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RHMFIUU/USFJ //J5/JO21//
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RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0585
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0974

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 002071 
 
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 07/29/08 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) U.S. military off-base housing in Okinawa: Housing bubble has 
burst due to saturation (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(2) New "base" expanding in Chatan, Okinawa, with U.S. military 
households accounting for a third of total population; Ward mayor: 
"Sunabe may be taken over by U.S. military" (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(3) "Noncombat" zone cannot be guaranteed: ISAF commander (Shinano 
Mainichi Shimbun) 
 
(4) ISAF: Reconstruction and destruction-Agony over contradiction 
(Shinano Mainichi Shimbun) 
 
(5) Shirakaba gas field: China intends to uphold initiative, 
constraining Japan's stake below 33 PERCENT  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(6) Has Prime Minister Fukuda changed his political method to a 
"Koizumi style"? (Yomiuri) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) U.S. military off-base housing in Okinawa: Housing bubble has 
burst due to saturation 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 24) (Abridged slightly) 
July 29, 2008 
 
By Natsuko Katayama 
 
Off-base housing for U.S. service members in Okinawa is increasing 
due to hefty housing allowances. It is also having a serious impact 
on the local economy. Although off-base housing has resulted in a 
booming economy as an unusually high-yield investment, there are 
concerns that the housing bubble will burst. 
 
Monthly military housing allowance amounting to 160,000-270,000 yen 
 
The website of Ryusei Kensetsu in Ginowan carries this explanation: 
"In Okinawa, there is rental housing for U.S. military personnel and 
civilian employees. Although rent is high, the occupancy rate is 
over 90 PERCENT ." The company's sales representative, Keisuke 
Matsuo, 30, said: "Housing on hills overlooking beaches and oceans 
within a 30-minute drive to the base is popular." Such housing is 
concentrated in Yomitan, Chatan, Kadena, and other municipalities on 
the western coast in the central part of Okinawa. 
 
The U.S. military housing allowance ranges from approximately 
160,000 yen to 270,000 yen a month. The amount is higher depending 
on rank; the allowance doubles for double-income families. Matsuo 
also noted: "Customers usually search for housing that costs their 
entire housing allowance, so rents are more than twice those of 
private-sector housing. Off-base housing has been drawing attention 
over the last 20 years as an investment. The trend caught fire about 
10 years ago. Rents are so high that one can pay off loans for the 
building and the land in 15 to 20 years. In many cases, investors 
are people who inherited land, civil servants, and base workers." 
Some have become billionaires building one block of apartments after 
another. 
 
High yields attract investors 
 
TOKYO 00002071  002 OF 010 
 
 
 
President Yuji Yokoda, 41, of Joy Housing, a local realtor that 
mostly handles housing for foreigners, established the company 10 
years ago. Yokoda said: "People said that the yield was unreal, but 
as I checked the matter, it turned out to be true." A variety of 
companies began entering the market at around that time. President 
Yokoda, too, expanded his business quickly. Today, 99 PERCENT  of 
the apartments and houses his company handles is housing for 
foreigners. 
 
In early years, housing for foreigners was built mostly by people 
who inherited land or people who needed to rebuild their houses. 
Building such housing has spread by word of mouth as a high-yield 
investment, and all sorts of people have entered the market over the 
last five years. Inquiries have come from outside Okinawa. Major 
real estate companies in such places as Tokyo and Kanagawa 
Prefecture have entered the market in recent years. 
 
Yokoda took this view: "The market peaked five years ago. Housing 
has sharply increased and the market has been saturated over the 
last several years. Occupancy rates have dropped, and the banks have 
begun hesitating to lend money." 
 
Apart from housing in good locations, old apartments and houses 
become unpopular. In five to ten years time, rents are lowered, and 
the option of renting them to Japanese people is considered. 
 
According to another person concerned, there have been cases in 
which investors have filed suits against the construction companies 
for building new housing with no tenants. 
 
Old housing unpopular, vacancy feared 
 
Yokoda also noted: "I don't know if the high housing allowances will 
continue forever. Developers in the Kanto and Kansai regions have 
been pushing ahead with large-scale projects to build condominiums 
and other facilities. Once those projects are completed, demand and 
supply and the economic balance in Okinawa will collapse. The 
housing bubble has burst." 
 
One-third of the households in Chatan's Sunabe district is housing 
for foreigners. Some people have moved away after their neighborhood 
became filled with foreigners. Masaharu Teruya, chairman of the 
Chatan Assembly's Special Committee on Military Bases, who lives in 
the district, expressed concern: "Many new buildings have been 
built, leaving old houses unoccupied. This area might be filled with 
empty houses." 
 
Lower House member Mikio Shimoji pointed out: "The development of 
off-base housing should not have been left to real estate companies. 
The administration said there was nothing it could do, but it 
granted construction authorization. I think they were able to take 
measures of some sort, such as a city landscape ordinance and 
regulations." 
 
Teruya added: "Construction authorization must be granted when there 
is no illegality. Enacting an ordinance takes time. Development 
progressed in a short period of time. Something must be done so that 
the residents will not be driven into a corner any further." 
 
(2) New "base" expanding in Chatan, Okinawa, with U.S. military 
households accounting for a third of total population; Ward mayor: 
 
TOKYO 00002071  003 OF 010 
 
 
"Sunabe may be taken over by U.S. military" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 20) (Excerpts) 
July 28, 2008 
 
A U.S. Marine living off base was arrested this February for the 
rape of a junior-high school girl in Okinawa Prefecture this 
February. The incident resulted in a new focus on "off-base housing" 
in the area where the soldier lived. In Sunabe-ku, Chatan-cho, which 
is adjacent to Kadena Air Base, a number of luxurious homes have 
been constructed for use by U.S. military personnel and their 
families. U.S. military personnel now account for a third of all 
households in the district. This situation is quite abnormal. A 
local residence complained: "Instead of bases shrinking, a new 
'base' is expanding here." 
 
In Sunabe-ku, smart-looking houses of the same design line both 
sides of the street. A new luxury condominium also has been built in 
the back. "The rent of this house is 250,000 yen. That house goes 
for 300,000 yen. All of these are for U.S. service personnel and 
their dependents," Sunabe Ward Mayor Shouji Matsuda said. He stopped 
in front of the condominium, saying: "The rent of a one-floor 
apartment with an elevator per family is 430,000 yen." 
 
With a deafening roar, U.S. military aircraft frequently buzz the 
top of the condominium. Due to the noise, more than 200 local 
families have already moved away. About 970 local families and about 
500 U.S. military families live side by side in the area. The 
construction of two large condominiums (that can accommodate 125 
households) is now underway and scheduled for completion next month. 
There is also a plan to build houses for 288 families next to the 
condominiums.  The U.S. military has given no explanation to the 
local residents. Matsuda muttered with a sigh: "The site of the U.S. 
military base accounts for 56 PERCENT  of the total area of this 
town. U.S. servicemen began to live off-base in 2000, and the number 
of off-base personnel has sharply increased over the past several 
years. If no measures are taken, the number of U.S. forces-related 
personnel may exceed that of local residents, and Sunabe may be 
taken over by the U.S. military." 
 
There is a beautiful beach in front of the large condominium. The 
beach and a park on the side of the condominium are crowded with 
U.S. military families on weekends. Matsu quoted an old neighborhood 
woman as saying: "Once the mammoth condominiums are built, the beach 
will inevitably become like a private beach. Since so many people 
connected to the U.S. military live here, we cannot allow our 
children to go alone to the beach." 
 
U.S. servicemen and their dependents have no obligation to register 
as local residents. One local resident complained: "We don't know 
what kind of persons are residing here." 
 
There was one American soldier who frequently invited his friends 
over and they all drank and made merry until very late at night. 
Local residents collected signatures to call on the U.S. military to 
take proper countermeasures. In May, the U.S. military apologized 
and made the soldier move back to the base compound. 
 
There are many cases of on-street parking by cars owned by U.S. 
military personnel or their families; the traffic jam in the area is 
also terrible. The town or prefectural roads are repaired with tax 
money. Garbage from U.S. soldiers' households is collected by 
 
TOKYO 00002071  004 OF 010 
 
 
contracted collectors, but some military households dump their 
garbage at collection points reserved for local residents. U.S. 
soldiers are not required to pay either the residential tax or the 
residents' association fee. 
 
Subsidies equivalent to salaries paid 
 
Triggered by the alleged rape of a junior-high school girl by a U.S. 
Marine, the U.S. military has now revealed how many personnel are 
living outside the bases and under which conditions U.S. military 
members are allowed to live off base. 
 
As of the end of March, 25 PERCENT  of all U.S. forces personnel in 
Japan, or 24,800 (about 2,900 more than that in the previous year), 
were living off base. Half of them live in Okinawa Prefecture. 
 
The village of Chatan hosts 3,223 U.S. military personnel, the 
second largest military population following Yokosuka City in 
Kanagawa Prefecture. Of these, 35 PERCENT  live off-base. 
 
A survey conducted this March by Chatan-cho found that the numbers 
of rental apartment buildings and detached houses for foreigners 
increased by 114 PERCENT  and 130 PERCENT , respectively, compared 
to several years ago. 
 
A real estate agent specializing in housing for U.S. military 
personnel or civilians working for the U.S. forces explained: "The 
rent of a house covering a 20-30 tsubo area is 130,000-170,000 yen 
for a single person. In the case of families, the average rent of a 
house of more than 40 tsubo runs about 250,000 yen. There are some 
who live in houses covering 50-60 tsubo. These prices are about two 
times higher than the rental market values in Okinawa." 
 
The question is who pays such high rents. A Japanese woman whose 
husband is a U.S. soldier and lives in a 250,000 yen-a-month 
detached home said: "We receive almost the same amount of a housing 
subsidy as my husband's pay. I was surprised at the sum at first." 
She added they also receive a little under 60,000 yen for utility 
charges. 
 
20 PERCENT  of houses on bases left vacant 
 
It was found out this March that Japan has constructed a total of 
10,295 houses at U.S. military bases at a cost of approximately 546 
billion yen (estimated amount). The funding was disbursed from the 
so-called sympathy budget over a period of about 30 years. In the 
case of a facility in Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 
particular, the construction cost per unit reportedly was 78 million 
yen. 
 
Construction costs for housing units in bases in Okinawa over a 
period of five years starting in FY2002 totaled approximately 30.2 
billion yen. A huge amount of tax money was spent on the 
construction project, but as of this January, about 20 PERCENT  of 
the houses were still vacant. 
 
Mayor Matsuda said: "Allowances for off-base U.S. soldiers might 
also come from the sympathy budget." Many local residents have the 
same suspicion. 
 
An official of the Defense Ministry's public relations office said: 
"We paid utility charges from 1992 until 2000, but we don't any 
 
TOKYO 00002071  005 OF 010 
 
 
more." An officer of the U.S. Force Japan Headquarters stated: "The 
U.S. government pays housing allowances for its off-base personnel. 
Rental fees are determined in accordance with Japanese rental market 
values." 
 
House of Councillors member Tokushin Yamauchi said: 
 
"It is inconceivable that the U.S. military, which should be 
practical, allows its personnel to live off-base at an enormous 
cost, even though there are vacant houses on base. Regarding the 
sympathy budget, we are informed only in rough terms. I suspect that 
Japan has offered funds to the U.S. side without letting the people 
know about it and that the U.S. has paid rental fees with the money 
given to it, much like the secret treaty reached between Japan and 
the U.S. when Okinawa was returned to Japan." 
 
Chatan Mayor Masaharu Noguni emphasized: 
 
"Since the ratio (of U.S. forces-related personnel to the 
population) has been on a sharp rise, we are finding it difficult to 
administer the area. Before allowing its personnel to live off-base, 
the U.S. military should carry out strict screening. It also should 
consider the resident registration and tax issues." 
 
A 50-year-old woman who moved to an area in which many U.S. military 
personnel live nine years ago grumbled: "In a short period of time, 
my residence was surrounded by U.S. housing units. From my house, I 
can no longer see the ocean." There was a case in which a cigarette 
was flicked into her place from the condominium next door. In 
another case, stones were thrown at her house. She complained: "I 
thought I should not have a biased view (toward U.S. soldiers) ... 
We are asked to conduct exchanges, but we can't after witnessing 
such rude behavior." 
 
(3) "Noncombat" zone cannot be guaranteed: ISAF commander 
 
SHINANO MAINICHI SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
Eve., July 17, 2008 
 
Kazuhiro Kimura, Kyodo 
 
KABUL-U.S. Army Gen. McKiernan, who commands the International 
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, met the press, 
including Kyodo News, in Kabul on July 16. The Japanese government 
is looking into the feasibility of sending the Self-Defense Forces 
to Afghanistan, but the ISAF commander remarked that he "cannot 
guarantee that there is a place where we will not encounter the 
enemy." 
 
The Japanese government has been restricting the scope of the SDF's 
overseas activities to what it calls "noncombat areas"-or zones 
where no combat operations are being actually conducted and where no 
combat operations are anticipated to be conducted throughout the 
period of SDF activities carried out there. The ISAF commander's 
remarks can be taken as noting that the idea of "noncombat areas" is 
unrealistic in Afghanistan where ISAF troops are fighting Taliban 
insurgents and where terrorist attacks are going on. His remarks 
will likely affect discussions in Japan. 
 
Germany and some other countries have been refusing to participate 
in full-scale combat operations although they are ISAF members. With 
these countries in mind, McKiernan criticized their stance, saying, 
 
TOKYO 00002071  006 OF 010 
 
 
"Restricted military contributions reduce our (ISAF's) superiority 
over the enemy." 
 
McKiernan also clarified his intention to welcome "any 
contributions," including the SDF's dispatch. He exemplified such 
activities as airlifting supplies, giving medical support, and 
training policemen. "Instead of sending soldiers (to fight), I think 
we can send ideas," he added. 
 
He also noted that ISAF is fighting Taliban insurgents and other 
militants near the Pakistani border in the eastern and southern 
parts of Afghanistan. "Most areas are comparatively stabilized," he 
said. 
 
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Wood met the press, 
including Kyodo News, in Kabul on July 16 and revealed that he had 
met with a fact-finding survey team sent from the Japanese 
government in June and discussed specifics about candidate locations 
and activities. However, he avoided referring to specifics about the 
SDF's dispatch. "It is for the Japanese government to decide," he 
said. 
 
(4) ISAF: Reconstruction and destruction-Agony over contradiction 
 
SHINANO MAINICHI SHIMBUN (Page 4) (Full) 
July 23, 2008 
 
Kazuhiro Kimura, Kyodo 
 
ASADABAD and PULI KHUMRI-Japan has given up sending the Self-Defense 
Forces to Afghanistan, where the International Security Assistance 
Force, or ISAF for short, is now operating in full swing. Meanwhile, 
ISAF is mopping up the Taliban, an antigovernment militia. In this 
Afghan antiterrorist campaign, however, there are also an increasing 
number of civilian casualties resulting from accidents, such as 
mistaken bombings. ISAF is tasked with a contradictory set of jobs 
called "reconstruction" and "destruction," and its soldiers agonize 
over their duties as they constantly brush with death. 
 
Asadabad is a small town in Afghanistan's northeastern province of 
Konar. It is a mountainous region that is about eight kilometers 
from the Pakistani border. "The international terrorist group Al 
Qaeda is hiding in that mountain," said Konar Province's Governor 
Walid, pointing to the steep mountain. Armed insurgents are hiding 
in the border area, where U.S. troops under ISAF's command are 
carrying out their mission. 
 
In Konar, an 85-member provincial reconstruction team (PRT) is 
assisting reconstruction, with more than 1,000 combat troops engaged 
in military operations. They are separately based. Two days before 
our visit there, nine American soldiers were killed in an attack. 
The PRT base is armed with antiaircraft guns, and soldiers move on 
armored vehicles with machineguns. They train their guns on all 
passing vehicles-no smile on their faces. 
 
They repair hospitals and schools and construct roads and bridges. 
Their tasks are similar to what the Ground Self-Defense Force did in 
the southern Iraqi city of Samawah to assist Iraq with its 
nation-rebuilding efforts. PRT-assisted projects in Konar alone 
total approximately 50 million dollars (about 5.3 billion yen). The 
projects will estimatedly reach 100 million dollars within the year. 
The Taliban regime has now collapsed, and Afghanistan has 
 
TOKYO 00002071  007 OF 010 
 
 
substantially improved its infrastructure. However, some local 
residents are still backing the Taliban militants. 
 
In Afghanistan, mop-up operations conducted by ISAF troops have 
caused a large number of civilian casualties. One PRT official sent 
from the U.S. government admitted that this has brought about a 
local backlash. In the neighboring province of Nangarhar, a U.S. 
military chopper recently raided a wedding hall, killing 47 people 
including the bride. "The right hand (PRT) constructs buildings with 
words of confidence and friendship, while the left hand (mistakenly 
bombs and) destroys them," the official said. "But," he added with a 
sigh, "combat operations are absolutely necessart." 
 
We next visited Puli Khumri in the northern Afghan province of 
Baghlan, where we were escorted by light-armed Hungarian soldiers 
working on PRT projects and arrived at a local school that was under 
repair. A group of local women wearing blue burqas was waiting there 
with petitions in their hands. They asked the PRT for 
infrastructure, including water and a power supply. "This year 
alone," 1st Lt. Gabriel said, "we have received 842 petitions." 
 
In Afghanistan, Konar Province was the most stable region. Hungary 
made it a precondition for its troops to stay away from combat 
operations for its activities there. Last November, however, a 
suicide attack there killed 70 people, including local residents. 
Since then, the local security situation has deteriorated. 
Insurgents, according to Deputy Commander Sandor, "do not 
differentiate PRT civilians from combat troops," The day before our 
visit there, a soldier was killed in the blast of a roadside bomb. 
The Hungarian base posted a photograph of another soldier who was 
killed in June. 
 
"If one more Hungarian soldier should die, that's the end of this 
bullshit assistance. I want to let Afghans know that." With these 
bitter words, one captain released his frustration. 
 
ISAF integrated into antiterror war 
 
Kazuhiro Kimura, Kyodo 
 
BRUSSELS and KABUL-Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
(NATO) are now sending reinforcements to the International Security 
Assistance Force (ISAF) deployed in Afghanistan. Some NATO members 
were reluctant to take part in combat operations there but have now 
changed their minds. What lies behind that is strong pressure from 
the United States calling that the price of participation in the 
alliance. ISAF is tasked with maintaining public security in its 
assistance to Afghanistan's reconstruction. Meanwhile, Operation 
Enduring Freedom (OEF), a U.S.-led military campaign targeted at the 
international terrorist group Al Qaeda, is also going on in that 
country. The fusion of ISAF and OEF is also underway. ISAF's 
assistance to Afghanistan and the U.S.-led war on terror are now 
being mixed up. 
 
Hungary made it a precondition for its ISAF participation to stay 
away from combat operations, but it has now decided to send special 
forces to the central province of Uruzgan. "While there are 
countries sustaining a large number of casualties, there are 
countries (like Germany) refusing to fight. This hurts the 
alliance's solidarity." In response to this criticism from a 
Brussels-based U.S. diplomatic source, Hungary made the decision. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002071  008 OF 010 
 
 
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked America at its nerve centers. 
The United States and Britain took it as an attack on the West as a 
whole. However, Afghanistan is a long way off from Hungary as well. 
Even so, a Hungarian military officer said: "We're a member of the 
alliance, so we cannot refuse to get our hands dirty. It's an 
appropriate burden (to send special forces)." 
 
One commander of ISAF troops deployed in the eastern part of 
Afghanistan serves concurrently as a commander of OEF troops. ISAF 
carries out airstrikes to back up OEF troops as needed. Such 
military mixing is now conducted on a routine basis. 
 
In Iraq, public security is now improving. In response, the U.S. 
government has indicated that it would further scale back on its 
military presence in Iraq and would instead reinforce its troops in 
Afghanistan. "Relations between ISAF and OEF are too complicated. 
It's possible to simplify their chains of command." With this, U.S. 
Ambassador to Afghanistan Wood implied that the United States 
strongly wanted to adopt a unified chain of command. 
 
(5) Shirakaba gas field: China intends to uphold initiative, 
constraining Japan's stake below 33 PERCENT 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
July 24, 2008 
 
Beijing, Takamasa Suzuki 
 
Japan and China have recently agreed to jointly develop gas fields 
in the East China Sea. In this connection, it was learned from 
several sources connected to bilateral relations that China intends 
to constrain Japan's stake in the development of the Shirakaba gas 
field to below one-third of the total investment amount in order to 
fully demonstrate it has the lead in developing that field. This is 
likely to cause controversy in Japan. 
 
According to the agreement reached in June, Japanese companies will 
participate in the development of the Shirakaba gas field in the 
form of investing in the project, and profits will be distributed 
according the proportion of investment. The proportion of investment 
by Japan is to be determined in future talks. An informed source 
said that China had proposed that Japan's stake should be below 33.3 
PERCENT . The Japanese side reportedly has not objected to the 
proposal. 
 
China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Petroleum and 
Chemical Corporation have been developing the Shirakaba gas field 
jointly with international oil majors. However, those two Chinese 
companies alone are now investing in the project. 
 
A Chinese official told the Tokyo Shimbun, "If Japan's stake in the 
project exceeds one-third of the total investment amount, it would 
top the stake held by either of the two Chinese companies. This is 
unacceptable" 
 
Japan and China have agreed to jointly develop a gas field in an 
area straddling the median line -- near the Asunaro gas field -- 
between the two countries as Japan had insisted. The two countries 
will likely develop this gas field under a fifty-fifty partnership. 
However, opposition is growing in China, with one source noting that 
China has made too many concessions to Japan. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002071  009 OF 010 
 
 
China has clearly made a distinction between the Shirakaba gas field 
and another gas field within the area straddling the median line. 
Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei noted: "Japan will take part in the 
development of the Chunxiao (Shirakaba) gas field, based on Chinese 
law and with the acknowledgement that China has sovereignty over 
that gas field."  By stressing its sovereignty and control over the 
Shirakaba gas field, China presumably wanted to send a message that 
it had not given in to Japan,. 
 
(6) Has Prime Minister Fukuda changed his political method to a 
"Koizumi style"? 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
July 25, 2008 
 
On the night of July 10, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers 
were enjoying bowling at the bowling center in the Prince Park Tower 
Tokyo, Shiba Park, Tokyo. They recently have been bowling together 
almost every week. 
 
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is a member of the LDP's 
bowling team. He has recently become enthusiastic about the game. 
Many participants are motivated to use this opportunity to find out 
the views of Koizumi, who is regarded as a key mover and shaker in 
today's political situation. 
 
After enjoying bowling, Koizumi dined with LDP Lower House members 
Yasuhiro Nakagawa, Kuniko Inoguchi, and Junichiro Sakurai, who are 
all now serving their first terms in the Diet. Hidenao Nakagawa and 
Tsutomu Takebe, former LDP secretaries general and also members of 
the bowling team, joined them for dinner. 
 
"I will be quiet until the election; I don't deliver campaign 
speeches anymore," said Koizumi, although he had just given a speech 
at a party to celebrate the publication of a book coauthored by 
former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, Lower House member Yukari Sato 
and Inoguchi. He noted: "If you get support from these three 
persons. Inoguchi, Koike and Sato, your campaigning will gather 
momentum." 
 
Koizumi has no intention to again assume the LDP presidency, even 
though there have been calls on him to run again. He reportedly has 
been trying to find a suitable candidate to carry out his structural 
reform agenda. 
 
During the dinner after bowling on July 10, Koizumi and Hidenao 
Nakagawa had a long conversation. One participant felt that Koizumi 
was trying to convince Nakagawa to keep his reform policy line, 
which is being reviewed now in the government and ruling coalition. 
Speculation, too, is that Koizumi is considering Koike as a possible 
candidate to succeed Fukuda. 
 
On July 3, as if to spur on the Fukuda government, Koizumi stressed 
in a lecture: 
 
"We politicians are now interested in three issues: Whether the 
Prime Minister shuffles his cabinet soon; whether he dissolves the 
House of Representatives; and whether the Lower House is dissolved 
by Fukuda or other person. I never tell the Prime Minister what he 
should do. I just tell him that I want him to make decisions, since 
I will support any of his decisions, even those that are opposite to 
my views." 
 
TOKYO 00002071  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
Whether Fukuda will accept Koizumi's direct advice is uncertain. 
However, the view has gained ground that Fukuda's political method 
of being a "coordinator" has now changed to Koizumi's top-down 
style. 
 
Last December, Fukuda made a political decision to provide blanket 
relief to those who had contracted Hepatitis C. In March this year, 
he announced a policy of abolishing the road tax revenue system. In 
May, he ordered Japan to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions. 
He has made those decisions in the face of strong resistance in 
relevant agencies and the LDP. 
 
Fukuda reportedly decided on his own the phrase "Realization of a 
Low Carbon Society" used in the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in 
Hokkaido for measures against global warming. A senior Foreign 
Ministry official revealed that the phrase had been made suddenly 
without holding any meeting of four cabinet ministers. The framework 
of the meeting was created by the former Abe government. 
 
Has confrontation between the ruling and opposition camps under the 
divided Diet, added to his low public support, caused a change in 
Fukuda's political method? 
 
Ichiji Totsuka, former secretary general of the LDP Gunma 
prefectural chapter, who has supported Fukuda in his home 
constituency of Gunma Prefecture, said: 
 
"When someone who does a remarkable job as the number two person 
assumes the number one slot, that person cannot handle the top job 
properly. To hold on to his administration, Fukuda needs to show his 
determination as number one and he also needs a number two man 
(chief cabinet secretary) like himself. To that end, I would like 
him to shuffle his cabinet." 
 
SCHIEFFER