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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 001516 
 
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 06/03/08 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Ruling party executives eager to eliminate wasteful spending; 
Tanigaki has consumption tax hike in mind; Nakagawa thinks spending 
must be cut first (Nikkei) 
 
(2) METI Minister Amari stresses need to lower abnormally high oil 
prices in interview prior to energy ministerial on June 7-8 (Tokyo 
Shimbun) 
 
(3) METI to introduce CO2 emission-labeling system for food, daily 
necessities (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(4) Biofuel effect assessment to be conducted; COP-9 picks Nagoya to 
host COP-10 (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(5) Deliberations on bill amending Antimonopoly Law likely to be put 
off, with priority given to bills related to people's daily lives 
(Nikkei) 
 
(6) Editorial: Independent administrative agency reform bill; 
Ruling, opposition parties should find common ground (Asahi) 
 
(7) Defense Ministry concerned about "vacuum" in Japan's security 
setup (Mainichi) 
 
(8) Medical system for elderly a major campaign issue for Okinawa 
prefectural assembly election (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Ruling party executives eager to eliminate wasteful spending; 
Tanigaki has consumption tax hike in mind; Nakagawa thinks spending 
must be cut first 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
June 3, 2008 
 
The subject of trimming wasteful spending has cropped up in the 
ruling bloc's policy discussion on hiking the consumption tax rate. 
Although the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito are in accord 
on the need to increase the efficiency of the state budget for 
fiscal 2009, there are huge gaps in motives of those calling for 
reducing waste. Some are skeptical about whether the ruling bloc, 
which has applied pressure for greater spending, can come up with 
any effective reform plan. 
 
Former LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa appearing on a 
television program yesterday announced his determination to cut 
expenditures. He also unveiled a plan to set up a study group on 
June 5 to inspect the government's wasteful spending in the 
Machimura faction, in which he serves as a secretary. 
 
Meanwhile, LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Sadakazu Tanigaki, 
an advocate of a consumption tax hike, indicated in his May 29 
speech that he would launch work to trim the fat off state spending. 
He will launch a waste elimination project team (PT) on June 3. The 
team plans to put together by August the results of surveys of such 
sectors as public works project and social security to reflect them 
in the fiscal 2009 budget. 
 
Although the two groups' ostensible objectives seem the same, their 
 
TOKYO 00001516  002 OF 010 
 
 
real aims are quite different. The PT's main aim is to play up its 
total devotion to streamlining the spending with the aim of 
obtaining voters' understanding of the need to raise the consumption 
tax. In fact, the envisaged reform plan will be produced by Yoichi 
Miyazawa, a lawmaker supportive of a consumption tax hike. 
 
In contrast, the Nakagawa study group's aim is to avoid an early 
consumption tax hike on the grounds that efforts for reducing 
wasteful spending are insufficient. The New Komeito also set up last 
November a project team to prevent the wasteful use of tax money. 
Its objective is close to Nakagawa's aim of putting off hiking the 
consumption tax. New Komeito Representative Akihiro Ota, speaking to 
reporters at the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
yesterday, indicated his party's intention to put time into 
considering ways to reduce wasteful spending, saying, "In order to 
reduce waste, we will exert our energy into all administrative 
bodies systematically." 
 
For streamlining expenditures, PTs are expected to focus on such 
costly sectors as public works project, social security, and 
education. With the approach of the next Lower House election, 
ruling party members with vested interests in those sectors are 
applying pressure for greater spending. Some LDP lawmakers think 
that the effort will not advance any further than reviewing budgets 
for some public-interest corporations. 
 
DPJ eyes drastic reform 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan, which regards the concentration of 
power on the Kasumigaseki bureaucratic district and the amakudari 
practice of former government officials landing lucrative jobs in 
the private sector after retirement as a breeding ground for the 
rigid allocation of budget money, is calling for drastic reform of 
the system itself that resulted in waste. The party plans to produce 
a manifesto (campaign pledges) for the next Lower House election 
vowing to boldly shift power from the central government to local 
governments and to abolish individual subsidies. 
 
As for reform of road-related tax revenues, the party has already 
adopted a basic policy to: (1) abolish the special account, (2) 
cancel the medium-term road construction plan costing 59 trillion 
yen over a ten-year period, and (3) consider totally abolishing the 
local development bureaus as outposts of the Ministry of Land, 
Infrastructure and the Transport (MLIT). The DPJ has also criticized 
the government's and ruling bloc's plan to free up road-related 
revenues for general spending as only a shift of interests from the 
MLIT to the Finance Ministry. The party aims to shift the weight of 
the road construction mechanism to local districts as a means to cut 
waste. 
 
About the amakudari issue, the DPJ has pointed out that 
approximately 12.6 trillion yen has flown into public-interest 
corporations and other organizations that hire a good number of 
retired government officials in the form of discretionary contracts. 
 
 
(2) METI Minister Amari stresses need to lower abnormally high oil 
prices in interview prior to energy ministerial on June 7-8 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 9) (Full) 
June 3, 2008 
 
 
TOKYO 00001516  003 OF 010 
 
 
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari responded to an 
interview with Tokyo Shimbun and other news companies prior to the 
meeting of the energy ministers of the Group of Eight (G-8) 
countries, China, India, and South Korea scheduled for June 7-8 in 
Aomori City. He emphasized his readiness to devote himself to 
drawing up a message calling for lowering skyrocketing oil prices. 
He said: "The participants are major consumer countries, so it will 
be possible for the whole world to deal with the issue with a sense 
of crisis." 
 
The flow of speculative money into the market has pushed up oil 
prices to over 130 dollars per barrel. Amari said: "The current 
prices are abnormal. The high oil prices have led to raising the 
prices of natural resources and food. The current burden is 
unbearable for developing countries." 
 
He then pointed out that high oil prices would deal a serious blow 
to the global economy and could lead to pulling the prices down. He 
said: "It is totally wrong for oil producers to think that high oil 
prices will augment the value of exports." In the message to be 
issued in the environment summit, he intends to urge the 
oil-producing countries to fully increase output and to upgrade the 
reserve capacity of such facilities as oil centers. 
 
Amari said: "All the participant countries account for two-thirds of 
global energy consumption."  He thus stressed the extensiveness of 
the G-8 summit's influence. 
 
The energy issue, which is closely linked to global warming, will 
also be high on the agenda at the energy ministerial. Amari said: 
"Energy saving will contribute to reducing energy procurement and 
enhancing competition, resulting in reinforcing energy security. 
Energy saving will thus bring about various advantages." He will 
work on the participant countries to reach an agreement on forming 
an international framework to support measures to save energy. 
 
Specifically, Japan is ready to pledge to transfer its renewable 
energy and clean-coal technologies, as well as to offer cooperation 
in producing legal frameworks and developing human resources. 
 
(3) METI to introduce CO2 emission-labeling system for food, daily 
necessities 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 9) (Full) 
June 3, 2008 
 
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) yesterday 
announced plans to introduce a system to require manufacturers of 
foodstuffs and daily necessities to label the amount of carbon 
dioxide (CO2) emitted during the production process. The ministry 
will produce guidelines with leading distribution companies and food 
manufacturers and will implement the system in FY2009 on a trial 
basis. 
 
METI thinks that if consumers, based on the label, begin to select 
goods with fewer CO2 emissions, manufacturers will step up efforts 
to reduce gas emissions and eventually contribute to curbing global 
warming. In Britain, some major supermarket chains have already 
introduced this system, but this will be the first case in Japan. 
 
To take potato chips for example, the total amount of CO2 emitted in 
the whole process, including potato cultivation, production, and 
 
TOKYO 00001516  004 OF 010 
 
 
distribution, is displayed on the package. 
 
METI will establish a study group in June to work out specifics 
about calculation and labeling methods and will compile a set of 
guidelines by next March. 
 
(4) Biofuel effect assessment to be conducted; COP-9 picks Nagoya to 
host COP-10 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
May 31, 2008 
 
Koki Miura, Bonn 
 
The ninth Conference of the Parties of Convention on Biological 
Diversity (COP9), being held in Bonn, Germany, decided on the 
afternoon May 30 that the 10th meeting of COP would be hosted by the 
city of Nagoya in October 2010. COP-9 presents a basic policy of 
setting up country-by-country numerical targets as a new strategy of 
preserving species. If the basic policy is adopted at the COP10 
conference, the numerical targets would become an international 
index known as the "Nagoya targets." 
 
Following the COP-9 decision that Nagoya will hold the COP-10 
meeting, Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita delivered a speech on 
the last day in which he stated: 
 
"Based on the great achievements at COP-9, Japan will make efforts 
for the success of COP-10, which will be held in 2010, and to see 
that it will become a milestone for biological diversity." 
 
The COP-9 conference proposed a policy of setting country-by-country 
numerical goals for 2011 and beyond, citing that countries should 
set up quantitative targets if possible. Regarding the utilization 
of biological resources, the toughest confrontational issue, and 
profit-sharing, Various possibilities, including the creation of a 
legally-binding international framework, will be looked into. 
 
Japan, which will chair COP-10, intends to propose a "Satoyama" plan 
as a model for coexistence of human beings and nature. COP-9 started 
on May 19 in Bonn with about 6,000 participations, including 
representatives from 191 countries, regions and non-profit 
organizations. 
 
On May 30, the last day of the meeting, COP-9 adopted a resolution 
calling for a set of guidelines for research on the effects of 
biofuel, such as the adverse impact on the food supply. 
 
The resolution stresses concerns about the positive and negative 
effects of biofuel production and utilization on biological 
diversity. In order to find the appropriate production level and use 
of biofuel, the resolution calls for creating guidelines for an 
environmental impact assessment, including the effect on the 
ecosystem. 
 
Japan's leadership to be tested 
 
(Commentary) 
 
Since Nagoya will host the COP-10 meeting in 2010, Japan will have 
to bear responsibility for tackling the problem of preserving 
species. However, since there are many issues to which Japan 
 
TOKYO 00001516  005 OF 010 
 
 
objects, views questioning Japan's leadership are being raised. 
 
Japan will play up its "Satoyama" plan as a model for coexistence of 
humans and nature at COP-10. That plan is now being gradually 
recognized by the international community, with the Italian 
representative to COP-9 noting, "We are paying attention to Japan's 
Satoyama." However, a source in the German foreign ministry said: 
"There are fierce conflicting interests (among member countries)" in 
concrete discussions. Especially, the issues of using species and 
profit-sharing became fierce confrontation between the North and 
South in COP9. Japan was the forefront of opposing the idea of 
creating a legally binding international framework called by 
developing countries. 
 
With the leadership of Germany, COP-9 reached a conclusion that 
discussion would continue on the issues, including whether to create 
a legally binding framework. Japan's response was ridiculed by a 
source familiar with German foreign policy, saying: "Certain 
countries attempted resistance." Germany showed its presence by 
announcing its annual contribution of 500 million euros 
(approximately 82 billion yen) for forest protection. Japan's 
leadership will be tested by COP-10. 
 
(5) Deliberations on bill amending Antimonopoly Law likely to be put 
off, with priority given to bills related to people's daily lives 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
June 2, 2008 
 
The fates of the bills on the Diet agenda will be determined before 
the ongoing session is adjourned on June 15. The ruling and 
opposition camps have clashed head-on over a bill amending the 
Antimonopoly Law, which features stiffer penalties against companies 
that play a leading role in price-fixing cartels. The bill is thus 
likely to be carried over to the extraordinary Diet session in the 
fall. The two camps have agreed to support an increasing number of 
bills related to the daily lives of the population, but on bills 
over which the two sides have been at odds, the ruling coalition has 
no choice but to rely on its two-thirds majority in the House of 
Representatives (to override bills rejected in the opposition 
controlled House of Councillors). Although a mood of compromise is 
growing between the two camps, the results are still limited. 
 
Of the 80 bills submitted by the government to the ongoing Diet 
session, 49 had cleared the Diet as of June 1. About 70 bills, or 
about 80 PERCENT  of the total, are expected to pass the Diet by the 
end of the session, lower than the 92 PERCENT  recorded in the 
regular Diet session last year. The government and the ruling camp 
have remained unable to move ahead with deliberations as they had 
expected, given the opposition camp's control of the House of 
Councillors. 
 
The number of bills on which both camps have been at loggerheads is 
decreasing. Such bills include a bill amending the Special Taxation 
Measures Law and a special measures bill on highway tax revenues. 
But of the some 20 government-sponsored bills still left in the 
Lower House, only five are expected to clear the current Diet 
session, including a bill amending the Juvenile Law. The ruling 
coalition has judged it difficult to enact in the current session 
about 10 bills, including a bill designed to support the government 
health insurance system with assistance from corporate health 
insurance society. It intends to continue to discuss these bills in 
 
TOKYO 00001516  006 OF 010 
 
 
the Lower House in the next session. 
 
On the bill amending the Antimonopoly Law, not even deliberations 
have started yet. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), while 
approving the government plan in outline, has judged it necessary to 
obtain a guarantee for fair procedures to be taken. The main 
opposition party has unofficially presented to the Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) an amendment to the bill, calling for 
hearings to be held by the Fair Trade Commission and for lawyers to 
be allowed to attend questioning. The government and the ruling camp 
are reluctant to totally accept the DPJ plan, on the ground that the 
plan will affect the legal system as a whole. It seems impossible to 
start even negotiations on revising the bill during the current 
session. 
 
A number of DPJ members have voiced opposition to a bill designed to 
help joint ventures financed by the public and private sectors and 
others saddled with excessive debts reconstruct their businesses by 
establishing regional industrial revitalization corporations. One 
member said: "The bill will make it ambiguous to clarify where 
responsibility lies for a slump in business. In the party, many are 
calling for putting off a conclusion, rather than rejecting the 
bill. 
 
Nonetheless, as seen from an agreement reached recently between the 
ruling and opposition camps to seek the passage of a bill aimed at 
reforming the public servant system, momentum is certainly gathering 
for them to make concessions. The LDP, the New Komeito, and the DPJ 
are eager to reach an agreement on issues related to the people's 
daily lives and to a secure social environment by 
lawmaker-initiative legislation before the end of the session. 
 
The three political parties are apparently concerned that if they 
fail to enact such bills into law, the voters would form a negative 
impression about them. LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Tadamori 
Oshima emphasized in a speech in Sapporo on May 31: "Some DPJ 
members should be aware that as long as they continue to raise 
opposition to everything, they will not be able to fulfill their 
responsibilities to the people. Such a development will contribute 
to forming a new type of Japanese democracy." 
 
Even so, in the extraordinary Diet session in the fall, the focus of 
attention will be on how to treat the law governing the Maritime 
Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, which 
expires next January. The DPJ is expected to oppose the bill. As it 
stands, on controversial bills, the situation in which the ruling 
and opposition camps find it difficult to cooperate with each other 
remains unchanged. 
 
(6) Editorial: Independent administrative agency reform bill; 
Ruling, opposition parties should find common ground 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
June 3, 2008 
 
One hundred and one independent administrative agencies are under 
the jurisdiction of central government agencies. The predecessors of 
those independent administrative agencies are either special public 
corporations or various agencies' operating divisions. A bill 
reforming their mechanism is now under deliberation in the Diet. 
 
The bill itself should be basically promoted. However, the close of 
 
TOKYO 00001516  007 OF 010 
 
 
the Diet session is drawing near. We urge both the ruling and 
opposition parties to make efforts to enact the bill by finding 
common ground and taking the time. 
 
Following the criticism that there are many unnecessary projects 
that have become hotbeds for amakudari (golden parachute) practices, 
reform of independent administrative organizations have been looked 
into. The bill prepared by the government includes some of the 
results of such efforts. 
 
One of such results is a proposal for a new method of assessing the 
performance of independent administrative agencies. At present, an 
assessment committee attached to each relevant government agency is 
in charge of assessing their performance. Under the proposed bill, a 
new committee consisting of members appointed by the prime minister 
would be established for sole jurisdiction over all independent 
administrative agencies. 
 
At present, peer review by colleagues is rampant. For instance, the 
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' assessment 
committee gave the second best rating on a scale of one to five to 
the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, which was later 
abolished following the discovery of a government-led bid-rigging 
practice. 
 
It would be difficult to correct the inefficiency of organizations, 
based on assessment made under the influence of concerned government 
agencies, because government offices tend to attach importance to 
defending their own organization. 
 
The reform drive also targets the personnel appointment system. 
Under the proposed bill, a public recruitment system would be 
adopted for the selection of top personnel and auditors, a watchdog 
of the organizations, of independent administrative agencies. These 
posts have often been filled by former bureaucrats. However, under 
the new system, their appointments would require cabinet approval. 
Under such a system, it may become possible to appoint private 
citizens who launch a bid for those posts. 
 
The bill also mandates the return of unnecessary assets possessed by 
independent administrative agencies, such as housing compounds and 
recreation facilities, to the government. According to an estimate 
by the government's administrative reform promotion secretariat, 
assets totaling over 600 billion yen can be sold off. Selling such 
assets will thus bring about valuable fiscal resources at a time 
when the fiscal condition is stringent. 
 
Those proposals are a step forward to reforming independent 
administrative agencies. Many proposals made by the DPJ overlap with 
those proposed by the government. It may be impossible for them to 
agree on every item. However, they should at least cooperate with 
each other in order to realize at an early date reform proposals 
both can agree on. The divided Diet cannot be used as an excuse for 
stalling reforms that can be implemented, if the government puts its 
mind to it. 
 
Apart from those reform items, it is also important to remember that 
the key part of the reform is to keep really necessary agencies in 
place and eliminate unnecessary ones. 
 
The consolidation and rationalization plan, which the government 
presented at the end of last year, has been left unfinished. It 
 
TOKYO 00001516  008 OF 010 
 
 
stipulated that the number of independent administrative agencies 
should be reduced to 86. However, since the goal was to be achieved 
in a manner of a mere juggling of numbers -- some were to be merged 
and others were to be turned into special public corporations, the 
86 agencies might include those that should be abolished. 
 
Some agencies, such as those aimed at nurturing science, technology 
and culture, should be kept in place in view of their public nature. 
It is important to continue the work of sorting out independent 
administrative agencies, by identifying such agencies and 
determining unnecessary organizations and projects. 
 
(7) Defense Ministry concerned about "vacuum" in Japan's security 
setup 
 
MAINICHI (Page 7) (Full) 
June 3, 2008 
 
"The Foreign Ministry stopped thinking about defense and became cold 
as soon as they cleared the issue with the United States. They tried 
to play cool." With this, a senior official of Japan's Defense 
Ministry vented his frustration at the Foreign Ministry because the 
government held discussions at the Foreign Ministry's initiative for 
Japan's consent to a treaty banning cluster munitions. 
 
The Foreign Ministry and the prime minister's office went all out to 
consider the United States. Eventually, the treaty's text 
incorporated a clause allowing joint operations with the United 
States, which is not a signatory of the treaty. The Foreign Ministry 
therefore deemed it possible to ensure a 'safety valve' for the 
Japan-U.S. alliance, and then the Foreign Ministry moved for a de 
facto ban on all cluster bombs. After that, the Defense Ministry 
voiced concerns about Japan's national defense. However, the Foreign 
Ministry was in no mood to listen. "They wouldn't listen at all," a 
senior official of the Defense Ministry said. "There was a tide," he 
added. The Defense Ministry, which was left behind, had no way to 
resist. 
 
"Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a press conference on the 
morning of May 30: "The cluster bombs we have at present are not for 
fun or a joke." So saying, Ishiba was apparently upset. The 
Self-Defense Forces has cluster bombs for the purpose of bringing 
the coastline under control in order to block enemy troops from 
landing in Japan. "I wonder what to do about the vacuum in our 
national security," one of the Defense Ministry's officials said. 
The Defense Ministry is concerned about the deterioration of Japan's 
defense functions. 
 
"The neighbors of Britain (which decided to prohibit cluster bombs) 
are European countries. In the case of Japan, there are China and 
Russia among its neighbors. Japan's security environment is quite 
different from Britain's. We need the same bombs (as those of China 
and Russia)." With this, another senior official of the Defense 
Ministry criticized the fact that Japan was affected by Europe. 
 
However, the treaty allows joint operations. This seemed be good for 
the Defense Ministry. One of the Defense Ministry's officials said: 
"The United States will use cluster bombs in the event of an 
emergency on the Korean Peninsula. If the SDF and shipping companies 
cannot transport them, that's a problem. But we've cleared this 
problem." 
 
 
TOKYO 00001516  009 OF 010 
 
 
However, the Defense Ministry is now saddled with a heavy workload. 
Japan has four types of cluster munitions. Its procurement of 
cluster munitions for the Air and Ground Self-Defense Forces totals 
27.6 billion yen. All of their cluster munitions are subject to 
scrapping. The ASDF and the GSDF will have to sustain an enormous 
amount of losses from an all-out prohibition, including vehicles to 
launch cluster munitions. The ASDF will need 10 billion yen to scrap 
its cluster munitions, according to an ASDF staff officer. 
 
Japan is still in dire fiscal straits. Meanwhile, Japan is going to 
debate how to prepare alternatives. The treaty reportedly exempts 
the newest generation of so-called "smart" cluster munitions. If 
Japan is going to replace its cluster munitions with these smart 
ones, it will inevitably take a large amount of money, and it will 
also take time. "Cluster bombs are effective weapons for deterrence, 
but if the government says it will agree to prohibit cluster 
munitions for Japan and its people, then we will comply with that 
and scrap them," a senior official of the Defense Ministry said with 
a deeply-troubled look. 
 
This is the last of a three-part series. 
 
 (8) Medical system for elderly a major campaign issue for Okinawa 
prefectural assembly election 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
June 2, 2008 
 
The ruling and opposition camps are engaged in a fierce campaign 
battle for the June 8 Okinawa prefectural assembly election. The 
focus is now on whether the ruling bloc can maintain its majority 
under strong national criticism of the newly introduced medical 
system for people aged 75 and older. 
 
At present, 27 Okinawa prefectural assembly seats are held by the 
ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito that are supporting 
Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and 20 seats by the opposition parties, 
including the Social Democratic Party of Japan, Japanese Communist 
Party, Social Democratic Party, and Okinawa Social Mass Party. One 
seat remains vacant. The win-lose line is set at a 25-seat majority. 
As of May 30, the day the campaigning officially kicked off, 74 
individuals filed their candidacies. Problems associated with U.S. 
bases in the prefecture have always been campaign issues in the 
past. But this time around, DPJ Okinawa Chapter Public Relations 
Committee Chairman Tadashi Uesato said: "The majority of the DPJ 
candidates are focused on the new medical system for the aged rather 
than on base issues in their campaigns." 
 
In his kick-off ceremony, a certain DPJ candidate also said 
vigorously, "Everyone says that the new medical system is absurd. 
The system must be abolished." 
 
On June 1, DPJ Deputy President Naoto Kan, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii, 
and SDP head Mizuho Fukushima all visited Okinawa to stump for their 
respective candidates. 
 
Meanwhile, the ruling parties have been explaining the government's 
policy to improve the new medical system in a desperate effort to 
obtain the understanding of voters. The LDP has been running a 
television commercial in Okinawa in which former LDP Lower House 
member Koichi Hamada states, "The Liberal Democratic Party is a 
party that cherishes the elderly." 
 
TOKYO 00001516  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
There are no signs of the storm of criticism of the government 
waning, however. A senior LDP Okinawa chapter official said 
discouragingly: "Elderly people are really angry. It is going to be 
an uphill battle for us." A New Komeito official also noted: "At 
least half an hour is necessary in order to obtain the understanding 
of voters regarding the medical system. Maintaining the majority 
seems hard." The ruling bloc is being forced to run a negative 
campaign, saying, "If the opposition bloc wins a majority, the 
prefectural administration would be thrown into turbulence." 
 
LDP Okinawa Chapter Secretary General Tetsuji Shingaki emphasized, 
"In order to realize Governor Nakaima's pledge to revitalize the 
industries and create more jobs, the ruling camp must keep its 
majority." A veteran candidate running on the LDP ticket underlined 
the need for the stability of the prefectural administration, 
saying, "As a ruling party, we are going to implement the governor's 
pledges," without touching on the medical issue. 
 
LDP Election Strategy Council Chairman Makoto Koga, General Council 
Chairman Toshihiro Nikai, and New Komeito Representative Akihiro Ota 
have all visited Okinawa in a desperate effort to give a boost to 
their candidates. 
 
SCHIEFFER