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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 001915 
 
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 07/11/08 
 
Index: 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei) 
 
North Korea problem: 
4) Six-Party Talks agree to create framework for verification of 
North Korea's nuclear declaration  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
5) Strong dissatisfaction expressed at Six-Party Talks that North 
Korea left out nuclear weaponry from its nuclear declaration 
(Sankei) 
6) Japan at Six-Party Talks demands three items  (Nikkei) 
 
7) Canada invites Emperor and Empress to visit next summer  (Nikkei) 
 
 
Defense and security affairs: 
8) Government presents proposal to Okinawa Prefecture to create 
research body on removing danger of Futenma Air Station  (Mainichi) 
 
9) Defense Ministry did not announce schedule of joint U.S., SDF 
training for missile defense in July, worried that other countries 
would tap information  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
Political agenda: 
10) Prime Minister Fukuda insists that despite rumors, a cabinet 
shuffle is a "blank slate"  (Mainichi) 
11) Talk of Diet dissolution continues in the LDP, with speculation 
that it would come at the beginning of the regular Diet session or 
after the budget passes  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
12) Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosano rips to shreds the 
Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) proposals, saying that 30 trillion 
yen needed to implement  (Asahi) 
13) DPJ plans to present a rush of bills to the extraordinary Diet 
(Yomiuri) 
14) Business organization of top executives plans regular 
discussions with LDP, DPJ  (Asahi) 
15) Yuriko Koike and two other popular female lawmakers present 
policy proposals in new jointly authored book  (Asahi) 
 
16) Government Regulatory Reform Council's policy presence has 
faded: Latest report seen as meaningless  (Yomiuri) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
University of Tokyo professor falsely claimed ethics panel approval 
in theses 
 
Mainichi: 
Government appeals court decision over opening of Isahaya Bay dike 
 
Yomiuri: 
Three MEXT officials fired for taking bribes 
 
Nikkei: 
Government, ruling parties eye postponing raising government's share 
of basic pension until October 2009 or beyond 
 
 
TOKYO 00001915  002 OF 010 
 
 
Sankei: 
Households suffering from high inflation 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Six-party head-of-delegations meeting: Agreement reached to build 
framework to verify North Korea's nuclear declaration 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Six-party talks: North Korea's nuclear declaration must be 
examined thoroughly 
(2) The bottom billion a challenge for industrialized countries 
after summit 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) North Korean nuclear declaration: Verification system with no 
loopholes essential 
(2) Country needs four-year basic nursing higher education system 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) No compromising on checking DPRK report 
(2) Hiraizumi fails to make World Heritage list 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) No loopholes allowed in examining North Korean nuclear report 
(2) Dark side of teacher recruitment system 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Iran's missile test raises global alarm 
(2) Specification of Takeshima in educational guidelines requires no 
diplomatic consideration 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) U.S. financial crisis not over 
(2) Harmony essential for Beijing Olympics 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, July 10 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
11:39 
Met at Kantei with Canadian Prime Minister Harper. 
 
12:29 
Hosted luncheon for Harper. 
 
13:52 
Met with Deputy Foreign Ministers Sasae and Kono. Sasae remained. 
 
14:48 
Met with NPA Chief Yoshimura. 
 
15:19 
Met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura. 
 
16:11 
Met with Public Security Investigation Agency Chief Yanagi. Met 
afterwards with incoming and outgoing persecutor-general Hiwatari 
 
TOKYO 00001915  003 OF 010 
 
 
and Tadaki, and Justice Vice Minister Ozu. 
 
17:10 
Met with LDP Secretary General Ibuki, followed by Deputy Chief 
Cabinet Secretary Ono. 
 
18:22 
Returned his official residence. 
 
4) Six-party head-of-delegations meeting: Agreement reached to build 
framework to verify North Korea's nuclear declaration 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Top play) (Almost full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Yuji Hiraiwa, Nakahiro Iwata, Beijing 
 
A six-party head-of-delegations meeting began on the afternoon of 
July 10 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. The members 
discussed North Korea's denuclearization for three and a half hours 
over a working dinner yesterday, the first day of the talks. 
According to an informed source, the participants shared the need to 
build a framework to verify the contents of North Korea's 
declaration of its nuclear programs and a system to monitor the 
implementation of what was agreed upon through the six-party talks. 
North Korea did not raise any objections. 
 
Abduction issue not discussed 
 
The six-party delegates met for the first time since last 
September. 
 
From the morning of July 11, they will aim at a total agreement on 
establishing verification and monitoring frameworks. Foreign 
Ministry Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Akitaka 
Saiki indicated on the night of July 10 that the participants' views 
were headed for a consensus. Saiki's U.S. counterpart, Assistant 
Secretary of State Christopher Hill, also indicated that China would 
draw up a chairman's statement specifying a verification framework. 
 
According to the source, the delegates hailed the North's 
declaration as progress, though it did not meet the deadline. At the 
same time, some members called for an early presentation of 
information on nuclear weapons, something that was not included in 
the North's declaration. 
 
Japan underlined the need for the involvement of the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the verification process with the 
participation of the remaining five countries. Japan also expressed 
its willingness to join the energy aid program if there is progress 
on the abduction issue. The abduction issue was not discussed in the 
session. Saiki also briefly exchanged greetings with North Korean 
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan. 
 
If a consensus is reached on establishing a verification system and 
other matters on July 11, the six countries intend to discuss in the 
afternoon how to proceed with economic and energy aid to the North. 
 
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, chair of the six-party 
talks, called for the participants' cooperation by saying at the 
outset of the meeting: "Our target is to jointly promote the 
complete implementation of the second-phase steps (for 
 
TOKYO 00001915  004 OF 010 
 
 
denuclearization) in order to enter the new phase." 
 
5) In resumed six-party talks, Saiki expresses strong 
dissatisfaction at no information on nuclear weapons, cites 
resolution of abduction issue as precondition for aid to North 
Korea 
 
SANKEI (Page 1) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
(Jiro Otani, Beijing) 
 
Chief envoys of the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North 
Korea met at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 10. 
The delegates discussed ways to verify the declaration on its 
nuclear programs presented by Pyongyang in June and a mechanism to 
monitor the state of implementation that each country would be 
obliged to carry out. Japan's chief delegate Akitaka Saiki, director 
general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, 
expressed strong dissatisfaction that the nuclear report provided no 
information about the number of nuclear weapons possessed by North 
Korea, saying: " Can this really be said to be a complete 
declaration?" 
 
But Saiki told reporters after the meeting at a Beijing hotel: 
"Discussion of a verification system is moving toward agreement." On 
the issue of North Korea's past abductions of Japanese nationals, 
Saiki disclosed that he had said in the meeting: "An environment 
will be created (for Japan) to offer aid to the North through a 
settlement of the abduction issue." 
 
The envoys agreed in the meeting to advance deliberations on these 
four agenda items: (1) Ways to verify the North Korean nuclear 
report; (2) economic energy aid to North Korea, including heavy oil; 
(3) a timetable for a six-party foreign ministerial; and (4) ways to 
denuclearize North Korea in the third stage. They also affirmed the 
need to swiftly set up a framework to verify the nuclear report and 
decided to discuss specific means on July 11. If progress is made 
there, the delegates may hold a meeting of the working group on 
North Korea's denuclearization the same day. 
 
According sources involved in the six-party talks, Saiki met with 
North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan briefly, but the 
two did not discuss such bilateral pending issues as a 
reinvestigation of abductee victims. A Japanese delegate told 
reporters last night that no decision has been made for the next 
round of Japan-North Korea talks. 
 
6) In six-party talks, Japan demands three items, including on-site 
inspections of nuclear facilities in North Korea 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
(Nagasawa, Beijing) 
 
Chief envoys of the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear 
problem met at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on the 
afternoon of July 10. According to informed sources on the Japanese 
side, the participants shared the need to agree on a mechanism to 
verify the declaration produced by North Korea in late June on its 
nuclear programs. In the meeting, Japan demanded three items that 
 
TOKYO 00001915  005 OF 010 
 
 
Pyongyang should (1) allow on-site inspections of its nuclear 
facilities; (2) submit additional nuclear documents; and (3) allow 
interviews with North Korean nuclear technicians. The focus of 
attention is to what extent North Korea would accept these demands. 
 
The six-party talks were held for the first time in about nine 
months since last September. In the meeting, the envoys decided to 
discuss (1) a verification regime for North Korea's nuclear 
declaration; (2) energy aid to North Korea; (3) a timetable for a 
six-party foreign ministerial; and (4) basic policy on the third 
stage of North Korea's denuclearization. 
 
Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director 
General Akitaka Saiki, Japan's chief envoy, told reporters last 
night that (North Korea) has generally accepted the three items 
demanded by Japan, including on-site inspections. He expressed 
dissatisfaction at no information on nuclear weapons included in the 
nuclear report and also insisted on the need to increase the 
effectiveness of inspections by including International Atomic 
Energy Agency members in them. 
 
The main aid program for the North in return for its nuclear report 
is energy aid equivalent to 850,000 tons of heavy oil by the five 
nations. But Japan intends not to take part in economic assistance 
if no progress is made on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted 
by North Korean agents. According to Saiki, in the meeting on the 
10th, there was no scene in which North Korea criticized Japan's 
posture. 
 
7) Imperial couple to visit Canada probably next summer 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met yesterday with Canadian Prime 
Minister Stephen Harper at the Prime Minister's Office. In the 
meeting, the two leaders reached an agreement to push forward with 
arrangements on a visit to Canada next summer by the Emperor and 
Empress. The Emperor once visited Canada in April 1953 when he was 
Crown Prince. The planned visit will be his first trip to Canada as 
the Emperor. 
 
Fukuda and Harper affirmed that the two countries would deepen 
cooperation in economic and peace-building areas with their 80th 
anniversary of the conclusion of a treaty of friendship in mind. 
 
The two leaders shared the perception that cooperation with 
developing countries would be important in order to realize global 
greenhouse gas emissions cuts. Regarding Canada's peacekeeping 
operations in Afghanistan, to which Canada deploys about 2,500 
troops, Harper said: "There are improvements in security, governing 
and development areas, but there remain many challenges." 
 
The Emperor and Empress met Harper and his wife yesterday at the 
Imperial Palace. 
 
8) Gov't mulls danger-free plans for Futenma 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
On the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air 
 
TOKYO 00001915  006 OF 010 
 
 
Station in Okinawa Prefecture's Ginowan City, the government 
yesterday entered into final coordination to propose setting up a 
body for a joint study with Okinawa Prefecture on how to eliminate 
the danger of Futenma airfield. Okinawa Prefecture has been calling 
for the airfield's danger to be removed. The government will hold a 
Futenma consultative meeting on July 18 with local officials from 
Okinawa Prefecture, when the government will propose the idea of 
launching this joint study group to look into the airfield's 
dangerous aspects. 
 
Japan and the United States have reached an intergovernmental 
agreement to relocate the heliport functions of Futenma airfield to 
a coastal area of Camp Schwab, a U.S. military base in the island 
prefecture's northern coastal city of Nago, by 2014. However, 
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima has asked the government to move the 
relocation site of an alternative facility for Futenma airfield into 
the sea. In order to remove Futenma airfield's danger, Nakaima has 
asked the government to take such measures as basically closing down 
the airfield within three years and relocating U.S. military 
training from the airfield to other locations. 
 
The U.S. government has refused to negotiate the proposed offshore 
relocation. However, the U.S. government agreed with the Japanese 
government in August last year to review the flight paths of 
Futenma-based choppers in order to eliminate danger. However, 
Okinawa Prefecture is strongly dissatisfied with the agreement's 
specifics. The Futenma base is located in a densely populated area 
of the city. As it stands, local residents are concerned about U.S. 
military helicopters possibly crashing. In August 2004, a U.S. 
military chopper crashed into the campus of Okinawa International 
University. This incident gave rise to strong calls for a 
danger-free environment. In this April's Futenma consultative 
meeting, Nakaima asked the government to set up a working-level 
study group to eliminate the airfield's danger. 
 
The government's proposal is in response to the governor's request. 
The U.S. government, however, is not agreeable to negotiate the 
drastic step of closing down Futenma airfield within three years. 
Even if a joint study group is launched, it could end up reaching a 
conclusion that is unacceptable to the United States. 
 
9) Defense Ministry mum about MD exercise itinerary 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 27) (Abridged) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Japan and the United States will conduct bilateral joint training 
exercises for their antiballistic missile defense systems in the Sea 
of Japan and in the Kanto area, the Joint Staff Office of the 
Self-Defense Forces at the Ministry of Defense said yesterday. 
However, the JSO only explained that the MD exercises are scheduled 
for "one day in July." The Defense Ministry apparently fears that 
foreign armed forces would pick up communications between Japan and 
the United States if the schedule is unveiled. 
 
Details are unknown about the MD exercises. However, Japanese and 
U.S. MD-capable destroyers like the Kongo and the Shiloh will be 
staged in the Sea of Japan. The Air Self-Defense Force's airborne 
warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft will also participate in 
the exercises. Air defense missile units-currently based at Iruma in 
Saitama Prefecture, Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture, Narashino in 
Chiba Prefecture, and Takeyama in Kanagawa Prefecture-will 
 
TOKYO 00001915  007 OF 010 
 
 
participate in the exercises with the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 
(PAC-3), a ground-to-air guided missile system. They will be on 
standby at their respective bases and will not be in town. 
 
10) No plans for cabinet shuffle: Fukuda 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday met with his ruling Liberal 
Democratic Party's Secretary General Bunmei Ibuki at his office and 
said anew he still has no plans for a rumored shuffle of his cabinet 
before convening an extraordinary session of the Diet. "I have no 
plans at all; it is a complete blank slate," he said. Now that the 
Group of Eight (G-8) summit at Lake Toya in Hokkaido is over, the 
focus is on whether Fukuda will shuffle his cabinet. However, Ibuki 
advised Fukuda to consider how to make arrangements for the next 
extraordinary Diet session. "It would be better not to listen to 
those parties wanting a shuffle and those who would benefit from 
it," Ibuki said. 
 
Later in the day, Fukuda said he would fast-track his policy tasks. 
"I have nothing on my mind about anything after that," Fukuda told 
reporters when asked about whether he would shuffle his cabinet. 
 
11) Calls in LDP one after the other for dissolution of the Diet, 
either at the start of the regular Diet session or immediately after 
the budget passes 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Views are coming out one after the other in the Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP) that the timing of the dissolution of the House of 
Representatives should be either at the start of the next regular 
session of the Diet that will be convened in January or immediately 
after the fiscal 2009 budget is passed in March or April. Until now 
in the party, the overwhelming view was that dissolution should be 
put off until the Lower House serves out its term next year in 
September. However, the judgment now being made is that Diet 
dissolution under the disadvantageous circumstance of being forced 
on the party by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 
should be avoided. 
 
The reason influential LDP lawmakers have lined up to call for 
putting off as long as possible Lower House dissolution is that such 
a decision could produce a severe situation of losing (in the 
election to follow) even their majority, let alone the two-thirds 
majority the ruling parties hold now. However, former Prime Minister 
Koizumi in a Tokyo speech on July 3 referred to the need to speed 
matters up, saying, "In case we extend it another six months (until 
the full term ends), there would be no leeway and it would become 
dissolution that pushed us into a corner." 
 
After Koizumi, former Prime Minister Mori, who has acted as the 
prime minister's guardian, and party elections chairman Koga, who 
has responsibility for carrying out elections, gave specific times, 
such as next January at the start of the regular Diet session, or 
March-April, after passage of the budget. One after the other, 
suggestions for speeding up Diet dissolution have come out. 
 
12) LDP's Yosano: DPJ's plan requires 30 trillion yen of fiscal 
 
TOKYO 00001915  008 OF 010 
 
 
resources 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Appearing on a BS11 (Nippon BS Broadcasting) program recorded 
yesterday, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano, a member of 
the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sharply criticized the 
Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) policies, saying: "The DPJ is an 
irresponsible and tax-money wasting party. If their policies were 
implemented, 30 trillion yen would be needed." Yosano pointed out 
that based on his own calculation method, it would be necessary to 
have twice more than the 15.3 trillion yen that the DPJ has asserted 
(it needs to carry out its policies). 
 
Yosano said: "If all (basic) pensions are covered by tax revenues, 
the consumption tax rate will automatically become 11 percent." He 
calculated that there would be needed a total of 30 trillion yen, 
which would include 15 trillion yen for pension reform, 3.5 billion 
yen for free public high-school education, several trillion yen for 
compensation for individual farmers, among other expenses. 
 
In a press conference yesterday, DPJ Deputy President Naoto Kan 
rebutted: "(Yosano) should have said that several trillion yen would 
be needed after the Finance Ministry makes public how much fiscal 
resources it has. I must say that he belongs to the Ministry's 
finance-policy clique in the Diet." 
 
13) DPJ plans to submit many bills to upcoming extraordinary Diet 
session: Preparation underway to return to Diet deliberations 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) plans to submit many 
lawmaker-initiated bills to the extraordinary Diet session to be 
convened in late August. Though it boycotted deliberations following 
the adoption of a censure motion against Prime Minister Fukuda in 
the Upper House during the recent regular Diet session, it now 
intends to use the submission of legislation as a tool for it to 
return to deliberations to pursue the government and the ruling 
parties. 
 
Policy Research Committee Chair Naoshima at a meeting of the 
Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions held in Tokyo on 
July 10 said, "The DPJ wants to make the auto tax and road policy 
campaign issues for the next Lower House election. We want to submit 
legislation on the tax code and a road-construction policy to the 
upcoming extraordinary Diet session." He thus indicated his party's 
plan to submit a bill abolishing the provisional rate related to 
special-purpose road construction revenues and a bill designed to 
drastically reform road administration. 
 
The DPJ is determined to focus during the extraordinary Diet session 
on the submission of bills directly related to the daily life of the 
public. It will likely respond to deliberations on the fiscal 2008 
supplementary budget draft, which incorporates measures to address 
soaring crude oil prices and the reconstruction of areas hit by the 
Miyagi Inland Earthquake, with Diet Affairs Committee Chair Kenji 
Yamaoka saying, "We will deal with countermeasures on natural 
disasters and matters closely linked to the daily life of the 
public." The DPJ wants to deliberate on lawmaker-sponsored bills 
 
TOKYO 00001915  009 OF 010 
 
 
submitted on a priority basis after the party presidential election 
slated for September 21. 
 
However, the party will not take part in deliberations on 
government-submitted bills, with Yamaoka saying that it is not 
necessary to deliberate on a bill amending the New Antiterrorism 
Special Measures Law designed to allow the Maritime Self-Defense 
Force to continue its refueling operations in the Indian Ocean. He 
also said that the DPJ would not deliberate on that bill under a 
prime minister that has been censured, suggesting there would by a 
way of choosing bills to be deliberated. 
 
14) Japan Association of Corporate Executives to hold regular 
meetings with LDP and DPJ 
 
ASAHI (Page 7) (Excerpts) 
July 11, 2008 
 
The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), 
chaired by Masamitsu Sakurai, has launched a policy round-table 
designed to regularly exchange views with lawmakers of the Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or 
Minshuto). The Keizai Doyukai intends to have its policy proposals 
reflected in deliberations in the divided Diet through the promotion 
of dialogue on such issues as energy and food with lawmakers 
crossing party lines. 
 
It held the first meetings with DPJ members on July 8 and with LDP 
members on July 10 at Tokyo hotels. The meetings focused on a 
variety of topics, including administrative reform, 
decentralization, economic diplomacy, food issues, and the tax code. 
Such meetings will be held once a month. This is the first time for 
the Keizai Doyukai to hold a policy dialogue on a regular basis. 
 
Participants from the Keizai Doyukai include Chairman Sakurai, Vice 
Chairman and Senior Director Kunio Kojima, Vice Chairman and 
Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee Yasufumi Kanemaru, who 
is the chairman of Future Architect, and others. About 10 lawmakers 
from each party attended the meetings. Former LDP Secretary General 
Hidenao Nakagawa and DPJ Vice President Seiji Maehara reportedly 
chose participants from the stance that participants should be 
future-oriented and be able to display leadership in Japan. 
 
15) Three female LDP lawmakers hold book party to promote policy 
proposals 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
Three female House of Representatives members belonging to the 
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- Yuriko Koike, Kuniko 
Inoguchi, and Yukari Sato, who have formed a policy-making unit, 
which they call the Tokyo Projects Of, By, and For Ladies (TPL) -- 
yesterday held a book party in Tokyo to celebrate the publication of 
their joint work. The three woman lawmakers held the book party to 
promote policy proposals in their specialized fields such as the 
environment, declining birthrate, and financial issue. Their 
political bases are in Tokyo. 
 
Invited to the party, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave a 
speech, in which he said: "These three women are very special. When 
they come together, they get things done. They say that jealousy is 
 
TOKYO 00001915  010 OF 010 
 
 
a woman's trait, but that is not so. Men are jealous, too." He made 
the remark because of the presence of former Defense Minister Koike, 
whose name has been mentioned as a potential candidate to succeed 
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. 
 
Koike said: "We will make efforts so that women's ideas will become 
the main stream. We are glad that you realize women's ideas are 
necessary to change society." 
 
16) Regulatory Reform and Privatization Promotion Council losing 
policy presence; Interim report has few original ideas 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
July 11, 2008 
 
The government's Regulatory Reform and Privatization Promotion 
Council, chaired by Nippon Yusen K.K. Chairman Takao Kusakari, is 
losing its policy presence. The panel compiled an interim report in 
July in preparation for a third recommendation report to be issued 
at the year's end. The interim report, however, has few original 
ideals. This is presumably because the government's and the ruling 
parties' desire to implement deregulation has weakened, receiving 
criticism that deregulatory measures taken in the past have widened 
income disparities. 
 
The interim report incorporates a proposal for liberalizing, in 
principle, a mixed medical services system allowing hospitals to 
operate two different systems for medical bills -- one with medical 
insurance and the other without it. It also includes a number of old 
items for deregulation. There are few new proposals. One such is a 
call for a revision to the system under which the state controls the 
fixed number of students in medical departments of state-run 
universities. The report seems to lack eye-catching proposals. 
 
The panel will start discussions next week in the run-up to the 
issuance of a third recommendation report. However, moves to 
strengthen protective regulations are becoming active recently, as 
can be seen in that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and 
Transport has come up with a policy of reinstating a restriction on 
new entries into the taxi business and increases in vehicles, and 
that the ruling parties have adopted a plan to review the labor 
dispatch system that would ban the dispatch of day workers. 
 
Observers have the impression that compared with the deregulation 
efforts made during the Koizumi period, the deregulation policy line 
has changed and there is now little progress being achieved in the 
reform process. 
 
Chairman Kusakari sought to check those voices, noting, "The 
bureaucracy is trying to recover from a setback with the 
determination to strengthen regulations, but we reject such 
criticism."  The raison d'etre of the panel will likely be called 
into question in terms of to what extent it can come up with 
effective regulatory reform. 
 
SCHIEFFER