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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TOKYO 004633 
 
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 10/02/07 
 
 
Index: 
 
(1) Diet approval likely to become point at issue in debate on new 
antiterrorism bill; Opposition camp to criticize new legislation as 
deviation from civilian control 
 
(2) LDP still unable to recover from damage from "postal election"; 
Postal rebels-reinstated lawmakers vs. Koizumi children; Hiranuma 
issue is source of trouble 
 
(3) Blanket BSE inspection is waste of tax money:  Stopping pithing 
practice and extensive removal of lingual tonsils are more 
important; It is irresponsible for government not to report on 
details of actual situation 
 
(4) TOP HEADLINES 
 
(5) EDITORIALS 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Diet approval likely to become point at issue in debate on new 
antiterrorism bill; Opposition camp to criticize new legislation as 
deviation from civilian control 
 
SANKEI (Page 3) (Abridged slightly) 
October 2, 2007 
 
Full-fledged Diet debate will get underway with the start tomorrow 
of interpellations by party leaders following Prime Minister Yasuo 
Fukuda's policy speech yesterday. Aiming to extend the Maritime 
Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, the 
government and ruling camp plan to determine an outline today of 
alternative legislation to the Antiterrorism Special Measures Law in 
order to present it to the opposition bloc before the end of the 
week. The opposition camp is set to pursue allegations that US 
warships used fuel from the MSDF in the Iraq war and criticize the 
envisaged new bill for not requiring Diet approval as a deviation 
from civilian control. 
 
Services to be limited to refueling 
 
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, appearing on NTV and Fuji-TV 
programs yesterday, indicated that ways to ensure civilian control 
under the new legislation would be a key point. He also said: 
"Although the Antiterrorism Law now in force is designed to allow a 
variety of activities, only refueling would be allowed under the new 
legislation. The enactment of the bill will be tantamount to Diet 
approval." Ishiba thus indicated that the new legislation would not 
necessarily include a provision requiring Diet approval. 
 
The current Antiterrorism Law requires the government to obtain 
"retroactive approval by the Diet" within 20 days of the start of 
MSDF operations. The major opposition Democratic Party of Japan 
(Minshuto or DPJ) opposed the enactment of the Antiterrorism Law in 
2001, citing a lack of "prior approval" by the Diet. But in November 
2001, the party endorsed the government's retroactive approval of 
the dispatch of MSDF troops to the Indian Ocean. 
 
The now defunct Liberal Party headed by Ichiro Ozawa at the time 
opposed both the Antiterrorism Law and Diet approval. The law has 
since been extended three times, but the government did not bother 
 
TOKYO 00004633  002 OF 006 
 
 
to seek Diet approval, saying there was no significant change to the 
MSDF operations. 
 
Countermeasures for Upper House 
 
The government and ruling coalition have decided not to include a 
Diet approval clause in the new legislation, fearing that the 
opposition-controlled House of Councillors would press the 
government for immediate withdrawal after refusing to approve the 
MSDF mission. The government and ruling bloc have also decided to 
eliminate the duty of rescuing victims of terrorism on the grounds 
that continuing the same operations would not require additional 
Diet endorsement. 
 
But given the standard requirement of Diet approval in mobilizing 
SDF troops, the opposition parties are certain to take special 
notice of the absence of it. DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama 
contended that Diet approval was indispensable in view of civilian 
control apparently in a bid to make a public appeal. The DPJ is set 
to fiercely debate the question of Diet approval along with the 
alleged diversion of Japanese fuel for the Iraq war. 
 
Major points in new antiterrorism legislation 
 
¶1. MSDF operations will be limited to oil and water supply. Search 
and rescue operations and rescuing victims will not be stipulated. 
¶2. The MSDF will conduct operations based on UN Security Council 
Resolution 1776 that expressed appreciation for the Maritime 
Interdiction Operation by the US-led coalition forces. 
¶3. The area of operations will be limited to the Indian Ocean, 
including the Persian Gulf, and the skies above it. 
¶4. The requirement of Diet approval will be eliminated. 
¶5. The new law will be good for one or two years. (Coordination 
underway within the ruling camp) 
 
(2) LDP still unable to recover from damage from "postal election"; 
Postal rebels-reinstated lawmakers vs. Koizumi children; Hiranuma 
issue is source of trouble 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) 
October 2, 2007 
 
With the launching yesterday of Japan Post Holdings Co., the 
privatization of state-run postal services pushed ahead by former 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has now been realized. However, the 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has yet to recover from the wound 
caused by the House of Representatives election held in September 
2005 -- the election that asked voters whether they favored postal 
privatization or not. The LDP has many hurdles to overcome such as 
the question of whether to reinstate former international trade 
minister Takeo Hiranuma, one of the postal rebels, as well as 
coordination on candidates to run in electoral districts in the next 
Lower House election. 
 
The most serious aftereffect of the so-called postal election is 
coordination to pick candidates to run in electoral districts in the 
Lower House election. The party has to choose candidates from the 
so-called Koizumi children, who were elected in the 2005 Lower House 
election for the first time, and from those lawmakers who opposed 
the government's postal-privatization drive and are now reinstated 
into the LDP. 
 
 
TOKYO 00004633  003 OF 006 
 
 
Of 27 postal rebels, who ran in the 2005 election as independents, 
13 were elected. Of the 13 lawmakers, 11 were allowed to return to 
the LDP after submitting their written pledges of agreeing to 
postal-privatization. 
 
Of the 11 lawmakers, Keiji Furuya (Gifu No. 5 district) and four 
other members, who are regarded as candidates for the next Lower 
House race, now head local chapters of the LDP from their electoral 
districts. However, in the electoral districts in which six persons, 
including Mitsuo Horiuchi (Yamanashi No.2 district), were elected, 
lawmakers, who won their seats under the proportional representation 
segment after being defeated by Horiuchi and five other competitors, 
now head the six local chapters of the LDP from their electoral 
districts. 
 
One of the reinstated lawmakers is confident in obtaining the 
party's endorsement as the official candidate for a single-seat 
constituency. A person, once called an assassin candidate, who won a 
Lower House seat in the proportional representation competition 
after losing the single-seat constituency race, stressed that the 
lawmaker has no intention of giving the party's official endorsement 
to other person, saying, "I staked my life on the Lower House 
election." 
 
The existence of Hiranuma, who has been an independent since he 
refused to submit a written pledge, will likely become a cause of 
trouble. 
 
Former Secretary General Taro Aso, who has close ties with Hiranuma, 
had indicated that the party would reinstate him unconditionally. 
There is no doubt that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose 
political principles are similar to Hiranuma's, backed Aso's view. 
 
However, waves of criticism of Aso's idea erupted in the LDP. Lower 
House member Yasuhiro Nakagawa commented: "If the party reinstates 
Hiranuma, it means that the party rejects the Koizumi reform drive." 
Koizumi praised such remarks as brave. Secretary General Bunmei 
Ibuki, the successor to Aso, reconfirmed that the party would ask 
Hiranuma to present a written pledge if it allows him to return. 
This shows there is a deep-seated antagonism in the LDP. 
 
Another cause of trouble for the LDP leadership is how to treat the 
many members who ran in the proportional representation segment and 
won Lower House seats. It is not easy for the party to secure 
single-seat constituencies for them, and it is also difficult to 
give favorable treatment in placing them on the list of candidates. 
 
Lawmaker Taizo Sugimura, who was elected with the rank of number 35 
on the LDP's proportional representation list, is desperate to play 
up his political identity, saying, "Becoming a regional chapter head 
is my political goal, but there is no use thinking such because the 
party executive has the right to pick. I have no choice but to carry 
out whatever activities I can do so that the executive would think I 
am being of assistance." 
 
(3) Blanket BSE inspection is waste of tax money:  Stopping pithing 
practice and extensive removal of lingual tonsils are more 
important; It is irresponsible for government not to report on 
details of actual situation 
 
MAINICHI (Page 4) (Full) 
October 2, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00004633  004 OF 006 
 
 
 
By Masami Kojima (Livelihood Reporting Center) 
 
It has been six years since blanket cattle inspections started in 
Oct. 2001 due to the BSE problem. Though the government has asked 
local governments to stop inspection of cattle aged 20 months or 
lower at the end of next July, many of them want to continue the 
inspection. What has brought about this gap? 
 
Japan is the only country in the world that is obsessed with the 
article of faith in that BSE inspection ensures beef safety. I 
contributed an article to this column five years ago, which went 
that the meaning and limit of blanket cattle inspection was not 
correctly understood by the public. However, the situation has not 
changed from five years ago. 
 
I would like to explain why blanket cattle inspection cannot ensure 
beef safety. To begin with, see the table below (TN: omitted) 
showing four cows infected with BSE, because they all have prion 
accumulations, a type of protein that indicates an infection. Each 
cow has prions accumulated at a different part of their bodies. 
 
Under the method of inspecting cows adopted at slaughterhouses, part 
of a cow's brain is removed to see if prion can be detected. Under 
this inspection method, it is not possible to determine whether the 
cow is infected or not, if prion is located in spinal cord, 
intestines and lingual tonsils or if the amount of prion accumulated 
in brain is small. For this reason, even if all those four cattle 
undergo tests, three out of the four would be shipped to the 
market. 
 
In particular, since the possibility of prion being identified is 
close to zero in inspections of young cows, the Ministry of Health, 
Labor and Welfare (MHLW) decided to remove cows twenty months of age 
or younger from the list of cattle subject to testing. However, 
blanket cattle testing is still being carried out, funded with 
subsidies, as local governments strongly called for the continuation 
of the blanket testing. 
 
Even European countries, where more than 1 million BSE-infected cows 
were discovered, do not carry out blanket testing. That is because 
inspection can detect only some of infected cattle. 
 
In Japan, in contrast, the agriculture minister at the time 
explained, "Blanket cattle inspection is the strictest test method 
in the world. This method ensures safety." The public, therefore, 
believes that blanket cattle testing ensures beef safety. 
 
However, measures that ensure safety are the removal of specified 
risk materials (SRM) and feed restrictions. The SRM is removed at 
Japanese slaughterhouses as well. What is of concern is pithing and 
lingual tonsils. 
 
Pithing is a practice of destroying the brain system by sticking a 
rod into the stun hole to reduce or eliminate reflex kicking when 
slaughtering them. When a rod is stuck into an infected cow, prion 
flows into blood, infecting the meat. As such, this method is 
completely banned in Europe and the US. However, about half the 
slaughterhouses in Japan adopt this method. In European countries 
and the US, lingual tonsils at the back of the tongue are removed 
extensively. However, in Japan, which has a habit of eating tongues, 
there is no uniform removal method. How properly lingual tonsils are 
 
TOKYO 00004633  005 OF 006 
 
 
removed is unclear. Spinal cord and its nerve system are distributed 
outside slaughterhouses. However, there are no reports on details 
regarding where and how they are disposed of. Overconfidence in 
blanket cattle testing is to be blamed for the negligence of 
discussions of such key points. 
 
At present, approximately 1.25 million cattle a year are subject to 
inspections, of which cattle 20 months of age or younger are about 
160,000. The MHLW disbursed approximately 200 million yen a year as 
subsidies for cattle inspection. However, it has decided to stop 
paying subsidies on the ground that it is no longer possible to use 
valuable tax money on such an ineffective measure. 
 
However, many local governments called on the MHLW to continue the 
subsidy system. It is said that if some local governments 
independently continue blanket cattle testing, beef from cattle that 
underwent inspections and beef from cattle that did not will be put 
on store shelves, causing confusion to consumers. However, having 
passed inspections does not prove that the products are 
infection-free. Whichever beef customers choose, it does not make 
any difference. Or rather, to me it means that beef that underwent 
inspection used tax money wastefully. 
 
I want to know whether products are from cattle that underwent 
pithing or not and how lingual tonsils were removed, instead of 
whether they underwent inspections or not. However, these key points 
have never been disclosed. 
 
An official in charge at a local government office told me, "I know 
that blanket cattle testing is meaningless. However, nothing can be 
done, since people believe in blanket cattle testing. The situation 
will remain unchanged unless the government explains the limit of 
blanket cattle testing in an unequivocal manner." I quite agree with 
his opinion. 
 
Right after the first discovery of BSE-infected cow in 2001, an MHLW 
official told reporters, including myself, that testing cattle aged 
30 months or older would suffice." However, in the process of 
political arguments this stance has changed. The MHLW's stance is 
now that blanket cattle testing should be implemented to dispel the 
anxiety of people. This decision was unavoidable at the time. 
However, people still believe in blanket cattle testing, because 
explanations given by the government are vague and insufficient. 
 
Some take the view that if the public believes in blanket testing, 
it cannot be helped to inject tax money, even if it is wasteful as 
the cost of securing peace of mind. However, such a thinking is too 
sad. If people want to know the number of discoveries of BSE cases 
through inspections, it is sufficient to inspect cattle aged 30 
months or older as West European countries do. 
 
(4) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: Mainichi: Tokyo Shimbun: 
 
School textbook screening on mass-suicides: Description on military 
involvement likely to be restored; Government to give consideration 
for feelings of people in Okinawa; MEXT considering measures 
 
Yomiuri: 
Stable Master Tokitsukaze to be fired over death of sumo wrestler 
 
 
TOKYO 00004633  006 OF 006 
 
 
Nikkei: 
KDDI to lower rates by 30 PERCENT ;  Up 20,000 yen for handsets 
under new system 
 
Sankei: 
Nikkei, Asahi and Yomiuri to launch joint website: Internet war 
among dailies to enter key phase 
 
Akahata: 
Prime Minister Fukuda makes policy speech: Stresses consumption tax 
and continuation of refueling operations in the Indian Ocean 
 
(5) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Prime Minister's policy speech: Cooperative policy is important, 
but he should not avoid pitched battles either 
(2) Privatized postal services: Become an ordinary country as soon 
as possible 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Prime Minister's policy speech: Politics has regained 
tranquility at last 
(2) Six-party talks: Do not compromise on the disabling of nuclear 
facilities by DPRK 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Prime Minister's policy speech: Find breakthrough in difficult 
situation with policy cooperation 
(2) Bank of Japan quarterly business survey report 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Prime Minister's dialogue policy will not make progress without 
concrete discussions 
(2) Bank of Japan quarterly business survey report reflects dual 
nature of economy 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Prime Minister's policy speech fails to show path toward hope 
and peace of mind 
(2) Inter-Korean summit: Assistance for self-complacency not 
acceptable 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Fukuda's policy speech: Prime Minister should not resort to 
approach of avoiding war of wards 
(2) Mass-suicides: We should listen to the voices of people in 
Okinawa 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Prime Minister Fukuda's policy speech: If he wants to respond to 
people's confidence in his cabinet, ... 
 
DONOVAN