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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 005520 
 
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 12/12/07 
 
 
Index: 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei) 
 
Political agenda: 
4) Fukuda, Ota as heads of LDP, New Komeito confirm decision to 
override the Upper House's rejection of the antiterrorism bill and 
enact it this Diet session (Mainichi) 
5) DPJ unlikely to submit a counterproposal to the ruling camp's 
antiterrorism bill, preferring to give priority to pursuing defense 
scandals (Tokyo Shimbun) 
6) DPJ study group preparing a censure motion against the prime 
minister (Tokyo Shimbun) 
7) DPJ sets fiscal 2008 policy goal of winning control of the Lower 
House in the next general election (Yomiuri) 
8) Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's admission of inability to 
resolve the pension mess a big loss of public confidence for the 
Fukuda administration (Tokyo Shimbun) 
9) Opposition camp may file a censure motion against Health and 
Labor Minister Masuzoe for inability to keep public commitment to 
fix the pension mess (Nikkei) 
10) LDP election strategy is leaving "Koizumi's children" - freshmen 
lawmakers - out in the cold (Yomiuri) 
 
11) China will not respond to Japan's protest by reinstating omitted 
words in joint economic communiqu (Asahi) 
 
Defense issues: 
12) Okinawa prefecture finds central government's assessment method 
report for Futenma site "insufficient" (Asahi) 
13) Troubled Defense Ministry cuts allocations sharply for upgrading 
the F15s (Sankei) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Medical fees to be raised for first time in 8 years 
 
Mainichi: 
Ruling coalition confirms passing new antiterrorism bill by 
two-thirds Lower House overriding vote 
 
Yomiuri & Akahata 
Welfare minister admits government abandons pledge on pension 
records 
 
Nikkei: 
Honda to construct engine factory in China 
 
Sankei: 
Medvedev expresses desire to see Putin to become prime minister 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Ex-Paloma executives charged over gas death, injury 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
 
TOKYO 00005520  002 OF 010 
 
 
(1) Extension of Diet session over refueling bill: Government must 
consider starting from scratch 
(2) What happened to party head debate in the Diet? 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Government's abandonment of pledge on pension records 
impermissible 
(2) Putin expected to retain influence 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Pension record blunders: Is there other means for people than 
protecting pension rights themselves? 
(2) Putin paves way to pull the strings by supporting Medvedev as 
successor 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Full-scale, rational local tax reform desired 
(2) Likely Russian presidential candidate expected to continue 
"Putin policy" 
 
Sankei: 
(1) DPJ must face thorough Diet deliberations, without adopting 
boycotting strategy 
(2) China's alternation of diplomatic document exposes its 
problematic predisposition 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Fully discuss issues besides refueling bill if Diet session is 
re-extended 
(2) Putin's support for Medvedev as successor contains danger 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Improper judgment by Tokyo High Court in case of distributing 
JCP leaflets 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, December 11 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
07:56 
Attended an emergency meeting of relevant cabinet ministers on small 
businesses suffering form rising oil prices. 
 
08:31 
Attended a cabinet meeting. Land and Transport Minister Fuyushiba 
stayed on. Afterward met Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura. 
 
09:28 
Met Tokyo Governor Ishihara at the Kantei. 
 
10:00 
Met Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Ono, followed by Science Council 
of Japan Chairman Ichiro Kanazawa and Economic, Fiscal Policy 
Minister Ota. 
 
12:24 
Met Machimura. 
 
14:38 
 
TOKYO 00005520  003 OF 010 
 
 
Met Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry Administrative 
Management Bureau Director General Muraki, followed by International 
Criminal Court judge-elect Saiga. Afterward met actor Ryotaro Sugi 
and Lower House member Okiharu Yasuoka. 
 
15:47 
Met LDP Consumer Affairs Research Commission Chairperson Seiko Noda 
and others, followed by Fuyushiba, Education Minister Tokai and 
others. Fuyushiba and other stayed on. 
 
16:50 
Met LDP Comprehensive Agricultural Administration Research 
Commission Chairman Hori, former LDP Secretary General Kato and 
others. Afterward met Machimura. 
 
19:32 
Met New Komeito Representative Ota at the Kantei. 
 
22:07 
Returned to his residence in Nozawa. 
 
4) LDP, New Komeito heads confirm plan to extend Diet session until 
January to allow Lower House to readopt new antiterrorism bill 
 
MAINICHI (Top) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (who is also LDP president) had a 
meeting with New Komeito Representative Akihiro Ota at the Prime 
Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) last night. The two leaders 
agreed to enact the new antiterrorism bill during the current Diet 
session. They also confirmed a plan to re-extend the Diet session, 
due to end on Dec. 15, until mid-January and to use a two-third 
House of Representatives override vote to pass the bill in the event 
the House of Councillors votes it down or the chamber fails to take 
final action within 60 days after receipt of the bill from the Lower 
House. The prime minister seems to have conveyed a cautious view to 
Ota about the New Komeito's concern over early Lower House 
dissolution for a snap general election. 
 
The one-on-one meeting lasted for two hours over dinner. 
 
Fukuda indicated that he would seek the understanding of opposition 
parties are opposed to re-extending the Diet session through ruling 
party executives. Ota said that the ruling bloc should continue 
urging the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or 
Minshuto) to vote on the bill before year's end even if the Diet 
session is to be re-extended until January. 
 
After the meeting, Ota, while denying discussion on Lower House 
dissolution, said to reporters: "The prime minister is well aware 
that I have been saying that (Lower House dissolution) should wait 
until next fall or later." 
 
The government and ruling camp extended the Diet session, which was 
originally scheduled to close on Nov. 10, by 35 days. Although the 
antiterrorism bill cleared the Lower House on Nov. 13, a 
question-and-answer session in the opposition-controlled Upper House 
slipped to Dec. 4. The opposition bloc is demanding 41 hours of 
deliberation time on par with the Lower House. Total deliberation 
time in the upper chamber is expected to be about 17 hours, however. 
The enactment of the bill requires a lengthy extension of the Diet 
 
TOKYO 00005520  004 OF 010 
 
 
session. 
 
The Diet Law specifies the "dominance of the Lower House" in the 
event decisions on a Diet extension are split between the two 
chambers or the upper chamber fails to take a vote. The government 
and ruling parties are expected to decide on a re-extension on Dec. 
¶14. 
 
5) DPJ cautious about presenting its own bill to Diet in response to 
new refueling bill, putting high priority on MOD scandals 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
The foreign affairs and defense committee of the major opposition 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) yesterday finalized the 
outline of its bill titled "The Special Measures Law on 
Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan," an alternative to the 
government's new antiterrorism special measures bill. The DPJ, 
however, is unlikely to submit the outline as a bill to the current 
Diet session. The party's decision not to turn the outline into a 
bill is hard to understand. 
 
According to the outline, the envisaged bill is for time-limited 
legislation valid only for one year. Self-Defense Forces personnel 
will provide people assistance with medical care, food, and everyday 
goods after a ceasefire is reached in Afghanistan. 
 
SDF activities will be based on UN Security Council Resolution 1386 
on the establishment of the International Security Assistance Force 
(ISAF). The party's outline in November did not refer to any UN 
resolution. This drew criticism of a gap with President Ichiro 
Ozawa's standpoint that the overseas dispatch of the SDF should be 
limited to peace-building activities authorized by a UN resolution. 
The new outline apparently puts high priority on consistency. 
 
Ozawa said in a press conference yesterday: "We have yet to decide 
on whether to turn (the outline) into a bill." A senior DPJ lawmaker 
explicitly said, "We will not submit (a bill) to the Diet in the 
current session." 
 
This policy is in line with the DPJ's Diet strategy. The DPJ 
prioritizes the series of scandals involving the Ministry of Defense 
(MOD) over deliberations on the new antiterrorism bill. The party is 
trying to forgo presenting its own counterproposal, judging that if 
an alternative bill is presented, discussion would focus on 
differences with the new alternative bill and it would proceed at a 
pace of the ruling bloc. 
 
Now that the outline has been produced, the ruling camp is likely to 
push the DPJ to produce its own bill. Discontent is also growing in 
the DPJ, with a mid-level member saying, "We should present a bill 
to the Diet to let people know what the DPJ will do." 
 
6) DPJ holds study meeting to plan censure of premier 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
The leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) held a 
study meeting yesterday in the Diet to arm itself theoretically in 
preparation for submitting a censure motion against Prime Minister 
 
TOKYO 00005520  005 OF 010 
 
 
Fukuda to the opposition-dominated House of Councillors after the 
ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito 
revotes on a new antiterror bill in the House of Representatives and 
overrides the upper chamber's decision. 
 
"Second-time passage is based on the Constitution," One of the 
ruling coalition's lawmakers said. "But," this lawmaker added, "the 
Constitution does not stipulate a censure motion, so we can ignore 
it." The DPJ held the study meeting to rebut this position of the 
ruling coalition. 
 
The study meeting was held with DPJ Vice President Naoto Kan, DPJ 
Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama, and other party executives 
 
SIPDIS 
attending. The Constitution, in its Article 66, stipulates that the 
cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the Diet. Citing this 
provision, Yoshiharu Asano, a professor at Daito Bunka University, 
explained that the House of Councillors, as well as the House of 
Representatives, can censure the prime minister, who heads the 
cabinet. 
 
Within the DPJ, however, there are also arguments negative about 
submitting a censure motion. "In the end, we will make a decision 
based on political judgment," one of the party's executive officers 
told reporters after the study meeting. 
 
7) DPJ in action plan for fiscal 2008 aims to take helm of 
government in next Lower House election 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) 
December 12, 2007 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) revealed yesterday 
its action plan for fiscal 2008. According to the plan, the DPJ will 
make an all-out effort to force an early dissolution of the House of 
Representatives so that a general election will be called. The 
action plan also calls on party members to unite so that a DPJ-led 
government will be able to be formed. The DPJ takes a clear a stance 
of aiming at a change of government in the next Lower House 
election. The party will adopt the action plan in its convention on 
Jan. 16. 
 
The action plan points out that under the present political 
situation, in which the opposition camp controls the Upper House and 
the ruling bloc dominates the Lower House, the cabinet of Prime 
Minister Yasuo Fukuda appears to have reached a dead end. Looking 
objectively at the circumstances, the party sees no other choice for 
the prime minister but to dissolve the Lower House and call a snap 
election. 
 
The DPJ intends to complete as early as possible the selection of 
candidates who can win in the election. The party aims to win more 
than 150 seats in the 300 single-seat districts. The party also aims 
to gain more supporters in urban areas, increasing the base of 
support that boosted it in the recent House of Councillors election. 
The action plan also notes that the party will hold a fund-raising 
party next summer. 
 
The action plan advocates the need for strengthening cooperation 
with Rengo (Japan Trade Unions Confederation) in order to narrow 
socioeconomic disparities in the country. It also includes the 
target of boosting party membership and supporters from the present 
200,000 to 250,000. 
 
TOKYO 00005520  006 OF 010 
 
 
 
8) Government reneges on public commitment to identify to very last 
pension account holders: Mistrust in administration likely to grow; 
"The result would have been the same, even if another person had 
been in charge" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
Labor, Health and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe yesterday revealed 
that efforts to identify holders of about 40 PERCENT  or 19.75 
million public pension accounts out of approximately 50 million 
premium payment records have bogged down. Then Prime Minister Shinzo 
Abe during the Upper House election campaign last summer repeatedly 
said, "The government will pay every last yen to the very last 
person." But now, the ministry finds it unavoidable to renege on 
that pledge. Public mistrust in the administration is bound to 
heighten. 
 
According to the findings of the investigation, of the 19.75 million 
public pension accounts or about 38.8 PERCENT  of the some 50 
million accounts that remain unidentified, there are 9.45 million 
accounts that have been categorized as unidentifiable, even if 
computerized records are compared with the original paperwork due to 
erroneous input of data into the (Social Insurance Agency's = SIA) 
online system. 
 
Holders of only 11 million accounts have been identified. Accounts 
that are undergoing the correction of holders' names reached 4.7 
million or 9.2 PERCENT . Cases that cannot lead to new benefit 
payments, such as holders who are believed to have died, came to 
15.5 million or 30.4 PERCENT . 
 
Masuzoe frowned on the unexpected results, noting, "To be honest, I 
never imagined that the situation was as bad as this." 
 
The government and the ruling camp decided to complete the matching 
procedure on 50 million accounts by next March. In response, the SIA 
has developed a computer program to trace pension premium payment 
records using registered name, date of birth and gender. The 
computer-based matching procedure supposedly made progress in one 
sweep from December, once the computer-based procedures start 
operating. 
 
However, according to the findings of the investigation revealed 
yesterday, it was found that there were too many sloppy records, 
including incorrect names having  been recorded, revealing that the 
computer-based matching procedure is not making progress as 
expected. 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said, "What the 
government will complete by next March is the computer-based 
matching procedure and notifying pension beneficiaries of new 
findings." He underscored, "There is no problem about the 
identification work itself." However, it would be unavoidable for 
the government to come in for public criticism as failing to keep 
the pledge, if a large number of premium payment records remain 
unidentified. 
 
It is also necessary to verify 9.45 million accounts that were 
erroneously input into the computer system, by comparing them with 
the original paper work. However, there is no means of tracing a 
 
TOKYO 00005520  007 OF 010 
 
 
considerable number of records due to the loss of the original paper 
documents by the SIA or illegible data because of a poor state of 
preservation. 
 
Masuzoe has already withdrawn the government pledge for a complete 
settlement of the pension fiasco, saying, "The identification 
procedure is endless. There are accounts whose holders cannot be 
identified." He has already made a remark that can be taken as a 
defiant attitude. He said, "I would feel responsible if the 
verification work failed because I am the minister in charge, and if 
other person were in charge, it would have been possible. However, 
the results would have been the same, even if another person had 
been in charge." 
 
9) Government, ruling camp desperately trying to cap criticism that 
commitment has been broken 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Slightly abridged) 
December 12, 2007 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura yesterday stated: "We did 
not say we would complete the identification process - down to the 
last person and last yen -- by the end of March, but used simplified 
expressions during the election campaign, saying 'Everything within 
the current fiscal year'." 
 
According to the government's official position, the government has 
pledged to complete by March next year two points regarding about 50 
million pension accounts: (1) to identify the computer-based records 
of pension account holders and (2) to notify those account holders 
by mail. The government's position is that it has not pledged to 
complete the entire process by the end of March. 
 
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however, clearly stated during the 
July House of Councillors election: "The government pledges to check 
pension accounts until the last person is identified and pay the 
money." Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe also has 
repeatedly made similar statements, not changing his stance since 
the inauguration of the cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. This 
gave the impression that the government has pledged to resolve the 
pension issue by the end of March. 
 
Opposition parties intend to pursue the government's responsibility 
in a thoroughgoing manner with an eye on a censure motion against 
Masuzoe. The opposition camp is enthusiastic about taking advantage 
of the pension issue, which gave the opposition a big win in the 
July Upper House election. 
 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) President Ichiro Ozawa 
stressed in a press conference yesterday: "The government violated 
its commitment, and its responsibility is significant." He also 
criticized Machimura's statement, saying: "It is a sacrilege against 
the public and an irresponsible remark." Ozawa ordered DPJ policy 
chief Masayuki Naoshima and Akira Nagatsuma, who is in charge of the 
pension issues, to do their best in dealing with the matter. 
 
10) LDP to give no favorable treatment to proportional 
representation candidates in next Lower House election; "Koizumi's 
children" unhappy with the party's decision 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
December 12, 2007 
 
TOKYO 00005520  008 OF 010 
 
 
 
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held a meeting yesterday 
of its Election Committee, chaired by Makoto Koga, at its 
headquarters. In the meeting, the LDP decided to reduce the number 
of candidates to run in only the proportional representation segment 
in the next House of Representatives, as well as to give no 
favorable treatment to candidates to run in both single-seat 
constituencies and the proportional representation segment. 
 
The LDP also decided to choose those who can win the next Lower 
House race as its candidates for six electoral districts in which 
former postal rebels as well as their "assassins," who got their 
Diet seats in the proportional representation race after being 
defeated in single-seat constituency races, plan to run. The party 
does not plan to introduce the Costa Rica method, in which one LDP 
candidate runs in a single-seat constituency and the other runs for 
the proportional representation bloc. 
 
LDP lawmakers who are not being picked as candidates for single-seat 
constituencies they had hoped for will have to run in "vacant 
districts." The LDP executive has put off the selection of 
candidates for "vacant districts" to the Jan. 17 party convention. 
 
In the 2005 Lower House election, the LDP gave favorable treatment 
to "assassins" and female candidates. As a result, many first-time 
candidates called "Koizumi's children" were elected. 
 
The party leadership, however, has decided to take a strategy of 
winning votes in single-seat constituencies, determining that the 
LDP will face an uphill fight in the next Lower House. 
 
11) Japan in quandary, ahead of prime minister's planned visit to 
China, over China's refusal to correct rewritten document 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
December 12, 2007 
 
It was revealed that the Chinese government rewrote a diplomatic 
document compiled in a meeting of the Japan-China High-Level 
Economic Dialogue and announced the altered one. In reaction, the 
Japanese government has urged China to correct its altered 
announcement, but the Chinese government has expressed its 
unwillingness to respond to Japan's request. With Prime Minister 
Fukuda's planned visit to China near at hand, Tokyo hopes to keep 
the issue from lingering, but mutual distrust may emerge depending 
on China's future response. The government is now under pressure to 
respond. 
 
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang stated yesterday: "The 
communiqu is not a joint document. It is quite normal that both 
sides' contents are not identical." The Chinese Commercial 
Department also issued the same day a statement reading: "(Japan and 
China) offered the contents of the meeting in their respective 
communiqus," making it clear that China will not respond to Japan's 
call for correcting its announcement. 
 
It is common in China to post altered contents even on the Foreign 
Ministry's website, for instance, deleting or altering descriptions 
over such issues as the protection of human rights and Taiwan. There 
was a case in which although Premier Wen Jiabao had said in a press 
conference in March 2005, when Japan-China relations were strained, 
"The relationship with Japan is one of the most important bilateral 
 
TOKYO 00005520  009 OF 010 
 
 
ties," the expression was changed into "important bilateral ties." 
 
It has become customary that differences are found in the contents 
of both sides' announcements made after U.S.-China summits. But 
since such announcements are made verbally, the differences have 
been ignored, in a sense. 
 
This time, however, because China rewrote a document agreed on by 
both countries' cabinet ministers, the problem came to light. Qin 
criticized the reports by the Japanese media as "going against the 
friendly and cooperative atmosphere." The Chinese government is 
trying to persist with its own logic, but trust in China in the 
international community was certainly undermined. 
 
A diplomatic source said that the Chinese Foreign Ministry has been 
caught between the protest from Japan and hard-liners' views in 
China. Another person commented: "The People's Bank of China, which 
did not take part in the high-level meeting, exerts greater 
influence than the Foreign Ministry and the Commercial Department." 
One observer points out that the alteration of parts of the document 
might be attributed to sectionalism in the Chinese government. 
 
12) Gov't assessment insufficient for Futenma relocation: Okinawa 
panel 
 
ASAHI (Page 37) (Full) 
December 12, 2007 
 
Japan and the United States have agreed to relocate the U.S. 
military's Futenma airfield in Japan's southernmost island 
prefecture of Okinawa to the prefecture's northern coastal city of 
Nago. In this connection, the Defense Ministry has presented Okinawa 
Prefecture with a document explaining how to assess the potential 
impact of Futenma airfield's relocation on its newly planned site's 
environs. Meanwhile, the Okinawa prefectural government called a 
meeting of its environmental impact assessment review panel 
yesterday to examine the government-presented procedural document, 
with Seiko Tsukayama, a professor emeritus at the University of the 
Ryukyus, presiding over the panel. In the meeting, the panel worked 
out a report saying that the government document is too lacking in 
substance to be examined. The panel will finalize the report on Dec. 
14 and will present it to Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima early next 
week. The governor is expected to state his views to the Defense 
Ministry by Dec. 21 in line with the panel report. The governor's 
views have no legal binding force. Depending on the government's 
response, however, relations between the government and Okinawa 
could go from bad to worse. 
 
"It's hard to say that the document is sufficient in substance to 
judge whether its description of items and procedures (for an 
environmental impact assessment) is appropriate, and it's not enough 
to be examined." With this, the panel report criticized the 
government document. 
 
The review panel asked 76 additional questions about 35 items on 
Nov. 30. The Defense Ministry answered some of these questions. In 
its answer, however, the ministry told the panel that what cannot be 
made clear at this point would be described in a preparatory 
document to be created after environmental assessment. One of the 
panel's members opined that it would be too late after an 
assessment. The panel report also notes that the government document 
fails to give sufficient answers. 
 
TOKYO 00005520  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
The panel asked what type of aircraft the U.S. military will use at 
the newly planned alternative base. In addition, the panel also 
asked how many airplanes will be based and what time they will make 
flights. The Defense Ministry has yet to clarify these points, 
saying that Japan and the United States are now holding discussions. 
The panel report says the government should submit another report to 
the panel and the Okinawa prefectural government as soon as the 
government decides on these items. 
 
13) F-15 remodeling cost to be slashed 
 
SANKEI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
December 12, 2007 
 
The Defense Ministry has plans to modernize the Air Self-Defense 
Force's F-15 mainstay fighter jets. However, the Defense Ministry's 
budget estimate for its plan to remodel 32 F-15 fighters will be 
slashed, sources said. The budget will be held down for about 20 
F-15s, according to the sources. The F-15 remodeling plan was 
intended to vie with China's rapid modernization of its air force. 
However, the Finance Ministry severely scrutinized the Defense 
Ministry's budget estimate in the wake of scandals involving the 
Defense Ministry. The Defense Ministry has earmarked 112.3 billion 
yen in its budget request for F-15 modernization. However, it is 
certain that the F-15 budget slot will not be approved. 
 
Japan's neighbors, including China, are deploying fourth-generation 
fighter jets at a high pitch. The F-15 is also a fighter model of 
the fourth generation. The Defense Ministry plans to enhance the 
F-15's radar and missile performance. The government's current 
midterm defense buildup plan is for the period of five fiscal years 
from 2005 to 2009. According to this plan, the Defense Ministry 
plans to remodel 26 F-15s. Eight F-15s have already undergone 
remodeling. 
 
In July this year, the U.S. Congress decided to continue the United 
States' embargo on the F-22 Raptor, a likely candidate for the Air 
Self-Defense Force's follow-on fighter support plane (FX). The 
Defense Ministry therefore intended to speed up F-15 remodeling in 
an effort to improve Japan's antiaircraft capability. As it stands, 
the Defense Ministry earmarked 112.3 billion yen in its fiscal 2008 
budgetary estimate to remodel 32 F-15s that outnumber those planned 
under the midterm defense buildup program. 
 
SCHIEFFER