area near 
the Takae district in Higashi Village. The Naha Defense Facilities 
Administration Bureau (DFAB) did not notify Higashi Village and 
other affected municipalities about the helipad relocation until 
after construction work began at 9:00 a.m. The government's step 
that had kept the village and the district in the dark has drawn 
local voices of resistance. 
 
According to the DFAB, construction for the 45-meter-diameter 
helipad is scheduled to be completed at the end of February 2009. 
The construction site encircles residential areas that are dotted 
with dams. Once the helipad is built, US forces may conduct survival 
training at places closer to residential areas instead of 
mountainous areas. 
 
Although the village announced its acceptance of the helipad in 
1999, how should such possible problems as environmental destruction 
and noise be settled? Mounting challenges are associated with the 
helipad project, as well. 
 
Under such circumstances, will speed be still Koike's top priority? 
 
Military commentator Motoaki Kamiura predicted Koike's steps this 
way: 
 
"Although she is not a military or security professional, Ms. Koike 
has a lot of nerve and aggressiveness. To the United States, she 
might be an easy negotiation partner. She ruled out revision talks, 
but that must be a show. I believe she eyes settling the issue in 
the end by shifting the envisaged runways slightly further out to 
sea. She will let Okinawa local chiefs to score some points with 
minor revisions and eventually settle the issue with money." 
 
Military journalist Tetsuo Maeda took this view: 
 
"As state minister for Okinawa affairs, her job was to lend an ear 
to voices in Okinawa. But now, as defense minister, he job is to 
implement the US force realignment plans based on the Japan-US 
agreement. She has just assumed office amid strong criticism of 
Kyuma's forcible measures and growing distrust in the government due 
to the reduced description on mass suicides in school textbooks. 
Although she is well-versed in Okinawa affairs, Koike has no 
experience in defense policy or defense administration. How is she 
going to deal with this volatile situation? In order for her to take 
a more Okinawa-oriented stance, she must review and make changes to 
the traditional policy while in Tokyo before visiting Okinawa. But 
she doesn't seem to have that much power or resolve. The outcome of 
the upcoming Upper House election might force Prime Minister Abe to 
reshuffle his cabinet, a step short of change in administration, and 
 
TOKYO 00003129  004 OF 007 
 
 
Koike as a result might become the shortest-serving defense 
minister." 
 
(5) Great Tokyo Air Raids targeted civilians right from beginning: 
Book analyzing incident reprinted for first time in 17 years; New 
facts as told by prominent researcher of US military data 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 20) (Full) 
July 9, 2007 
 
The new edition of an analysis of the Great Tokyo Air Raids based on 
data compiled by the US military titled "Bomb Tokyo! -- US Military 
Operation Report" was published by Sanseido in late June after a 
17-year hiatus. Shigeyoshi Okuzumi (83), the writer of the book, who 
lives in Hachioji City, Tokyo, added some details to the first 
edition of his book with the filing of a collective lawsuit by 112 
victims of the air raids in March as the occasion. 
 
The first edition was published in 1990, in which the author 
illustrated in detail six air strikes carried out from February 
through May 1945, obtaining the US military's tactical mission 
report (TMR) from the National Archives and Records Administration 
(NARA). The book carried the full translation of the TMR on the 
Great Tokyo Air Raids on March 10, which reportedly left 
approximately several hundred thousand persons dead. Though it had 
been out of print, he decided this April to publish a new edition 
following the suggestion made by Katsumoto Saotome (75), the 
co-author. 
 
Eighteen pages have been added, including litho-mosaic, aerial 
photographic maps used by mission crew in pinpointing targets. It 
was known that the US military data included figures, such as 
055102, which remained undecipherable. However, Okuzumi found that 
if the figure divided into 055 and 102, they correspond to the scale 
on the maps. Okuzumi found out that crossover points of ordinate 
axes and axes of abscissas from the vertical and lateral scales 
indicated the targets of bombings. 
 
According to litho-mosaic, four aiming points of bombings carried 
out on March 10 were all located in densely populated residential 
areas (approximately 290,000 square kilometers) along the Sumida 
River. Five sketches drawn by crew of B-20 bombers are evidence to 
the fact that the US military targeted this area from the 
beginning. 
 
What is of interesting is data concerning fire bomb attacks on Japan 
compiled in Oct. 1943, eight months before first air strikes on the 
mainland Japan. The data noted that 20 cities vulnerable to fire 
bomb attacks were made the targets of bombings, where houses of 
about 12 million people were burnt down and stockpiles and clothes 
were destroyed. According to Okuzumi, the report also carries the 
logic of the US, which reminds one of a stance it repeats regarding 
the dropping of atomic bombs, that is, fire bomb attacks would 
quickened Japan's surrender and saved the lives of many US 
soldiers. 
 
These data will likely hold the key to finding out reasons why the 
US military switched from daytime factory strikes from high altitude 
to nighttime indiscriminately bombings from low altitude. It had 
been common belief that the judgment was made by Commander Curtis 
LeMay. However, Okuda takes the view that the target of the attacks 
was civilians even before the air strikes started. 
 
TOKYO 00003129  005 OF 007 
 
 
 
Okuzumi worked at a secret aircraft factory before the war. The 
factory developed a bomber that could fly to and from the B-29 base 
in Saipan and a large fighter plane to attack B-29 bombers. He said: 
"We were confident that we could fight back with those aircraft. 
However, the war ended after only one reconnaissance fight with the 
bomber and a test flight with the fighter plane. Even if those 
aircraft had been manufactured, Japan would have been defeated, 
because the US had more than 1,000 B-29 bombers." 
 
In 1975, when he was teaching physics and mathematics at a high 
school, he had the opportunity to read the US military data for the 
first time at a meeting of the group to record air strikes on 
Hachioji. He then expanded the area of his research to US air 
strikes on major cities and small and medium cities from a 
civilian's perspective with the determination that somebody must do 
it, because scholars and historians were not doing that and the 
government was not encouraging. 
 
Commenting on the reprinting of the book, Saotome said, "It is not 
until (data given by) those who attacked and (the data provided by) 
those who were attacked are collated that the atrocity of war is 
revealed. Even those who can read English cannot read encoded 
papers. Mr. Okuzumi, who was aircraft engineer, is the number one 
person for that job. The work of Mr. Okuzumi, who has been 
accustomed to remaining in the background, should be given high 
marks." 
 
Mr. Okuzumi was hospitalized last summer due to poor health and 
became critically ill. He is continuing efforts to find new data 
with the thought that he would not have much time left for this 
work." 
 
"Unlike Japanese data, the data compiled by the US military record 
everything, including mistakes it  made. I think Japan fought a 
reckless war against too strong a country." 
 
(6) Seiron (Opinion) column: Reason and emotion over debate on mass 
suicide in Battle of Okinawa 
 
SANKEI (Page 13) (Excerpts) 
July 6, 2007 
 
Ikuhiko Hata, historian of contemporary history 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuhiko Hata) 
 
Array of emotional articles 
 
June 23, 62 years ago, was the day, when an end was put to the 
Imperial Japanese Army's (IJA) organized resistance in the Battle of 
Okinawa with Commander Ushijima's suicide in a cave on a southern 
tip of the main Okinawa island called Mabuni. 
 
Designating June 23 as "Memorial Day," Okinawa has since then held 
the memorial ceremony to console the souls of the 200,000 war dead, 
including 90,000 Japanese soldiers or army civilians, as well as 
90,000 civilians, and some American soldiers. This year's ceremony 
took place when Okinawa was in confusion over the prefectural 
assembly's adoption of a resolution calling for the recovery of 
descriptions that "the military forced civilians into mass suicide" 
(in the Battle of Okinawa)," which had been removed as a result of 
the screening of history textbooks for senior high school students. 
 
TOKYO 00003129  006 OF 007 
 
 
 
Except for the Yomiuri Shimbun, which hardly paid any attention to 
the problem, every major daily in its editorials or city news pages 
devoted much space to it. War survivors have been treated with great 
care to date by the media and pundits, perhaps for their 
consideration for the hearts of Okinawa, and this year saw there was 
no change in this tendency, with excessively emotional and 
exclamatory articles centering on those survivors' experiences 
carried by many dailies. But most survivors were at age 10 or so 
when they experienced the war, so their testimony was not 
necessarily accurate. 
 
For example, one prefectural assembly member who compiled the 
resolution was eight years old at the time. He was quoted by the 
Asahi Shimbun in its edition on June 23 as saying: "Together with 
some 200 other Okinawans, my family including myself hid in a 
trench. Three Japanese soldiers came to the trench and forced my 
family to have my three-year-old sister and my cousin, both crying, 
eat poisoned rice balls. Presumably, out of fear of the enemy 
noticing our existence, they urged my family to do so." This 
article, however, was somewhat unnatural. I wondered why the 
reporter of that article did not think so. 
 
For instance, was it possible to have time to make poisoned rice 
balls amid the fierce battle? Was it possible for parents to give 
them to their children telling them they were poisonous? Without 
verifying at least those things, the reporter introduced that story. 
The reporter appears to be lacking the qualifications needed to be 
such. 
 
Grenades for attack 
 
In the prefectural assembly, the ruling and opposition blocs locked 
horns over the question of the existence of a military order on mass 
suicide. The opposition parties contended, "There must have been a 
military order for mass suicide," while the ruling parties insisted, 
"No such order seemed to be issued." By compromise, both sides 
agreed to issue a statement in the name of the prefectural assembly 
that "(Mass suicide) would not have occurred without the IJA's 
involvement," skillfully evading the point of contention. 
 
The word "involvement" is taken by some to mean that the IJA's 
grenades were used for suicide, but grenades were supposed to be a 
valuable weapon for the IJA as evidenced by the fact that because of 
the shortage of weaponry, soldiers carried even bamboo spears to 
attack the enemy. Grenades were provided to defense corps members 
recruited in Okinawa (who were at the time regarded as soldiers) and 
used for family suicides. The former junior college president, who 
had been 16 years old in those days, related his experience to the 
Asahi Shimbun by saying, "Grenades embodied the order for (mass) 
suicide." Believing his story was a "woeful testimony," the Asahi 
Shimbun quoted it in its editorial on June 23. I cannot help 
doubting that daily's attitude. 
 
Reason why no military order was found 
 
The tone of most editorials, except for the one by the Asahi 
Shimbun, was calm. The Asahi Shimbun's editorial, however, stood out 
in its emotional descriptions. For instance, it wrote that the IJA 
did not allow civilians to be taken prisoners and warned them, 
"Anyone who attempt to surrender to the enemy should be shot to 
death," and did so, and that "The IJA led civilians to believe that 
 
TOKYO 00003129  007 OF 007 
 
 
women would suffer an insult and men would be killed in a cruel 
manner," if they were captured by the enemy. But all these 
descriptions were almost groundless. 
 
Troops led by Commander Ushijima, after consultations with 
prefectural government officials, ordered civilians to evacuate to 
the mainland Japan or the northern part of the main island of 
Okinawa to keep them away from any area that was likely to turn into 
a battlefield. In the last phase of the battle, they instructed 
civilians to evacuate to the Chinen Peninsula, where no battles 
occurred, envisioning the possibility that they would be protected 
by the US army. 
 
According to the US military's archives, some 280,000 civilians 
eventually surrendered to the US. Of them, some volunteered to go to 
a Japanese military's camp in order to advise Japanese soldiers to 
surrender, but they drew suspicions as a spy and were executed. Such 
a case was exceptional, however. 
 
Around that time, I was a 12-year-old militarist boy and harbored 
hatred and fear against "brutal America and Britain." But I don't 
remember who indoctrinated me into believing that they were brutal. 
Neither my parents nor teachers did so. It might have been the Asahi 
Shimbun or the female magazine Shufu no Tomo, which my family had 
subscribed to. 
 
Even researchers have not been able to discover any military orders 
to prove mass suicide or forced recruitment of comfort women. 
However, there are still many who insist that such orders were all 
incinerated with the ending of the war or that (mass suicide or 
forced recruitment of comfort women) was attributable to the pre-war 
Emperor system or pre-war militarist education in spite of the lack 
of particular orders concerning mass suicide or forced recruitment 
of comfort women. 
 
The Asahi Shimbun is similar for its editorial concluded that to 
insist that the to say that the IJA had nothing to do with it, 
despite the reality that there was mass suicide, would mean to again 
betray Okinawa. 
 
SCHIEFFER