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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TOKYO 003612 
 
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 08/07/07 
Part-1 
Index: 
1) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties 
 
 
2) Asahi-Todai joint poll: Constitutional revisionists below two 
thirds in Diet upper chamber; Barrier to initiating amendments in 3 
years 
 
Articles: 
1) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 19, 2007 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in percentage. Parentheses denote the results of a 
survey conducted in June.) 
 
Q: Do you support the Abe cabinet? 
 
Yes      27.2 (38.3) 
No      63.7 (50.6) 
Other answers (O/A)   3.1 (2.8) 
No answer (N/A)    5.9 (8.3) 
 
Q: (Only for those who answered "yes" to the foregoing question) 
Give up to two reasons for your approval of the Abe cabinet. 
 
I can appreciate its political stance   27.6 (30.8) 
It's stable        8.8 (11.8) 
The prime minister is trustworthy    22.0 (23.2) 
There's a fresh image of the prime minister  29.4 (34.8) 
I can appreciate its economic policy   7.4 (4.8) 
I can appreciate its foreign policy    11.3 (15.2) 
Because it's a coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New 
Komeito        19.8 (14.8) 
It's better than its predecessors    8.6 (11.9) 
O/A+N/A         11.1 (7.2) 
 
Q: (Only for those who answered "no" to the foregoing question) Give 
up to two reasons for your disapproval of the Abe cabinet. 
 
I can't appreciate its political stance   47.1 (45.9) 
It's unstable        34.1 (34.4) 
The prime minister is untrustworthy    26.3 (25.3) 
The prime minister lacks political experience  18.2 (14.4) 
I can't appreciate its economic policy   18.8 (22.9) 
I can't appreciate its foreign policy   3.4 (6.8) 
Because it's a coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New 
Komeito        8.7 (11.3) 
It's worse than its predecessors    12.8 (10.0) 
O/A+N/A         4.5 (3.9) 
 
Q: What issues do you want the Abe cabinet to pursue on a priority 
basis? Pick as many as you like from among those listed below, if 
any. 
 
Economic, employment measures      51.7 
Fiscal reconstruction       22.1 
Tax reform, consumption tax      33.9 
Social security reform, including pension and healthcare systems 
       65.1 
Low birthrate countermeasures, including childcare support 
 
TOKYO 00003612  002 OF 004 
 
 
           24.9 
Educational reform        20.9 
Administrative reform, including public service personnel cuts 
           20.8 
Social divide, including income gaps    32.7 
Yasukuni Shrine         4.3 
Asia diplomacy, including China and South Korea  11.4 
North Korea         20.6 
Defense, security        9.8 
Constitutional revision       7.4 
Crisis management, including disaster prevention  11.2 
Public security, crime prevention     15.1 
Environmental protection       18.6 
Food safety         23.7 
O/A + nothing in particular + N/A     4.0 
 
Q: Which political party do you support now? Pick only one. 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)     25.8 (32.9) 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto)  26.9 (14.3) 
New Komeito (NK)       3.6 (4.0) 
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)     2.2 (2.4) 
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto)  1.0 (1.2) 
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto)  0.2 (0.2) 
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon)   0.4 (---) 
Other political parties      0.1 (---) 
None          38.7 (44.4) 
N/A          1.1 (0.7) 
 
Q: Do you appreciate the job performance of Prime Minister Abe and 
his cabinet so far on the whole? 
 
Appreciate very much       3.7 
Appreciate somewhat       25.8 
Don't appreciate very much     41.3 
Don't appreciate at all      25.3 
N/A          3.9 
 
Q: Prime Minister Abe will now remain in office, saying he will push 
ahead with reforms and wants to fulfill his responsibility as prime 
minister. Do you think Prime Minister Abe will be able to obtain 
actual results? 
 
Yes     17.8 
No     54.4 
Can't say which   25.2 
N/A     2.6 
 
Q: Prime Minister Abe is expected to shuffle his cabinet shortly. Do 
you look forward to seeing his cabinet's new lineup? 
 
Yes      21.9 
Yes to a certain degree  20.0 
No to a certain degree  24.4 
No      30.8 
N/A      3.0 
 
Q: How long would you like the Abe cabinet to continue from now on? 
Pick only one from among those listed below. 
 
TOKYO 00003612  003 OF 004 
 
 
 
As long as possible    13.8 
2 years or so     11.9 
1 year or so     21.0 
6 months or so     9.0 
Resign as soon as possible  37.2 
O/A       0.9 
N/A       6.3 
 
Polling methodology 
Date of survey: Aug. 4-5. 
Subjects of survey: 3,000 persons chosen from among all eligible 
voters throughout the country (at 250 locations on a stratified 
two-stage random sampling basis). 
Method of implementation: Door-to-door visits for face-to-face 
interviews. 
Number of valid respondents: 1,784 persons (59.5 percent). 
 
2) Asahi-Todai joint poll: Constitutional revisionists below two 
thirds in Diet upper chamber; Barrier to initiating amendments in 3 
years 
 
ASAHI (Top play) (Full) 
August 7, 2007 
 
Today, the Diet will convene an extraordinary session. Those 
recently elected to its House of Councillors will now be seated to 
attend the upper chamber. Among them, the proportion of those who 
support revising the Constitution is 48 percent, failing to reach 50 
percent, the Asahi Shimbun found from its joint survey with the 
University of Tokyo (or Todai for short). Among all upper house 
members including those not up for reelection, the proportion of 
constitutional revisionists was 53 percent. The Asahi Shimbun has 
conducted such a survey to probe the attitudes of politicians on the 
occasion of every national election since the 2003 election for the 
House of Representatives. Amendments to the Constitution, however, 
must be initiated by at least two thirds of all the members of each 
chamber. Meanwhile, the proportion of those favoring constitutional 
revision fell below that level in the upper chamber for the first 
time. Also, when it comes to Article 9, which is the biggest focus 
of constitutional revision, 26 percent of those elected to the upper 
house supported revising the article's provisions, with 54 percent 
opposed to revising its provisions. On the whole, 31 percent of all 
upper house lawmakers supported revising Article 9, with 50 percent 
against it. 
 
The Constitution stipulates that its amendments shall be initiated 
by the Diet through a concurring vote of two thirds or more of all 
the members of each chamber. In May, the Diet enacted the National 
Referendum Law. According to its provisions, the Diet is not allowed 
to present or discuss any draft amendments to the Constitution for 
three years until the law comes into effect. However, those elected 
to the upper chamber this time may have something to do with the 
Diet initiation of constitutional revision for the first time under 
constitutional government during their six-year term of office. 
 
In the July 29 election for the House of Councillors, the ruling 
Liberal Democratic Party suffered a crushing defeat. Even so, Prime 
Minister Abe voiced his sustained willingness in his press remarks 
 
TOKYO 00003612  004 OF 004 
 
 
to amend the Constitution. However, one of the LDP's former top 
three executives is critical of Abe. "He's mistaken the order of 
priority," this former LDP executive said. "The people say this is 
no time for that," he added. There is such a view within the LDP 
over public opinion. In addition, those elected to the upper chamber 
stand in Abe's way. As far as their political mindset is concerned, 
Abe will likely face difficulties while he is aiming to initiate 
constitutional revision in 2010. 
 
In the Asahi-Todai joint survey, those elected this time were asked 
if they thought that the Constitution should be amended. To this 
question, "yes" and "yes to a certain degree" totaled 48 percent, 
with "no" and "no to a certain degree" adding up to 31 percent. 
 
Broken down into political parties, pro-amendment opinions accounted 
for 91 percent among the LDP's upper house members elected this time 
and 67 percent in the case of New Komeito, the LDP's coalition 
partner. The People's New Party (Kokumin Shinto) was at 100 percent 
for constitutional revision. These three parties accounted for a 
majority of opinions in favor of constitutional revision. In the 
case of the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), 
however, 29 percent were in favor of constitutional revision while 
41 percent were opposed to it. As seen from these figures, 
anti-revision opinions outnumbered pro-revision opinions among the 
DPJ's upper house members elected this time. In the case of the 
Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party (Shaminto), 
all of their respective upper house members elected this time were 
opposed to constitutional revision. The New Party Nippon (Shinto 
Nippon) also won a seat in the election, and its newly elected upper 
house member was against it as well. 
 
The House of Councillors last elected its members in 2004. At that 
time, 71 percent of all upper house members were in favor of 
constitutional revision. This time around, however, the proportion 
of those in favor of constitutional revision in the upper chamber 
decreased more than 20 percent as a result of the LDP's rout in the 
election this time. Among the LDP's pre-election upper house 
members, those in favor of constitutional revision accounted for 90 
percent or so. 
 
In the meantime, some of the DPJ's pre-election upper house members, 
who were in favor of constitutional revision when surveyed in 2004, 
stood against it or were neutral in the survey this time. In the 
past surveys, 60 percent to 70 percent of both houses were in favor 
of constitutional revision. This time, however, the proportion of 
pro-revision lawmakers fell below 40 percent for the first time. 
This can be taken as reflecting public backlash against the LDP that 
steamrollered the national referendum legislation through the Diet. 
 
The survey was conducted from late May through July with prospective 
candidates for this July's upper house election as well as with 
those not up for reelection and those expected to retire. 
 
SCHIEFFER