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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 003716 
 
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 08/13/07-2 
 
 
Index: 
 
(12) In response to request by representatives of Liaison 
Association of Prefectural Governors for a review of the SOFA, US 
ambassador says: "No problem with our measures dealing with the 
environment" 
 
(13) Ambassador, Aso discuss an extension of Antiterrorism Law 
 
(14) Antiterrorism committee members to visit SDF units engaged in 
operations in Middle East 
 
(15) DPJ discusses an extension of Antiterrorism Law 
 
(16) Foreign minister's itinerary for round of visits to Middle 
East, Latin America announced 
 
(17) Maher questions police investigation into helo crash 
 
(18) The US' trump card in nuclear negotiations: Taking North Korea 
off the list of state sponsors of terrorism 
 
(19) Collective self-defense: Government gives up on plan to 
reinterpret the Constitution at fall Diet session 
 
(20) Expert panel on collective self-defense proposes adopting 
international standards on use of force while carrying out PKO 
 
(21) Koike vs. Moriya on replacing the vice defense minister 
 
(22) Jiji poll: 27% want to see grand coalition between LDP and DPJ; 
12% want LDP-New Komeito coalition to continue 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(12) In response to request by representatives of Liaison 
Association of Prefectural Governors for a review of the SOFA, US 
ambassador says: "No problem with our measures dealing with the 
environment" 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 5) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
Tokyo 
 
Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa and Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, 
chair and vice chair respectively of the Liaison Association of 
Prefectural Governors, called on United States Ambassador to Japan 
Thomas Schieffer at the US Embassy in Tokyo's Minato Ward on the 
afternoon on Aug. 10. They asked for a review of the Japan-US Status 
of Forces Agreement (SOFA), particularly these three points: (1) 
observation of domestic laws, including environmental laws and 
ordinances, and thorough implementation of environmental measures; 
(2) through implementation of safety measures to prevent incidents 
and accidents; and (3) establishment of a system to respect the 
wishes of local communities. According to Matsuzawa, Ambassador 
Schieffer avoided direct mention of a review of SOFA, only saying, 
"We have put into practice our environmental policy, fully conscious 
of the environment, so no problems exist." Schieffer thus indicated 
that there was no problem about the US Forces Japan's (USFJ) 
environmental measures. 
 
 
TOKYO 00003716  002 OF 008 
 
 
In the meeting, Matsuzawa suggested: "If it is difficult to review 
(the SOFA) immediately, how about forming a special agreement 
focusing on the environment issue?" Schieffer refrained from 
directly answering him, saying only this: "I can't say anything at 
present because I have yet to fully examine the details of SOFA." 
 
Gov. Nakaima said: "(The public) is becoming increasingly conscious 
of the environment. A number of problems have occurred. We hope to 
see (the US side) firmly deal with them." 
 
After making the request to the US side, Gov. Matsuzawa told 
reporters: "We've made a request every year, but the governments of 
Japan and the US have paid no attention to us. I think one idea (to 
deal with this situation) is to sign a special agreement focusing on 
the environment problem, aside from SOFA. I want to further study 
this idea along with the Okinawan governor." 
 
(13) Ambassador, Aso discuss an extension of Antiterrorism Law 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
Foreign Minister Aso met with United States Ambassador to Japan 
Schieffer yesterday to discuss an extension of the Antiterrorism 
Special Measures Law. Aso said: "This will be the most controversial 
issue in the next Diet session. The government will make utmost 
efforts to extend the law." Schieffer stated: "Japan's (Self-Defense 
Force's) continued refueling operations in the Indian Ocean (by 
extending the Antiterrorism Law) is important. The US would like to 
provide necessary information on the war so that persons concerned 
can understand the importance of the extension of the law." 
 
(14) Antiterrorism committee members to visit SDF units engaged in 
operations in Middle East 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
Members of the House of Representatives' Antiterrorism Special 
Committee, chaired by Yasukazu Hamada, from both the ruling and 
opposition parties will visit Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on 
Aug. 21-24. They aim to visit the unit of the Maritime Self-Defense 
Force engaged in refueling naval ships from the United States, 
Britain, and other countries based on the Antiterrorism Special 
Measures Law, which expires Nov. 1, and the unit of the Air 
Self-Defense Force that has continued airlift assistance in Iraq. 
 
(15) DPJ discusses an extension of Antiterrorism Law 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
In a meeting yesterday of its foreign and defense sections, the 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) started discussing an extension of 
the Antiterrorism Special Measures Law, which is to expire on Nov. 
¶1. Officials from the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry 
explained the current state of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's 
refueling operations based on the said law. But many DPJ members 
voiced dissatisfaction calling the ministries to disclose more 
detailed information. House of Councillors member Hideo Watanabe 
said: "The explanations by the government offices leave a lot to be 
desired. We cannot approve the extension of the law, if nothing is 
 
TOKYO 00003716  003 OF 008 
 
 
done." Policy Research Council Vice Chairman Akihisa Nagashima 
argued: "The government should disclose more detailed information, 
such as how much oil has been supplied." 
 
(16) Foreign minister's itinerary for round of visits to Middle 
East, Latin America announced 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
The Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that Foreign Minister Aso 
will visit Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territory, Mexico, and 
Brazil. He will leave Japan tomorrow and return to Japan on Aug. 24. 
He was also scheduled to visit France, but he will be returning home 
one day earlier by cancelling the trip to France, eyeing the planned 
reorganization of the lineup of the cabinet and Liberal Democratic 
Party executive members slated for the 27th. 
 
(17) Maher questions police investigation into helo crash 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 1) (Abridged) 
August 10, 2007 
 
On Aug. 13 three years ago, a US military helicopter based at the US 
Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station crashed on the campus of Okinawa 
International University. Ahead of the accident's third anniversary, 
US Consul General Okinawa Kevin Maher responded yesterday to a 
Ryukyu Shimpo interview. The US military has not disclosed the names 
of four maintenance service crewmembers who were in charge of the 
crashed helicopter. Okinawa prefectural police have therefore sent 
papers to prosecutors on the four with their names unknown. "They 
should know the United States has jurisdiction in the case of an 
accident that took place on duty (under the Japan-US Status of 
Forces Agreement or SOFA for short)," Maher said in the interview. 
The consul general added: "We investigated this case, and now we 
know what caused the accident. Even so, they (local police) ask the 
names of maintenance service crewmembers. I wonder what they want to 
investigate. It's more important to make efforts to prevent 
accidents." With this, he underscored efforts for training to cope 
with aircraft accidents. 
 
In the wake of the helicopter crash, the Japanese and US governments 
have been holding discussions to review the current perimeter 
traffic pattern of Futenma-based choppers. In this regard, Maher 
said the Futenma base has now introduced some systems to improve 
safety. "But," he added, "there will be no big change (in the 
current flight routes of Futenma-based aircraft)." 
 
Meanwhile, the Defense Facilities Administration Agency's Naha 
bureau presented Okinawa Prefecture on Aug. 7 with a procedural plan 
to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the planned 
relocation of Futenma airfield's functions to a coastal area of Camp 
Schwab in the prefecture's northern coastal city of Nago. "It's also 
my understanding that they have now entered into formal procedures 
for an assessment," Maher said. 
 
The Okinawa prefectural government has been calling for the Japanese 
government to lay down a Futenma alternative at a site in waters off 
the coast of Nago City's Henoko district. In addition, the Okinawa 
prefectural government has been demanding that Futenma airfield be 
effectively closed within three years. As it stands, Okinawa has yet 
to accept the environmental assessment plan. "We don't want the 
 
TOKYO 00003716  004 OF 008 
 
 
current state to continue," Maher said. He then noted that the 
Japanese government conducted a preliminary survey in waters off the 
coast of Henoko so that the relocation plan will not fall behind 
schedule. "If the work is likely to be delayed, the realignment plan 
will be affected in its entirety," he said. With this, he issued a 
warning to Okinawa Prefecture against its stance. 
 
(18) The US' trump card in nuclear negotiations: Taking North Korea 
off the list of state sponsors of terrorism 
 
YOMIURI (Page 7) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
At a lecture on August 9 by former Special Envoy to North Korea 
Charles "Jack" Pritchard, it became clear that the US, in order to 
encourage North Korea to denuclearize, is attempting to use the 
removal of North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism 
as a trump card in negotiations, without any consideration given to 
Japan's abduction issue. While the "next step" of the six-party 
talks, the shutdown of DPRK nuclear facilities, has been agreed on, 
the details must now be fleshed out. At this stage, the reappearance 
of the different stances of the US and Japan towards the abduction 
issue seem unavoidable. 
 
In the summer of 2003, the US added the Japanese abduction issue as 
a reason for North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of 
terrorism. According to the Pritchard, with the "special 
relationship" between then Prime Minister Koizumi and President Bush 
in the background, Japan was able to persuade and "successfully win 
a concession" from the US. Pritchard said that the Clinton 
administration had rejected Japan's request. 
 
Pritchard, who served as special envoy until August 2003 and 
participated in US-DPRK negotiations, emphasized: "North Korea fully 
understands why it was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, 
how those reasons have changed, and how to get the designation 
lifted." Towards the end of the Clinton administration, the US and 
North Korea were moving forward with talks about removing the 
designation. 
 
After North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, US-DPRK 
talks became an important concern for the Bush administration, and 
the lifting of North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of 
terrorism once again became a trump card for the US government. 
 
For the US, the Japanese abduction issue is ultimately a Japan-DPRK 
bilateral issue and therefore, a secondary issue. For North Korea, 
getting its name off the list of state sponsors of terrorism would 
open up access to international financial institutions, such as 
banks, and allow it to acquire loans. 
 
Thus, if the US removes North Korea from its list of state sponsors 
of terrorism, North Korea will get substantial rewards for its 
denuclearization. 
 
According to Pritchard, the US, in response to Japan's discontent 
over the start of the process to remove the DPRK from the list of 
state sponsors of terrorism, stressed that the joint statement 
issued during six-party talks in February says: "One working group's 
progress must not affect the progress of another working group." 
Furthermore, Pritchard said that the US asserted that even if the 
working group dealing with the normalization of relations between 
 
TOKYO 00003716  005 OF 008 
 
 
Japan and North Korea stalls over the abduction issue, the US and 
North Korea can still work towards normalizing relations. 
 
The biggest reason that the US still officially says that "it will 
take a long time before (North Korea) is removed from the list of 
state sponsors of terrorism" is because President Bush has a 
friendly personal relationship with former premier Koizumi and the 
current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. As the foundation beneath the Abe 
administration wavers, it appears that in the future, we will be 
entering a phase where agreement between Japan and the US is even 
more difficult to achieve. 
 
Pritchard is currently the president of the Korea Economic Institute 
(KEI). He occasionally visits North Korea with US nuclear 
specialists and officials involved with talks. When he visited North 
Korea in October 2006, he met with Li Gun, deputy director general 
of the American Affairs Bureau of the Foreign Ministry, among 
others. 
 
(19) Collective self-defense: Government gives up on plan to 
reinterpret the Constitution at fall Diet session 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
The government decided on Aug. 10 to give up on a plan to 
reinterpret the Constitution during the extraordinary Diet session 
that starts in September. The purpose of the 
constitutional-reinterpretation exercise is to allow Japan to 
exercise at least part of the right of self-collective defense. The 
government for the time will not start drafting legislation related 
to constitutional reinterpretation. Due to the present political 
situation of the opposition camp having traded places with the 
ruling bloc in the House of Councillors through the recent election, 
the government has determined that it would be difficult now to 
continue with the constitutional-reinterpretation effort. 
 
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his enthusiasm about 
changing the interpretation of the Constitution since last September 
when he assumed office. He established in April a blue-ribbon panel, 
chaired by Shunji Yanai, charged with discussing the legal 
foundation for national security, The group has discussed four 
scenarios, including whether a Self-Defense Force vessel can strike 
back when a warship from the US alongside it is attacked on the high 
seas. 
 
In a meeting on the evening of Aug. 10, the panel discussed whether 
the right of the use of weapons by SDF personnel dispatched overseas 
to assist UN peacekeeping operations (PKO) and other missions should 
be expanded so that they would be able to guard other countries 
units. Abe stressed: "Japan neither can win other countries' 
confidence nor carry out effective operations unless it closely 
cooperates with other countries' personnel." The panel reached an 
agreement with an eye on reviewing the possibility of constitutional 
reinterpretation. 
 
Based on such a discussion, the panel plans to submit to the 
government in the fall a final report calling for allowing the SDF 
to exercise the right of collective defense. In consideration of the 
New Komeito, which has now been more cautious about constitutional 
reinterpretation since the Upper House election, the government 
intends not to change the interpretation immediately. With the 
 
TOKYO 00003716  006 OF 008 
 
 
ruling and opposition camps in the Upper House having traded places, 
revising the SDF Law and the PKO Cooperation Law has now become 
difficult. 
 
(20) Expert panel on collective self-defense proposes adopting 
international standards on use of force while carrying out PKO 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
The government's "Council for discussing ways to rebuild the legal 
framework for national security" held its fourth meeting at the 
Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) yesterday. The experts 
panel, chaired by former Ambassador to the US Junji Yanai, is tasked 
with studying specific cases concerning the use of the right to 
collective self-defense. The focus of discussion in the meeting was 
on the pros and cons of whether the Self-Defense Force (SDF) can 
counterattack when other countries' troops are attacked while on UN 
peacekeeping operations with Japan. Many participants suggested that 
the government should allow SDF troops to go to the aid of their 
allies by changing the standards on the use of armed force to 
conform them to those of the United Nations for its peacekeeping 
operations (PKO). 
 
Under the current UN PKO Cooperation Law and the Iraq Humanitarian 
Reconstruction Support Special Measures Law, SDF personnel are 
banned from using weapons in any other cases than self-defense and 
emergency evacuation. The government's interpretation does not allow 
SDF troops to go to help other countries' troops, citing the reason 
that such operations might come under the category of the use of 
force overseas, which is prohibited under the Constitution. 
 
In the meeting, the members shared the view that the government 
should approve of SDF's allies-rescue activities, regarding them as 
part of collective security aimed to restore peace by UN members in 
cooperation, instead of viewing them as an issue linked to 
collective self-defense. A number of members stressed the need for 
Japan to ease its weapon-use standards. One member said: "It is a 
lack of common sense for troops to do nothing when other countries' 
troops are attacked while on the same mission with Japan;" and 
another member remarked: "It should be a basic stance to act in 
accordance with international rules." 
 
The panel intends to recommend in its report due out in November 
that the government should change its interpretation of the 
Constitution, which forbids the nation from exercising the right to 
collective self-defense. It remains uncertain, though, whether Prime 
Minister Abe, whose political standing is weak due to his party's 
crushing defeat in the July Upper House election, will be able to 
translate such recommendations into action. 
 
The prime minister told reporters at the Kantei last night: "I 
understand that I will face more difficulties in promoting my 
policies, but I decided to stay in power all the more because I need 
to push ahead with the policies." 
 
(21) Koike vs. Moriya on replacing the vice defense minister 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
August 11, 2007 
 
A war of nerves that extends to the government and Liberal 
 
TOKYO 00003716  007 OF 008 
 
 
Democratic Party (LDP) has developed between Defense Minister Yuriko 
Koike and Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya over Koike's 
decision to have Moriya retire in September. Having been in his post 
over four years, Moriya, who had been saying, "I will decide when I 
should retire," feels that his reputation has been besmirched, and 
he is moving now to block the appointment of a former senior police 
official picked by Koike as his successor. 
 
On the morning of Aug. 7, Moriya, who first heard of the way he 
would be treated from a newspaper report, stormed into Koike's 
office to protest: "There are supposed to be consultations first 
about personnel changes. But this was not the case at all." But 
Koike coolly replied, "It is as the newspaper stated." 
 
Since the passage of the bill to extend the Anti-terrorism Special 
Measures Law will be the hottest item of the Diet agenda during the 
extraordinary session this fall, Moriya has been telling everyone, 
"I will be busy in the fall." He has extensive channels of 
communication to both the ruling and opposition camps, and in the 
view of one government source, "He is more like a politician type 
than a bureaucrat." He has absolute confidence in being able to 
operate in political circles. When Koizumi was prime minister, 
Moriya was even able to dig into territory of Koizumi's private 
secretary, Kaoru Iijima, and last year in June, when Koizumi visited 
 
SIPDIS 
the US, Moriya accompanied him, which is unusual for an 
administrative defense minister. 
 
Moriya, since his appointment in Aug. 2003, has a record 
accomplishments that have led to strengthening the ministry's 
authority, such as the dispatch of SDF troops to Iraq, the 
realignment of US forces in Japan, and the elevation of the Defense 
Agency to a ministry. A senior ministry official confided, "If it 
were not for the presence of Mr. Moriya, we would still have a 
third-rate agency." 
 
However, it has been pointed out that he built a long-term 
administration by demoting those who did not agree with his views. 
As a result, he created a situation in which, according to a former 
Defense Agency chief, "there is no talented official suitable to be 
vice minister down to the level of Kohei Masuda, who is four years 
junior to Moriya (who entered the agency in 1971)." 
 
Defense officials could always tell by looking at the color of 
Moriya's face whether another disgraceful matter, such as the 
leaking of classified information, had occurred. Regarding Moriya 
himself, gossip would not go away that he has connections with 
defense contractors. There were growing calls in the ministry for 
him to retire soon. 
 
Moriya probably has no intentions of clinging on to his position, 
but the name mentioned for his successor is Chief of the Secretariat 
Tetsuya Nishikawa, who hails from the National Police Agency 
(entered that agency in 1972). For Moriya, who had expected someone 
hailing from the Defense Ministry, that person will be hard to 
accept. He is developing a strategy to roll back the appointment. 
Already criticism toward Koike has broken out in the government and 
ruling camp for her having departed to the United States without 
having fully set the groundwork ahead of time. 
 
The one who was kept completely out of the loop in this whole 
personnel affair was Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, who 
could not hide his displeasure about it when he told an aide, "The 
 
TOKYO 00003716  008 OF 008 
 
 
final decision will be made by a meeting of the cabinet 
secretariat." Former LDP Vice President Taku Yamasaki stated on Aug. 
 
SIPDIS 
9: "The leak about the change in vice minister came before the trip 
to the US, but it could not have been done without the approval of 
the prime minister." 
 
Koike will begin to coordinate after she returns from the US on Aug. 
11, but this uproar has suddenly changed the mood of welcome inside 
the ministry toward the first female defense minister. One senior 
ministry official spit out these words: "Koike aimed at completely 
cleaning out Moriya's imprint with a coup d'etat triggered by 
Nishikawa. I absolutely don't want Nishikawa to become vice 
minister." 
 
(22) Jiji poll: 27% want to see grand coalition between LDP and DPJ; 
12% want LDP-New Komeito coalition to continue 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
August 13, 2007 
 
According to an opinion poll conducted by Jiji Press Aug. 3 - 5, the 
largest number, or 27% , cited a coalition between the Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or 
Minshuto) as a desirable framework for administration. The result 
apparently reflects the concern about the political situation 
destabilizing due to the twist caused by the trading of places 
between the ruling LDP and the DPJ in the Upper House following the 
recent election. 
 
Those who replied that it is desirable for the LDP and the New 
Komeito to continue the present coalition government reached stood 
at 11.9% . If this number is combined with 10.8% , who replied that 
a single-party administration by the LDP is desirable, 22.7% of 
respondents hoped for an LDP-led administration. 
 
In the meantime, 22.8% replied that an administration led by the DPJ 
is desirable. The breakdown comes down to a DPJ-led single-party 
administration desired by 11.0% , a non-LDP coalition government 
excluding the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) favored by 6.6% , and 
an administration including the JCP, supported by 5.2% . 
 
To the question of whom they would like to be LDP president, 17.1% , 
or the largest number, cited former Prime Minister Junichiro 
Koizumi, followed by Foreign Minister Taro Aso at 14.9% and former 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda at 8.3% . The number of 
respondents who cited incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fourth 
at 7.4% . 
 
The survey targeted 2,000 men and women based on individual 
interviews. The rate of valid replies came to 67.3% . 
 
SCHIEFFER