VZCZCXRO2598
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #1746/01 1770833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250833Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5385
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//
RHMFIUU/USFJ //J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/CTF 72
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 0948
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 8572
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 2301
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 6814
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 9157
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4092
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0087
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0499

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 001746 
 
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 06/25/08 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Sugimoto to be appointed as administrative vice finance minister 
(Mainichi) 
 
(2) New lineup of senior officials of Japanese Embassy in Washington 
(Bungei Shunju) 
 
(3) Column Koyusho: Daniel Russel, American martial artist (Nikkei) 
 
 
(4) Ma Ying-jeou administration's Japan policy: Hard-line stance 
over Senkaku islands issue, also affected by absence of Japan 
experts (Yomiuri) 
 
(5) Japan seeks positive results by softening stance in call for 
setting up working group to normalize IWC (Sankei) 
 
(6) Editorial: Japan will continue pursuing the abduction issue even 
after the North is delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism (Asahi) 
 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Sugimoto to be appointed as administrative vice finance 
minister 
 
MAINICHI (Page 3) (Full) 
June 25, 2008 
 
Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga decided yesterday to appoint 
Budget Bureau Director General Kazuyuki Sugimoto to succeed 
Administrative Vice Minister Hiroki Tsuda. Tsuda and National Tax 
Agency Commissioner Jiro Makino will resign from their current 
posts. Nukaga will also pick Policy Research Institute President 
Michitoo Ishii to succeed Makino. To replace Ishii, Minister's 
Secretariat Deputy Vice Minister Yasutake Tango will be named 
director general of the Budget Bureau. After obtaining cabinet 
approval, the ministry will officially announce these appointments 
in early July. 
 
It was discovered in early June that many Finance Ministry staff 
members had accepted favors from taxi drivers. Nukaga was searching 
for the right timing to appoint senior officials. He will appoint 
them because there is hope of announcing the result of a final 
investigation into the taxi scandal and punishments for ministry 
staff involved. Sugimoto served as a secretary to Prime Minister 
Yoshiro Mori. 
 
Administrative Vice Finance Minister 
 
Kazuyuki Sugimoto graduated from the University of Tokyo's law 
faculty and entered MOFA in 1974. He has been serving as director 
general of the Budget Bureau since July 2007 after serving as deputy 
vice minister of Minister's Secretariat. He hails from Hyogo 
Prefecture. He is 57. 
 
National Tax Agency Commissioner 
 
Michitoo Ishii graduated from the University Tokyo's law faculty and 
joined MOFA in 1974. He has been serving as president of the Policy 
Research Institute since July 2007 after serving as Budget Bureau 
 
TOKYO 00001746  002 OF 007 
 
 
chief. He hails from Tokyo. He is 56. 
 
(2) New lineup of senior officials of Japanese Embassy in 
Washington 
 
BUNGEI SHUNJU (Page 236) (Full) 
July 2008 
 
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) picked new senior officials 
at the Japanese Embassy in the United States. 
 
Ichiro Fujisaki, former ambassador at the Permanent Mission of Japan 
to the International Organizations in Geneva, who joined the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1969, has arrived at the post 
of ambassador to the United States, succeeding Ryozo Kato, who 
served in the post for six and half years. Kenji Shinoda, former 
consul general in Chicago, who entered MOFA in 1976, has assumed the 
post of deputy chief of mission, the no. 2 post at the Embassy. The 
appointments of Fujisaki and Shinoda have now filled the two 
vacancies there. 
 
But the future will not be easy for them. The reason is that 
Fujisaki was unexpectedly appointed ambassador because the ministry 
had failed to promote Ambassador to Britain Shin Ebihara to the post 
of administrative vice minister. There is a rumor that in picking 
his successor former Vice Administrative Minister Shotaro Yachi, who 
has a reputation of being a patriot, gave priority to protecting the 
order in the ministry over national interests. 
 
It is said that Fujisaki pays too much attention to such minor 
points as schedules and procedures and that he is a typical diplomat 
who cannot see the forest for the trees. The Embassy is in mortal 
fear of him. Reportedly, his first concern has been to throw the 
first ball at a Major League baseball game in which a Japanese 
player is on the team. He is vying with his predecessor, Kato, a 
baseball fan who will now be appointed Japan's baseball 
commissioner. 
 
Although Shinoda has experience serving in the United States, he is 
basically a member of the Russia School in the ministry. He served 
as Russian Division director during the final period of Lower House 
member Muneo Suzuki's overwhelming influence over the ministry. He 
received a punishment for his Suzuki ties. He is a contemporary of 
such talented officials as Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau 
Director General Akitaka Saiki, his predecessor, and Koji Tsuruoka, 
who, it is rumored, will be promoted to the post of director general 
of the International Legal Affairs Bureau. The impression of Shinoda 
is that he cannot hold a candle to Saiki in running the Embassy in 
Washington as deputy chief of mission. 
 
Minister Yutaka Yokoi, the third ranking officer in the Washington 
Embassy, jointed MOFA in 1979, and is a China School member. He 
served as director of the China and Mongolia Division. 
 
Therefore, the top three posts at the Embassy in the United States 
are served by those who are not U.S. experts. 
 
(3) Column Koyusho: Daniel Russel, American martial artist 
 
NIKKEI (Page 44) (Full) 
June 25, 2008 
 
 
TOKYO 00001746  003 OF 007 
 
 
Tetsuma Esaki, Liberal Democratic Party deputy secretary general 
 
"If you are not going to listen to my speech, get out of here!" When 
they heard the fluent and harsh Japanese echoing throughout the 
junior high school gymnasium, the students suddenly went quiet. The 
lecturer was Daniel Russel, a U.S. diplomat. He was giving a speech, 
the theme of which was: "Japanese people should speak without 
hesitation." His remarks got to the hearts of the teachers, who find 
themselves unable to scold their students for talking, and impressed 
other adults, including myself. 
 
I first met Russel about two decades ago when he came to Japan as 
assistant to Ambassador Mike Mansfield. I was then a secretary to 
the late House of Representatives member Masumi Esaki, who made a 
great effort to ease trade friction with the United States. Esaki 
served as minister for international trade and industry. We got 
along smoothly because Russel is a grade holder of Shorinji Kempo 
and I am a grade holder of the art of weaponless self-defense. Since 
then we have been friends, almost like family. 
 
Russel has been consul general at Osaka-Kobe, after having served at 
the U.S. embassies in South Korea, Cyprus, and the Netherlands. He 
often says: "The governments of the United States and Japan won't be 
able to maintain close relations unless they discuss issues on an 
equal footing." We felt embarrassed to hear what he said, since we 
cannot even talk straightforwardly to junior high students. 
 
Russel will return to his country in July to assume the post of 
director for Japanese affairs at the U.S. Department of State. I 
believe that with his assumption of that position, relations between 
Japan and the United States will deepen further. I would like to 
visit Washington to see him at his desk when he gets settled. 
 
(4) Ma Ying-jeou administration's Japan policy: Hard-line stance 
over Senkaku islands issue, also affected by absence of Japan 
experts 
 
YOMIURI (Page 13) (Abridged slightly) 
June 25, 2008 
 
Toshinao Ishi, Taipei Branch 
 
Unlike the previous Chen Shui-bian administration in Taiwan, the 
Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) government led by Ma Ying-jeou 
is indicating a stance of distancing itself from Japan. Japan is 
urged to strengthen a dialogue with Taiwan. 
 
Basically, it is fair to say that Taiwan is basically pro-Japanese. 
Since Taiwanese tourists to Japan were exempted from visa 
requirements in 2005, more than 2.4 million people visit Japan 
annually. Japan has ranked first in recent popularity rating surveys 
in Taiwan, overtaking the U.S.  The sentiment of people of Taiwan 
toward Japan is favorable. Japan's relations with the island during 
the previous government led by Chen of the pro-Japanese Democratic 
Progressive Party (DPP) were never been better after 1972, the year 
when Japan and Taiwan severed diplomatic ties, according to a source 
informed of relations between Japan and Taiwan. Following this past 
trend, President Ma Ying-jeou had repeatedly expressed his stance of 
attaching importance to Japan. 
 
However, an accident in which Taiwan's fishing boat sank in a 
collision with Japan's patrol ship in waters belonging to the 
 
TOKYO 00001746  004 OF 007 
 
 
Senkaku islands (referred to as Diaoyu by China and Tiaoyutai by 
Taiwan) has triggered strong criticism of Japan. The Ma 
administration let nine patrol ships intrude the territorial waters, 
pressed by pro-Chinese hard-liners in the ruling KMT, straining 
relations with Japan. This incident has underscored that unlike the 
Li Teng-hui and Chen governments, which did not strongly insist on 
Taiwan's sovereignty against Japan, the Ma administration led by the 
KMT is inclined to adopt a harsh stance toward Japan. 
 
In the background are differences in the views of history between 
the KMT and the DPP. The KMT has been led by "mainlanders," those 
and their descendants who came to Taiwan from mainland China. 
Mainlanders account for 20 PERCENT  of the population in Taiwan. 
They hold harsh views toward Japan. The DPP is a political party 
formed in the 1980 by those without mainland Chinese roots who 
experienced Japan's colonial rule. Some of them highly evaluate 
Japan's colonial rule. These people have relatively strong affinity 
toward Japan. 
 
There is also a circumstance that there are almost no Japan experts 
in the Ma administration, according to an informed source. President 
Ma, Executive Yuan (Premier) Lio Chao-hsuan and National Security 
Council chief Su Chi are all elite-track mainlanders who obtained 
PhD's in the U.S., etc. Unlike Li and Chen, there is no atmosphere 
of attaching special importance to Japan among them.  Their interest 
in Japan is weak. Unlike Chen, President Ma did not refer to Japan 
in his inauguration speech. 
 
Former President Chen characterized Japan as an ally in terms of 
sharing security and democracy. However, Ma views Japan as an 
economic partner. Though Ma has pledged to aim at maintaining the 
present relationship with Japan, the KMT, which occupies more than 
two thirds of seats in the Legislative Yuan, has many pro-mainland 
China and pro-unification members. There is a strong possibility of 
the Ma administration coming up with a bullish stance toward Japan 
over the sovereignty issue and the view of wartime history. 
 
Japan had deep relations with pro-Japanese Japanese-speaking 
generations, such as Li. However, those generations are gradually 
retiring from the political and business scenes. Newly emerging 
generations are those as represented by Ma, who received the KMT's 
China-centered history education in post-war years. 
 
Compared with Japanese-speaking generations, as represented by Li, 
and young people attracted by new fads in Japan, the view of Japan 
held by Ma's generation is relatively harsh. 
 
It is necessary for Japan to pursue a dialogue with Taiwan, which is 
important to it in security terms, by squarely looking at the 
reality that Taiwan has become biased toward mainland China (DPP), 
compared with the times during the Li and Chen administrations and 
the actual situation in which residents are harboring a complex 
feeling toward Japan. The Ma administration is asking Japan to sign 
a free trade agreement and a fisheries agreement with Taiwan and 
expand exchanges of students. Japan should perhaps hurry to nurture 
Japan experts in Taiwan as well as to offer more assistance to it so 
that it can take part in international frameworks, such as the World 
Health Organization. 
 
(5) Japan seeks positive results by softening stance in call for 
setting up working group to normalize IWC 
 
 
TOKYO 00001746  005 OF 007 
 
 
SANKEI (Page 7) (Full) 
June 25, 2008 
 
(Matsuo, Santiago) 
 
In negotiations on the whaling issue, Japan has been exceptionally 
outspoken but without losing its composure, even in face of 
criticism from Europe and the U.S. The 60th International Whaling 
commission (IWC) annual meeting began in Santiago, the capital of 
Chile, on June 23. Here, Japan, despite public calls for the 
government to take a tough attitude in reaction to radical protests 
and acts of sabotage by radical environmental groups. Nonetheless, 
it remains to be seen whether the new strategy will produce positive 
results. The assembly this year is likely to be crucial for Japan in 
auguring what its diplomatic clout might be. In the meantime, the 
meeting participants agreed in an unofficial meeting on June 24 to 
set up a working group to normalize the IWC. 
 
To make changes to key items in the IWC, it is necessary to gain 
support from three fourths of all member countries. In recent years, 
though, the IWC has been split into those countries opposed to 
whaling and others that favor of it. With both sides maneuvering to 
win over the majority, it has become near impossible to gain the 
necessary three-fourths support. One negotiator grumbled: "The IWC 
is gradually losing its influence as an international 
organization." 
 
Irritated at the current state of the IWC, Japan hinted at the 
convention in Anchorage last year about the possibility of its 
leaving the IWC. Japan desperately wants to resume commercial 
whaling. In reaction to the acts of sabotage by the radical 
environmental group Sea Shepherd and the protest activities of 
Greenpeace Japan, members of which were recently arrested by Aomori 
Prefectural Police (for theft and trespassing), public opinion in 
Japan has hardened. 
 
Yet, Japan in the assembly this year indicated its eagerness to 
"normalize" discussions at the IWC, while giving up its annual 
request for a vote on its proposal to resume coastal whaling for 
small species. 
 
This policy change stems from the expectation that Chairman William 
Hogarth will demonstrate leadership at this year's conference. 
Although Hogarth comes from the U.S., an anti-whaling country, he 
has expressed concern about the recent state of the IWC. He has 
moved to set up the groundwork for talks in which both sides can 
compromise. That has included bringing in an expert on international 
disputes, who played an active role in concluding negotiations 
ending the Salvadoran Civil War in the mid-1980s. 
 
A negotiator representing Japan on the 23rd said, "We would like to 
spend plenty of time discussing the future of the IWC." Other 
countries also agreed to refrain from haggling over a submission of 
a resolution, as they did in the past meetings. As it stands, the 
annual meeting this year made a peaceful start. 
 
Japan has noticed that forces opposed to whaling are now split into 
hard-liners and soft-liners. A source in the delegation said: "There 
is the possibility that the U.S. may play a mediating role, in 
contrast to Britain, Australia and other hard-liners." The process 
of normalizing discussion at the IWC will be a long haul, but the 
Japanese representative said: "The decision to set up a working 
 
TOKYO 00001746  006 OF 007 
 
 
group as an arena for comprehensive talks on normalizing the IWO is 
one successful result of the convention." 
 
The conclusion drawn is that it is better for countries to reach 
some kind of accommodation, even if that means a certain level of 
concession, rather than to remain at odds. The measure of success 
for Japan's abrupt policy switch in whaling negotiations will be 
whether progress is made in future negotiations. 
 
(6) Editorial: Japan will continue pursuing the abduction issue even 
after the North is delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Full) 
June 25, 2008 
 
The countdown has begun for North Korea to present a nuclear 
declaration to the six-party talks and for the United States to 
delist the North as a state sponsor of terrorism. 
 
Delisting would bring benefits to the North, such as loans from 
international organizations. That is why the United States has used 
it to prompt the North to take action and Japan has relied on it to 
bring the abduction issue to a settlement. 
 
In reality, there has been no progress on the abduction issue. 
Families of abductees fear that if the United States abandons the 
leverage now, the abduction issue will be left behind. Their fear is 
understandable. 
 
The North has been behaving insincerely even after admitting to 
abducting Japanese nationals. In the recent Japan-DPRK talks, 
Pyongyang accepted Tokyo's request for a reinvestigation into the 
abduction issue. Is it going to be a thorough reinvestigation? It is 
natural to have doubts about the North's intention. 
 
There is also a need to take a look at another aspect. 
 
During the former Abe administration, Japan applied strong pressure 
and imposed independent sanctions on North Korea partly in response 
to its unforgivable acts, such as a nuclear test. The abduction 
issue did not move forward. 
 
As seen in its promise to conduct a reinvestigation, North Korea has 
recently changed its stance toward Japan. That is because the 
U.S.-DPRK talks have advanced and the six-party talks have come to a 
turning point leading to nuclear abandonment. 
 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described a combination of a 
nuclear declaration and delisting as the best option. The United 
States is certain to have some doubts about whether it can achieve 
its ultimate goal of ridding North Korea of its nuclear programs. 
 
There are not many pragmatic means available. Carrots and sticks 
must be used in order to drag North Korea out. 
 
The same can be said for the abduction issue. 
 
We must not forget that the matter does not end with delisting. 
 
The North is trying to ensure its safety in return for abandoning 
its nuclear program by normalizing relations with the United States 
and to obtain economic aid from Japan by establishing diplomatic 
 
TOKYO 00001746  007 OF 007 
 
 
ties with Tokyo. 
 
Japan's position is that there will be no diplomatic normalization 
unless the abduction issue is settled. In other words, North Korea 
will not get a quid pro quo from Japan unless it takes step toward 
resolving the abduction issue. That will not change even after the 
North is delisted as a terrorism-sponsoring nation. 
 
The more the nuclear issue moves forward, the more significant 
Japan's trump card becomes. The important thing is that North Korea 
presents a nuclear declaration substantial enough to move on to the 
next phase of scrapping its nuclear programs. 
 
Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura indicated in a press conference 
yesterday that Japan will urge the United States to thoroughly 
verify the North's action. 
 
Japan's diplomatic courage will finally be tested. 
 
SCHIEFFER