VZCZCXRO0429
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #4159/01 2500126
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070126Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7327
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RUALSFJ/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/CTF 72
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 5452
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 3028
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 6658
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 2009
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 3765
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8834
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4893
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 5804

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 004159 
 
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 09/07/07 
 
 
Index: 
 
War on terror: 
1) US House of Representatives passes resolution praising Japan for 
its anti-terrorism contributions 
2) Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) against new anti-terror law 
concept but may consider Japan providing logistical support to ISAF 
in Afghanistan 
3) DPJ Secretary General Hatoyama says cooperation with NATO in 
Afghanistan is one option instead of continued MSDF service in the 
Indian Ocean 
4) Afghan reporter gets direct interview from DPJ official on 
party's anti-terror stand 
 
5) New USFJ commander picked 
 
6) Japan, China in foreign ministers' meeting at APEC conference 
agree to cooperate to fight global warming 
 
North Korea problem: 
7) Japan's two days of talks with North Korea ends without progress 
 
8) Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosano is forward looking about 
humanitarian aid to flood-stricken North Korea 
 
DPJ in action: 
9) DPJ focus in upcoming Diet session will be pensions and scandals 
 
10) DPJ policy chief Uejima plans to pursue subsidy misuse, focusing 
on farm ministry 
 
Daily scandal sheet: 
11) Nikai faction also has missing political-fund issue, as does 
former Prime Minister Mori and former Environment Minister Kawasaki 
 
12) Former Prime Minister Mori's political branch is missing 6 
million in political donations 
13) Former Health Minister Niwa kept double account books for 
500,000 yen printing costs 
14) Former farm minister Tamazawa, who just quit the LDP over money 
scandal, could face charge of violation of public election law 
15) Vice Minister of Agriculture Kobayashi to resign for impropriety 
 
16) DPJ also has a scandal involving the party's showcase lawmaker, 
as revealed in tabloid weekly 
 
17) APEC: US, Japan vs. China on product safety issue 
 
Articles: 
 
1) US House thanks Japan for antiterror cooperation 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
WASHINGTON-The US House of Representatives, meeting in a plenary 
session on Sept. 5, adopted a resolution thanking Japan for its 
security efforts, such as Japan's contribution to the war on terror 
in the Indian Ocean, with 405 ayes and no nays. In late July, the 
House adopted a resolution on comfort women. However, that 
resolution raised concerns about its negative impact on Japan-US 
relations. The Congress showed consideration for Japan's 
 
TOKYO 00004159  002 OF 010 
 
 
contributions with the resolution this time. 
 
Touching on the US House resolution, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosano 
stated: "This shows that the US House of Representatives recognizes 
the importance of our bilateral alliance. I welcome it on the 
Japanese government's part." 
 
2) DPJ likely to oppose new legislation in addition to an extension 
of the antiterrorism law; Idea of allowing SDF's "participation in 
logistic support" floated in DPJ 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) is 
intensifying its opposition to extending the Antiterrorism Special 
Measures Law, an issue that will take center stage at an upcoming 
extraordinary session of the Diet to be convened on Sept. 10. The 
government and the ruling parties, which want to continue the 
Maritime Self-Defense Force's (MSDF) refueling activities in the 
Indian Ocean, are considering creating a new law that will reflect 
the DPJ's assertions, but the tide of opinion in the DPJ is that it 
will be difficult for the party to accept the new law. 
 
At a press conference yesterday, DPJ Deputy President Kan said 
firmly that if there is no request from the United Nations, Japan 
should not send the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) abroad, noting: "Our 
party's fundamental rule about an overseas dispatch of the 
Self-Defense Forces (SDF) is that we allow it within the bounds of 
the Constitution if there is a request from the United Nations." 
 
The government uses the UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1368 
adopted on the day after the terrorist attacks in the United States 
in September 2001 as a basis for the Antiterrorism Special Measures 
Law. This resolution is seen as an antiterrorism resolution and it 
says "We ask the international community to make even more efforts 
to prevent and restrain terrorism." The DPJ contends that this 
resolution cannot be used as a basis for that law, noting that "This 
resolution is not intended for a specific purpose. It does not 
directly specify any operation of war like forming a multinational 
force." 
 
DPJ President Ozawa made this critical comment in a speech on Aug. 
21: "President Bush declared, 'It's a war of self-defense for the 
US. We don't have to have either a UN resolution or approval from 
the international community.' Given this, it is really strange for 
the US to ask for help at present." 
 
An idea of creating a new law is being floated in the government and 
the governing coalition. In this regard, a mid-level DPJ lawmaker 
said: "I can't vote for new legislation as long as the real aim of a 
new law is to continue the MSDF's refueling activities even if the 
new law reflects the DPJ's previous assertions like information 
disclosure and prior approval for a dispatch of MSDF vessels." 
 
The DPJ intends to use the right to investigate state affairs during 
deliberations in the Upper House and put pressure on the government 
and the ruling bloc to disclose information involving the actual 
state and effects of the MSDF's activities as well as activities of 
the US forces that have received refueling services. The DPJ's 
tactic is to take time for deliberations and delay a vote until the 
antiterrorism law expires on Nov. 1. An idea of submitting a bill 
 
TOKYO 00004159  003 OF 010 
 
 
repealing the antiterrorism law to the Upper House in order to 
immediately withdraw MSDF vessels from the Indian Ocean is also 
being floated in the DPJ. 
 
The DPJ also intends to form a set of its own assistance measures 
for Afghanistan, including humanitarian aid, in preparation for 
deliberations on a bill extending the antiterrorism law. In December 
2001, the UNSC adopted Resolution 1386 concerning a dispatch of an 
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghanistan. DPJ 
Secretary General Hatoyama said in a speech in Hamamatsu City 
 
SIPDIS 
yesterday: "I presume a focus of talks in the weeks ahead will be 
whether it is possible for Japan to take part in logistic support 
for the ISAF." 
 
3) Hatoyama terms cooperation with NATO an "option" for DPJ 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the leading opposition 
Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), delivered a speech yesterday 
in the city of Hamamatsu. Referring to his party's counterproposal 
to the government's plan for extending the Antiterrorism Special 
Measures Law, Hatoyama indicated that the DPJ would consider 
cooperating with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) 
led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan as one 
of Japan's possible options. "It's extremely important to discuss 
whether Japan can back up the International Security Assistance 
Force (ISAF, currently deployed to Afghanistan)." 
 
4) Afghan reporter directly asks DPJ's Watanabe for Japan's 
continued involvement in assistance 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
"Our country also wants to cooperate in an even more proactive way." 
With this, Kozo Watanabe, a supreme advisor to the leading 
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), stressed a stance 
of extending cooperation to assist Afghanistan when he was 
interviewed by a press reporter from Afghanistan in the Diet 
yesterday. 
 
DPJ President Ozawa is opposed to extending the Antiterror Special 
Measures Law, under which Japan has been backing up the antiterror 
campaign going on in Afghanistan. The Afghan reporter asked Watanabe 
for Japan's continued involvement in assistance with Afghanistan's 
reconstruction. However, Watanabe assumed a wait-and-see attitude, 
saying: "The Diet will continue to discuss this matter in an 
extraordinary session. I can't say which is what." Watanabe chairs a 
parliamentary league for friendship between Japan and Afghanistan. 
 
5) Rice named as 1st black to command USFJ 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
The headquarters of US Forces Japan announced yesterday that 
President Bush has nominated US Air Force Maj. Gen. Edward Rice, 
currently serving as the vice commander of Pacific Air Forces in 
Hawaii, to succeed USAF Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright as USFJ commanding 
general. Rice will be the first Afro-American (black) to command 
 
TOKYO 00004159  004 OF 010 
 
 
USFJ. 
 
6) Japan, China to work together to cope with global warming 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
SYDNEY-Foreign Minister Machimura and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang 
Jiechi met yesterday in Sydney and agreed to create an international 
scheme for coping with global warming. This is the first time for 
Japan and China to set forth proactive cooperation on this issue at 
a ministerial level, according to the Foreign Ministry. Machimura 
invited Yang to visit Japan, and Yang also invited Machimura to 
visit China. They positively responded to each other's invitation. 
 
According to a Japanese briefing, Yang offered to cooperate with 
Japan for substantive results on a post-Kyoto Protocol framework 
beyond 2013. 
 
7) Japan-DPRK working group talks end without any progress; DPRK 
"ready to set stage for talks" with JAL Yodo-go plane hijackers 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
Yuichiro Nakamura, Shuhei Kuromi, Ulan Bator 
 
The Japan-North Korea working group yesterday wrapped up the second 
day of talks at the Mongolian Guest House in Ulan Bator. On the 
issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, one of the 
focuses of the talks, the North Korean delegation was negative about 
reinvestigating the abductees, with one official arguing, "Given the 
currently worsened relations between the two countries, we are not 
in a situation to further investigate them." However, both sides 
agreed to meet at frequent intervals in the future by holding, for 
instance, a working group session. 
 
The Japanese team demanded a reinvestigation of abductees and a 
handover of abduction suspects, including three Japanese hijackers 
of the JAL "Yodo-go" airliner. 
 
The North Korean team did not make any mention of specific responses 
to those requests, but it did not use the expression "the abduction 
issue has been already settled" and was slightly softer in its 
attitude than at the first round of the working group talks in March 
of this year, where it walked out of the conference room in the 
middle of the session. After the talks, Kim Chul Ho, deputy 
director-general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian 
Affairs Bureau told reporters: "The gaps between Japan and our 
country remain wide. We will discuss how to reduce them." 
 
On the question of handing the Yodo-go hijackers over to Japan, Kim 
indicated his intention to allow the Japanese government to meet the 
hijackers in North Korea, saying, "It is a matter the Japanese 
government and the people concerned with the Yodo-go case should 
discuss. We are ready to set a stage for both sides to meet." 
 
The fact that the hijackers reside in North Korea has been one of 
the grounds for the United States to list North Korea as a state 
sponsor of terrorism. Perhaps because the North Koreans want their 
country to be removed at an early date from the list of countries 
sponsoring terrorism, they would become willing to (hand them over 
 
TOKYO 00004159  005 OF 010 
 
 
to Japan.) 
 
The participants in the talks included Ambassador Yoshiki Mine in 
charge of Japan-North Korea diplomatic normalization talks from 
Japan and his North Korean counterpart Song Il Ho. The session 
lasted for three hours and 15 minutes including a break. 
 
8) Yosano: I did not say that humanitarian aid to North Korea should 
be separated from other diplomatic issues 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano in a press conference yesterday 
said about humanitarian aid to North Korea: "I did not say that it 
should be separated from other diplomatic issues." 
 
Yosano noted in a press conference on September 4: "There is a 
possibility to overcome political difficulties of any given moment. 
Humanitarian aid is an area that deserves independent thinking. I 
would like to see the Foreign Ministry study the matter seriously." 
 
In yesterday's press conference, Yosano emphasized that he had 
simply referred to slim chances of separating the matter from other 
issues, effectively correcting his course. In addition, regarding 
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) Deputy 
Chairman Nam Sung U's letter to the Cabinet Office yesterday asking 
for a removal of the ban on port calls by North Korean vessels, 
Yosano said: "I hear that (the Cabinet Office) will return it by 
contents by certified mail." 
 
9) DPJ bills give priority to pensions, political funding; 
Farm-family supports to be presented to the regular Diet session 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Excerpt) 
September 7, 2007 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) has set the priority 
order for bills to be introduced in the extraordinary session of the 
Diet. The opposition camp will present bills in the Upper House, 
where it commands a majority of seats, with priority given to a bill 
banning the appropriation of pension premiums for any other use than 
pension payments, and another bill amending the Political Funds 
Control Law to make it obligatory to attach receipts, such as all 
office expenses above 1 yen. The bill to freeze privatization of 
postal services that the party co-sponsored and presented in August 
with the Social Democratic Party and the Peoples New Party will be 
withdrawn. The DPJ aims at presenting a bill creating a system of 
income supports for farm families, the showcase of the party's 
campaign promises in the Upper House race, in the regular Diet 
session next year. 
 
10) DPJ policy chief: Opposition will pursue subsidies issue in 
extra Diet session 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Slightly excerpts) 
September 7, 2007 
 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Policy Research Committee Chairman 
Masayuki Naoshima indicated yesterday in an interview with the 
Nikkei that his party would look into whether to invoke the right of 
a Diet member to investigate state affairs in the House of 
 
TOKYO 00004159  006 OF 010 
 
 
Councillors with an eye on shedding light on the issue of politics 
and money in the upcoming extraordinary Diet session to be convened 
on Sept. 10. The DPJ aims to highlight how tax money has been wasted 
in the Upper House, which is now controlled by the opposition camp. 
 
Naoshima revealed that the opposition camp would prioritize the 
Upper House over the Lower House regarding deliberations on bills 
since the opposition holds a majority in the Upper House. 
Specifically, the opposition bloc will submit to the Upper House 
three bills: (1) a bill to ban the use of pension premiums for other 
purposes than pension benefits; (2) a bill to revise the Political 
Funds Control Law requiring politicians to attach to their political 
fund reports receipts for expenditures of one yen or more; and (3) 
an agriculture policy bill designed to introduce an income security 
system for individual farmers. It plans to present the pension bill 
as early as next week. 
 
Regarding former farm minister Takehiko Endo, who quit the post to 
take responsibility for a subsidies issue, Naoshima pointed out: "It 
is no good for a lawmaker to head such organizations enjoying 
government subsidies as an agriculture mutual aid association." In 
connection with the fact that a person who heads a public-interest 
corporation, which receives subsidies, became representative of a 
political organization of Environment Minister Masatoshi 
Wakabayashi, the DPJ policy chief said: "There will be big problem 
if a thorough investigation is carried out." Both chambers of the 
Diet have the right to investigate state affairs. By exercising this 
right, Diet members can demand that persons be called to testify as 
Diet witnesses and that the government present documents. The DPJ 
will call on the government to submit documents regarding the 
pension record-keeping fiasco and the issue of extending the 
Antiterrorism Special Measures Law. 
 
11) Nikai faction's fund management body also failed to declare 
sales of party tickets totaling 1.66 million yen 
 
MAINICHI (Top play) (Abridged slightly) 
September 7, 2007 
 
Atarashii Nami (New Wave), the Nikai faction's political 
organization headed by LDP General Council Chairman Toshihiro Nikai 
and for which National Public Safety Commission Chairman Shinya 
Izumi is serving as chief accountant, failed to include in its 
political fund report 1.66 million yen gained from selling party 
tickets to Shin Seijimondai Kenkyu-kai (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; 
disbanded in late 2006), a political organization established by a 
former executive of a large general contractor. The fund management 
organizations of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and former 
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki have also failed to 
declare sales of party tickets to the same political organization. 
This has exposed the sloppy political fund reporting practice among 
LDP executives. 
 
The organization that bought party tickets was Shin Seijimondai 
Kenkyu-kai, a political organization headed by a former business 
manager of Nishimatsu Construction Co. (headquartered in Minato 
Ward) and for which a former part-time auditor was serving as the 
chief accountant. The person who headed the organization retired 
from Nishimatsu in 1995 to establish the organization and served 
thereafter as a board member of an affiliated company until 2004. 
The person who served as the chief accountant worked as Nishimatsu's 
auditor until 2003 and died in 2005. Shin Seijimondai Kenkyu-kai was 
 
TOKYO 00004159  007 OF 010 
 
 
dissolved in late 2006. 
 
According to receipts and transfer slips attached to the 
organization's financial reports, the body bought party tickets 
worth 960,000 yen and 700,000 yen from Atarashii Nami, the Nikai 
faction's political organization, on two occasions in 2005. 
 
The Political Funds Control Law requires political organizations to 
declare in their funds reports the names of those who purchased 
tickets worth over 200,000 yen and the exact amounts. Reports by 
Atarashii Nami did not include such information. 
 
Meanwhile, Shunpu-kai, former Prime Minister Mori's fund management 
organization, held a fund-raising party in Tokyo in late 2004. 
Atarashii Nami also bought its party tickets worth 1 million yen. 
Further, Atarashii Nami bought party tickets totaling 600,000 yen in 
the same year from Hakuho-kai, the fund-management organization of 
former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Kawasaki. But Kawasaki's 
fund management body failed to declare it. 
 
A Nikai office source said: "It is a true that we had received money 
for the tickets, and we are now investigating it thoroughly. We 
would like to correct our reports once the investigation is over." 
 
The Mori office indicated through a lawyer that the incident 
occurred by clerical mistakes. The Kawasaki office also indicated a 
willingness to correct its reports after examining the facts. 
 
12) 6 million yen in donations off books of LDP branch headed by 
former Prime Minister Mori: Fund reports already corrected 
 
MAINICHI (Page 31) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
It was learned on September 6 that the Liberal Democratic Party 
(LDP) branch in Ishikawa Constituency No. 2, headed by former Prime 
Minister Yoshiro Mori, corrected its political fund reports for 2004 
and 2005 due to the omission of entries of donations made by Mori 
totaling approximately 6 million yen. An accountant of the branch 
office explained, "The branch donated expenses for the 2003 and 2005 
Lower House elections. Mr. Mori returned surpluses. However, since 
we did not issue receipts, we were unable to check the flow of the 
money. As a result, we failed to report the returned money." 
 
According to the correction report submitted to the prefectural 
election board, Mori donated 2,837,861 yen on January 30, 2004 and 
2,959,916 yen on Nov. 30, 2005. The branch office accountant 
informed the election board of the error on Sept. 4 and corrected it 
the same day. Following the correction, the missed-out amounts were 
brought forward to the following years. The balance brought forward 
as of the end of 2005 came to 36,254,611 yen. The total income after 
the correction came to 176,795,l05 yen for 2004 and 208,211,601 yen 
for 2005. 
 
According to the explanation given by the accountant, the branch 
office in August received an order to check its fund report from the 
party headquarters. It realized missing entries in mid-August. This 
accountant noted that the office did not issue receipts, because the 
recipient was not a third party but the branch head. Though Mori has 
already been informed of the correction, he reportedly did not make 
any special comment on that. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004159  008 OF 010 
 
 
13) LDP branch headed by former Welfare Minister Niwa doubly claimed 
printing expenses, using copy of same receipt 
 
MAINICHI (Page 31) (Full) 
September 7, 2007 
 
It was found that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) branch of 
Ibaraki Constituency No. 6, headed by former Welfare Minister Yuya 
Niwa, doubly reported printing expenses worth 510,800 yen, attaching 
copies of the same report to its political fund report for 2005. 
 
The receipt used for double entries was issued by a printing firm in 
Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on May 17, 2005. Two copies made 
from this receipt were used as printing expenses for two spending 
items -- public relations expenses and expenses for holding a 
political fund-raising party. 
 
Niwa's office explained that it wants to correct the error 
immediately, noting that it was a simple clerical mistake. 
 
Niwa has shown a cautious toward a proposal for amending the 
Political Fund Control Law to mandate the attachment of receipts for 
operational expenses topping 1 yen, noting, "It is questionable to 
set the amount at 1 yen." 
 
14) Former Agriculture Minister Tamazawa might have violated Public 
Office Election Law 
 
ASAHI (Page 38) (Excerpts) 
September 7, 2007 
 
It was learned yesterday that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's 
(LDP) Iwate Chapter's No. 4 Constituency Office, which had been 
headed by former Agriculture Minister Tokuichiro Tamazawa, who just 
recently submitted to the LDP a notice of his leaving the party to 
take the responsibility for the use of multiple copies of one 
receipt in his political funds reports, had received donations 
during the election campaigns or immediately before the campaigns in 
2003 and 2005 from several contractors who had received orders for 
public works projects from the central government. 
 
The Public Office Election Law bans companies that have concluded 
contracts with the government from contributing money to candidates 
for national elections and also bans candidates from seeking 
donations from those companies. One of the staff for Tamazawa said, 
"We received donations for the sake of the elections. We had no idea 
about (the Public Office Election Law)." 
 
According to the No. 4 Constituency Office's political funds 
reports, this office received a total of 5.3 million yen in 
donations in 2005, when the Lower House election was held, from at 
least 10 general contractors who had been engaged in public works 
projects commissioned by a bureau of the Agriculture Ministry. 
 
The office also received a total of 480,000 yen in donations one 
week before the Lower House election or during the election campaign 
in 2003 from at least four general contractors who was engaged in 
public works projects commissioned by the central government. 
 
When interviewed yesterday by the Asahi Shimbun about the reason why 
donations were made during certain periods of time, Tamazawa's 
secretary said, "That's because of elections." When asked about the 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TOKYO 00004159  009 OF 010 
 
 
possibility that receiving donations by companies that had concluded 
contracts with the central government might have been a violation of 
the Public Office Election Law, the secretary said: "We had no 
knowledge about that. We'd like to follow the judgment of voters and 
authorities." 
 
15) Administrative Vice MAFF Minister Kobayashi to resign 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
September 7, 2007 
 
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) decided 
to promote Fisheries Agency Director General Toshiro Shirasu, 56, to 
the administrative vice minister's post as the successor to Yoshio 
Kobayashi, 58. If all goes smoothly, his appointment will be 
announced today. 
 
In MAFF, Takehiko Endo quit the minister post on the 3rd to take 
responsibility for an agricultural mutual aid association he headed 
having improperly received government subsidies. Political observers 
expect that the replacement of administrative vice minister at this 
time means that Kobayashi will resign to take responsibility for a 
series of problems in the ministry. 
 
16) Star DPJ lawmakers hit by scandals 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Abridged slightly) 
September 7, 2007 
 
A gloomy atmosphere is surrounding the major opposition Democratic 
Party of Japan due to weekly magazine reports on scandals involving 
Yumiko Himei and Yoshiro Yokomine, the party's star candidates in 
the July House of Councillors election. 
 
DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa yesterday called Himei representing the 
Okayama electoral district to party headquarters in order to learn 
in person about her reported extramarital affair. 
 
According to a person concerned, Ozawa advised Himei to practice 
caution so as not to provide juicy stories to the media. The source 
quoted Himei as saying in response that she would do her utmost in 
implementing policies to meet public expectations and that she would 
firmly assist President Ozawa, who aims at a change of government. 
 
Meanwhile, Yoshiro Yokomine, the father of professional golfer 
Sakura Yokomine, offered an apology in the wake of Weekly Shincho's 
report on his having played golf for money. Secretary General Yukio 
Hatoyama warned him severely. 
 
Yokomine has filed a damage lawsuit against publisher Shinchosha 
Publishing Co. and others. Despite that, the Weekly Shincho's latest 
issue that went on sale yesterday carried a follow-on report on 
Yokomine. 
 
A mid-level DPJ lawmaker grumbled: "Enough is enough. We must 
concentrate on taking the reins of government." 
 
17) APEC ministerial: Japan, US vs. China on product safety: 
Confrontation also over patent screening 
 
YOMIURI (Page 11) (Excerpts) 
September 7, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00004159  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
An Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) ministerial 
meeting yesterday ended, adopting a joint statement. Confrontation 
between Japan and the US on one side and China on the other was 
visible during the meeting over the drafting of a joint statement 
concerning a product safety issue and procedures for the screening 
of intellectual property rights. Regarding the initiative of APEC 
aiming at concluding free trade agreements involving all member 
nations, the joint statement characterized it only in equivocal 
terms with Japan, the US and China motivated by different desires. 
 
The three countries were at odds over the product safety issue. The 
joint statement noted that member nations should tackle the issue in 
connection with each country's effort to secure the safety of their 
own products. Behind the move is that the detection of harmful 
substances from Chinese toys has developed into a social problem in 
many countries, especially in the US. The decision was made to 
include the issue in the statement, as the US took strong interest 
in the problem, as a senior official of the Ministry of Economy, 
Trade and Industry put it. 
 
China opposed the inclusion of the issue in the statement, noting 
that it is taking strict measures. In response, participants decided 
not to single out China. Foreign Minister Downer of host nation 
Australia during a press conference after the meeting gave 
consideration to China, noting, "The statement does not target 
China." 
 
The US and South Korea supported Japan's proposal for speeding up a 
patent screening process, staging a skirmish. 
 
Japan and several other countries proposed an action program for 
unifying patent application forms within APEC and mutually using 
screening results. However, China was reluctant to comply with the 
idea, noting that it involves too much work, such as making 
application forms available abroad and translating documents into 
English. The statement in the end did not include this proposal. 
 
DONOVAN