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Viewing cable 08TOKYO2225, DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 08/13/08

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08TOKYO2225 2008-08-13 08:15 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tokyo
VZCZCXRO9316
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #2225/01 2260815
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 130815Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6560
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 1739
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 9372
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 3116
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 7543
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 9952
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4881
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0868
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1227
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 002225 
 
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 08/13/08 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Reinvestigation of abduction incidents "to conclude by autumn"; 
Japan-DPRK agreement, sanctions to be partially lifted (Asahi) 
 
(2) LDP, New Komeito secretaries general agree to submit large 
supplementary budget bill to next extraordinary Diet session 
(Yomiuri) 
 
(3) Prime minister positive about making dividends tax-free: 
"Capital investment should be made duty-free, too" says Aso (Tokyo 
Shimbun) 
 
(4) Waning of LDP in Upper House: Losing power as votes from 
industrial circles decrease; Persons recommended unable to secure 
ministerial posts (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(5) DPJ policies (part one): Funding resources finds party split 
(Asahi) 
 
(6) Can Fukuda display his policy imprint? Second Fukuda cabinet 
already running into snag over information sharing (Mainichi) 
 
(7) Defense Ministry to request budget for post-cluster munitions 
(Akahata) 
 
(8) Global warming prevention: All industries broadly classified 
into three categories (Mainichi) 
 
(9) TOP HEADLINES 
 
(10) EDITORIALS 
 
(11) Prime Minister's schedule, Aug. 12 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Reinvestigation of abduction incidents "to conclude by autumn"; 
Japan-DPRK agreement, sanctions to be partially lifted 
 
ASAHI ONLINE (Full) 
August 13, 2008 
 
(Toru Tamakawa, Yoshihiro Makino, in Shenyang) 
 
Japan and North Korea agreed during a formal meeting of their 
foreign ministry working-level officials in the predawn hours of 
August 13 in Shenyang, China that North Korea will set up a 
reinvestigation committee on abduction victims at an early date and 
finish the investigations by this fall. Upon the establishment of 
the committee, the Japanese Government will lift its sanctions on 
travel by people between the two countries and operation of 
chartered flights. 
 
The Japanese Government considers that the agreement on specific 
ways to conduct the reinvestigations marks a certain level of 
progress, but it remains uncertain whether this will lead to the 
discovery and return of abduction victims. 
 
Akitaka Saiki, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and 
Oceanian Affairs Bureau, from Japan and Song Il Ho, North Korea's 
ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, participated in the 
 
TOKYO 00002225  002 OF 010 
 
 
meeting. According to the Japanese briefing, the subjects of the 
investigations include all abduction victims, including those who 
are missing, in addition to the victims officially recognized by the 
Japanese Government. Japan and North Korea also agreed that 
appropriate authority will be given to the investigation committee; 
progress in the investigation will be reported to the Japanese 
Government as needed; and the Japanese Government will be allowed to 
confirm the results of the investigations by interviewing relevant 
officials and visiting related sites. 
 
At the latest meeting, no agreement was reached on the repatriation 
of people connected to the hijacking of the Japan Airlines "Yodo-go" 
jetliner (in 1970) and on allowing North Korean ships to enter 
Japanese ports for transporting humanitarian goods. 
 
Up until reaching the agreement, Kyoko Nakayama, minister in charge 
of the abduction issue, called for exercising caution in making 
decisions, according to several Japanese Government officials. When 
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was consulted for the final decision, 
the Prime Minister reportedly gave the following instruction: 
"Proceed cautiously. Also, exert utmost efforts so that survivors 
can be found." 
 
After the meeting, Saiki told reporters, "We sincerely hope that the 
investigation committee will be set up as soon as possible and that 
it will lead to the return of the victims." Song said, "Should there 
be any betrayal of the agreement (by Japan), or should the agreed 
contents do not move in the determined direction, everything will 
break down." 
 
It remains uncertain how far the "investigation committee that has 
been given authority" will be able to pursue the truth. In addition, 
in response to an interview by Asahi Shimbun, a North Korean 
government authority indicated that regardless of the outcome of the 
investigation, North Korea intends to bring the abduction issue to a 
close once and for all, saying, "Once the results of the 
reinvestigation comes out, the rest is a matter of how the Japanese 
Government accepts the results." 
 
On August 13, Nakayama welcomed the latest Japan-DPRK agreement, 
saying: "If North Korea will conduct investigations once again from 
the beginning (by withdrawing its conventional assertion), there is 
a good possibility that survivors will be found. It could lead to 
new developments." However, Nakayama also stressed the need to 
carefully discern North Korea's moves before Japan partially lifts 
its sanctions. 
 
(2) LDP, New Komeito secretaries general agree to submit large 
supplementary budget bill to next extraordinary Diet session 
 
Yomiuri Online 
13:45, August 13, 2008 
 
Secretaries general, Policy Research Council chairmen, and Diet 
Affair Committee chairmen of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and 
the New Komeito on the morning of August 13 met at a Tokyo hotel. 
Participants agreed that a fiscal 2008 supplementary budget bill 
that includes an economic stimulus package and other proposals 
should be submitted to the Diet at the outset of the next 
extraordinary session. 
 
The envisaged budget will likely be large, topping at least several 
 
TOKYO 00002225  003 OF 010 
 
 
hundred billion yen. Participants put off a decision on when to 
convene the extraordinary Diet session. However, it will likely be 
convened in or after early September. 
 
Participants also confirmed that LDP Secretary General Aso will 
shortly meet with Prime Minister Fukuda and confer on bills to be 
handled in the extraordinary session. When to convene the session 
and the duration of such will then be decided next week. 
 
(3) Prime minister positive about making dividends tax-free: 
"Capital investment should be made duty-free, too" says Aso 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
August 13, 2008 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Taro Aso has 
proposed a measure to make dividends less than 3 million yen 
tax-free. Prime Minister Fukuda on August 12 indicated a positive 
stance to the proposal, saying, "I do not see why not, if many 
opinions can be taken into account, while a good balance is achieved 
with other tax codes." 
 
Commenting on Aso's proposal, the prime minister said, "Japan's 
stock market has no vigor. I think he made that proposal to 
encourage more people to buy stocks." 
 
In this connection, Aso in a speech given in Kitakyushu City 
revealed his view that a tax cut measure should be taken for capital 
investment by companies as a tax stimulus measure." He said, "It 
would be effective to think about a tax cut policy in a manner of 
channeling money for investment. I do hope to see my proposal 
implemented in the tax code revision in December." 
 
He also repeatedly stressed the importance of making dividends 
tax-free. He said, "I am not calling for a pork-barrel policy. A tax 
cut policy does not mean the government spends money. I would just 
like to change the tax code." 
 
(4) Waning of LDP in Upper House: Losing power as votes from 
industrial circles decrease; Persons recommended unable to secure 
ministerial posts 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) 
August 13, 2008 
 
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Upper House has become a 
minority ruling party in the Upper House election last summer. This 
summer, it suffered a setback in the cabinet shuffle, which Prime 
Minister Yasuo Fukuda carried out on August 1, with lawmakers whom 
it had recommended unable to secure even one ministerial post. The 
LDP in the Upper House, which had been holding the reins of power 
because of its influence on governments of the day, is visibly 
declining. 
 
The LDP in the Upper House has thus far recommended persons for 
ministerial posts on the basis of seniority, including such elements 
as how many terms candidates have served as lawmakers and party 
executives. 
 
This time, it recommended Tetsuro Yano and Gotaro Yoshimura -- both 
second-term Upper House members. However, the recommendation by the 
Upper House was ignored, though it has maintained three seats -- 
 
TOKYO 00002225  004 OF 010 
 
 
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, Defense Minister 
Yoshimasa Hayashi and State Minister for Abduction issue. 
 
The successive chairmen of the LDP in the Upper House had been 
reigning the government, displaying independence of the Upper House, 
as can be seen in the cases of former Chairman Mikio Aoki, who was 
called the don of the Upper House, and former Chairman Masakuni 
Murakami, convicted of bribery, who was called the emperor of the 
Upper House. 
 
Even former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who adhered to a 
top-down approach for the selection of cabinet ministers, was unable 
to ignore the Upper House's wishes and accepted its list of 
recommendations of politicians for cabinet posts. Former Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe openly pledged to revise the Upper House 
framework for ministerial posts when he formed his cabinet. However, 
he had to rescind his pledge, meeting fierce opposition from the 
Upper House. 
 
The LDP in the Upper House was easily deprived of its sanctuary in 
the cabinet shuffle this time, which is attributable to the decline 
in the power of industrial organizations, which it has protected and 
solidified. 
 
Both sides have built a close relationship with the LDP in the Upper 
House reflecting the wishes of industrial associations, by making 
candidates affiliated with such organizations elected in the 
proportional representation portion. However, the solidarity of 
industrial associations has gradually weakened due in part to the 
impact of structural reforms. Many incumbent Upper House members and 
new candidates recommended by the Japan Medical Association, the 
Japan Nursing Federation and other industrial organizations were not 
elected, allowing the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) to 
make a big leap. 
 
The LDP in the Upper House has lost numbers and influence on 
personnel selections. One senior lawmaker said weakly, "The weight 
of recommendations by the Upper House has collapsed just as the 
weight of recommendations by party factions did. It means that the 
recommendation system has been replaced with a merit system." 
 
(5) DPJ policies (part one): Funding resources finds party split 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
August 13, 2008 
 
"Hula Girl," a movie that was a big hit in 2006, is a story about 
the hardships that people living in a town built around a coal mine 
went through when they faced the crisis of the closing of the coal 
mine and faced the need to reconstruct the town. On July 24, the 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) held a public hearing on its 
manifesto in Iwaki city in Fukushima Prefecture, the very setting of 
this story. 
 
The problem that Iwaki city now faces is a lack of doctors. 
Approximately 350,000 people live in the city, which has an area 
about twice as large as that of the 23 special wards of Tokyo 
combined. After experiencing exhausting duties, physicians assigned 
to local hospitals have resigned one after another, resulting in 
limited availability of medical services not only in the pediatric 
and obstetric departments, but also in the internal medicine, 
urology, and cardiovascular surgery departments. In 2006, there were 
 
TOKYO 00002225  005 OF 010 
 
 
78 cases of "musical ambulances" (i.e., musical chairs or 
"tarai-mawashi") in Fukushima Prefecture, in which emergency 
patients in ambulances were rejected at more than10 hospitals before 
they were finally admitted. Of these cases, 76 happened in Iwaki 
city. 
 
In response to the emotional appeal of people in the audience at the 
public hearing who called for resolving the problem of the shortage 
of physicians,  Masahiko Yamada, minister of health, labor, and 
welfare in the DPJ's "Next Cabinet," proclaimed: "There is a 
shortage of 100,000 physicians (in Japan). The government's plan to 
reduce social security spending is as big problem. We would set 
measures related to medical and healthcare services as our top 
priority and allocate a budget of 3-4 trillion yen!" 
 
However, Norio Hasegawa, vice chairman of Iwaki Medical Association, 
who participated in the public hearing, had mixed feelings. He 
sensed that the situation would not improve if things were left as 
is. He also heard colleagues in the association talk about seeking 
"a change of administration at least for once." Nevertheless, 
Hasegawa felt uncomfortable about the DPJ's explanation, saying: 
"They have no understanding of medical services. All they talk about 
is reviewing the special budget and eliminating wasteful spending." 
Three days later, Hasegawa went to a lecture given by DPJ Vice 
President Katsuya Okada, who visited Fukushima Prefecture. Okada 
talked about breaking down bureaucratic domination and reviewing 
budget allocations. This impressed Hasegawa, who said to himself, 
"He's pretty good." He then handed Okada a document explaining 
measures for resolving the problem of shortage of physicians that he 
and his colleagues had worked out. 
 
However, Hasegawa has yet to discern whether it would be acceptable 
to him if the DPJ were to take over the reigns of government. 
 
Reform of the pension system, creation of a child benefit program, a 
system of income security for individual farming households, making 
public senior high school charge-free...These are some of the 
policies included in the manifesto drawn up by DPJ President Ichiro 
Ozawa for the Upper House election that advocated "giving priority 
to the people's livelihood." Revenues worth 15.3 trillion yen are 
needed to implement these policies. Presuming that medical reforms 
would be carried out and the provisional tax rate put in place for 
road-specific revenues would be scrapped, the cost of implementing 
all these policies would add up to around 20 trillion yen. 
 
The DPJ's policies have often been criticized as not being supported 
by revenue sources. However, Ozawa has not changed his position on 
keeping the consumption tax rate at the current level and does not 
seem to be bothered by this matter at all. 
 
In late June, Ozawa held an informal meeting with women in Gifu 
City. Asked about the revenue source issue, Ozawa feverishly 
replied: "The first thing is to completely eliminate patronage and 
corruption among politicians and bureaucrats. Wasteful spending is 
rooted in patronage. We will completely eliminate them through 
thorough cleaning. We will stop wasteful spending of the budget and 
tax money. Then we will have the necessary revenues." 
 
If the DPJ takes over the reigns of government and conducts 
self-inspections, it will find latent revenue all over the place. 
That is why a change of administration is necessary.... This is the 
Ozawa-style "break-through-a-single-point policy (itten toppa 
 
TOKYO 00002225  006 OF 010 
 
 
shugi)." 
 
Around the same time, Ozawa tapped on the shoulder of a senior DPJ 
official who came to consult him on the revenue source (for the 
policies) in the manifesto for the upcoming general election and 
whispered to him: "It's all right, it's all right. You many not have 
done it (manage the government), so you might feel uneasy, but 
things will work out. Don't worry." 
 
Hirohisa Fujii, chairman of the DPJ Research Commission on the Tax 
System, who hails from the former Finance Ministry and has 
experience serving as a finance minister, told a DPJ official in 
charge of policy: "A 10 PERCENT  change in the way that the central 
and local governments spend their administrative costs that total 
200 trillion yen will give us 20 trillion yen to work with. That 
should do it." 
 
The DPJ's top priority is to take over the reigns of government 
through a general election. That appears to be the air predominating 
over the party leadership. 
 
(6) Can Fukuda display his policy imprint? Second Fukuda cabinet 
already running into snag over information sharing 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
August 12, 2008 
 
Ten days have passed since the second cabinet of Prime Minister 
Yasuo Fukuda was launched. Fukuda calls his shuffled cabinet, one 
"to realize peace of mind." This newspaper probes into whether 
Fukuda can display his policy imprint by examining five policy 
issues. 
 
On June 6, there was an incident that poured cold water on Fukuda's 
policy of unifying consumer affairs administration, his showcase 
theme. The incident was the revelation that people in China had been 
poisoned by domestic frozen gyoza dumplings in June. Consumer 
Administration Minister Seiko Noda frankly told reporters that the 
Cabinet Office had never received the information: 
 
"Actually, I got the information this morning through media reports. 
I told the Foreign Ministry and National Police Agency (NPA) that 
since the Cabinet Office is in charge of consumer administration, we 
should have had their cooperation. They gave their assurances." 
 
Following a rush of falsifications of food products, Prime Minister 
Fukuda announced in a policy speech delivered in January a plan to 
unify consumer affairs administration. He entrusted a consumer 
affairs council of experts to study creating a new organization. 
However, he ordered the creation of a Consumer Agency without 
waiting for the council to reach its conclusion in a meeting on 
April 23. The government intends to submit to the upcoming extra 
Diet session four bills related to the establishing of a Consumer 
Agency, aiming to launch it in 2009. 
 
Fumio Kishida, Noda's predecessor at state minister, pushed forward 
with coordination on such issues as the transfer of jurisdiction 
over 29 consumer-related laws and regulations to a Consumer Agency, 
but he lacked the ability to publicize the plan. 
 
Noda, a former postal rebel who until recently chaired the Liberal 
Democratic Party's Consumer Issues Research Commission, is a 
 
TOKYO 00002225  007 OF 010 
 
 
suitable person to head the Consumer Agency. 
 
In fact, she often appears on TV programs. This has delighted 
Cabinet Office officials, with one saying: "I wonder how many times 
the name Consumer Agency was reported." 
 
The issue of food poisoning from Chinese-made frozen dumplings has 
thrown doubt on Fukuda's stance of placing importance on consumers. 
It also has shed light on the lightness of the post in charge of 
consumer affairs. The principle of sharing information has already 
undermined by the dumpling incident. 
 
In order to launch the Consumer Agency in 2009, it will be necessary 
to enact relevant bills during the next extra Diet session. All the 
more because consumer issues are the opposition camp's area of 
expertise, Noda took the offensive, saying: "They will never oppose 
our plan." The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), 
however, has come up with a counterproposal of setting up the post 
of protecting the rights of consumers for the reason that the 
Consumer Agency will not be able to take measures to protect 
consumers. The focus will be on whether consultations on revising 
the bills will be moved forward between the ruling and opposition 
parties. 
 
The government has yet to come up with a concrete plan on how the 
Consumer Agency will operate. The agency will likely have the 
recommendation right to urge such related ministries as the Health, 
Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Agriculture, Forestry and 
Fisheries Ministry to take measures to protect consumers, but the 
right has no teeth. 
 
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will establish a 
Tourism Agency and abolish the Marine Accident Inquiry Agency in 
October. Like this, the scrap-and-build is the basis for creating a 
new organization. In order to avoid criticism for bloating the 
administration, sufficient coordination among relevant ministries 
and agencies is indispensable. 
 
If the structure of regional consumer affairs centers and other 
local organizations are not reinforced, it would be difficult for a 
Consumer Agency to function properly. Although the government plans 
to upgrade the status of the consumer affairs centers that were set 
up by local governments based their ordinances, securing fiscal 
resources for an increase of agency staff will likely become an 
issue. 
 
(7) Defense Ministry to request budget for post-cluster munitions 
 
AKAHATA (Page 2) (Full) 
August 13, 2008 
 
In the wake of an international convention's adoption in May of a 
draft treaty that prohibits cluster munitions, the Defense Ministry 
will procure alternative weapons instead of cluster munitions, 
officials said yesterday. In this connection, the Defense Ministry 
seems to be earmarking multibillion yen in its budget estimate for 
next fiscal year, including costs for research intended to scrap 
cluster bombs that Japan currently has. 
 
The government possesses four-type cluster munitions, explaining 
that its possession of such weapons is intended to repel airborne 
and seaborne landing enemy troops at the water's edge. Once the 
 
TOKYO 00002225  008 OF 010 
 
 
cluster ban treaty comes into effect, all cluster munitions will be 
prohibited. The Defense Ministry therefore decided to make a budget 
request for alternative weapons. "There will be a hole in our 
defense to block enemy landings," a Defense Ministry official said. 
"Our deterrent capability will go down," the official added. 
 
In its white paper for last year, however, the Defense Ministry also 
admits that a full-scale invasion is less likely to take place 
against Japan. The possibility of operations against enemy landings 
is low, so the meaning of deploying alternative weapons will likely 
be called into question. 
 
The government has so far spent 28 billion yen to procure cluster 
munitions, and the cost of scrapping the cluster munitions Japan 
currently has is also estimated at about 20 billion yen (as reported 
in detail by the Akahata dated July 28). 
 
The cluster ban treaty will be signed in December and will come into 
effect with 30 countries ratifying it. Japan, following the United 
States' stance against prohibiting cluster munitions, was reluctant 
about joining the treaty. But Japan has now agreed to adopt it. 
 
At present, Japan has four-type cluster munitions: 1) M-26 rockets 
for firing from the multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) mounted on 
vehicles; 2) CBU-87B bombs for dropping from fighter jets; 3) 155m 
multipurpose howitzers for firing from guns; and 4) 70m antitank 
rockets for launching from helicopters. The Defense Ministry is now 
considering single-warhead bombs with no bomblets as alternatives 
for the M-26 and the CBU-87B. 
 
(8) Global warming prevention: All industries broadly classified 
into three categories 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Full) 
August 9, 2008 Eve. 
 
By Hajime Eguchi 
 
The Japanese Government plans to propose its so-called 
"sector-specific approach" at UN negotiations scheduled to begin on 
21 August for creating a new framework for reducing greenhouse gas 
emissions beyond 2013, which is not stipulated by the Kyoto 
Protocol. The details of the "sector-specific approach," a method of 
reducing greenhouse gas emissions based on industries and sectors, 
were revealed on August 9. Under this method, all industries are to 
be classified into three categories. In order to maintain fairness 
between industrialized nations and developing countries, which have 
no reduction obligations, Japan's proposal calls for quickly 
formulating a unified international standard for reducing greenhouse 
gas emissions in sectors with particularly high volume of emissions, 
such as the iron and steel industry. 
 
Under Japan's method, reduction targets will be set for each country 
by adding up the potential volume of emissions reductions according 
to industries and sectors. By positioning this method as a "fair 
method that enables making comparisons with other countries," Japan 
intends to seize the initiative in negotiations on the next 
framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 
 
In its proposal, Japan classified all industries into the following 
categories: 1) sectors (iron and steel, cement, and aluminum) in 
which industry organizations can take concerted action to reduce 
 
TOKYO 00002225  009 OF 010 
 
 
emissions by working on international countermeasures and continuing 
to uphold common reduction targets, among other things, in the 
future; 2) sectors (power generation and road traffic) in which 
international cooperation is possible, but making simple comparisons 
is difficult due to differences in policies, among other things; and 
3) sectors (office, homes, and waste materials, among other things) 
in which setting common reduction targets is difficult and will be 
centered on individual countries' domestic countermeasures. 
 
Among these sectors, Japan's proposal calls for giving priority to 
studying concrete reduction measures in such sectors as iron and 
steel, where international cooperation that includes developing 
countries, which have no emissions reduction obligations, are 
expected to produce results. 
 
Japan will also call on each country to study specific reduction 
measures appropriate for each sector and assistance measures to 
developing countries that have concerns that they "may be subject to 
the same reduction obligations as industrialized countries." 
 
The negotiations, which are in preparation for the COP-14 UN Climate 
Change Conference to be held late this year, will be held in Accra, 
Ghana until August 27 
 
(9) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: Mainichi: Yomiuri: Sankei: Tokyo Shimbun: 
Tanimoto wins second gold medal 
 
Nikkei: 
CO2 emissions of electric power companies up 14 PERCENT  due to 
suspension of nuclear power plant operation 
 
Akahata: 
CO2 emissions by TEPCO up 1.3-fold in fiscal 2007 
 
(10) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Keep wasteful expenditures firmly in mind when discussing 
whether or not to hike consumption tax 
(2) Japanese-made silk: Make full use of last opportunity 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Peace of mind realization cabinet: Do not imperil fiscal 
reconstruction 
(2) Foreign nurses: Who will take care of elderly people? 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Cutting back on airline routes: Make more efficient flight 
network 
(2) Exploration of life in space 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Deepen discussion for unified taxation on financial gains 
(2) Agony of South Korea as it marks 60th anniversary of the 
founding of the nation 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Russia announces ceasefire: Russia should completely pull out of 
Georgia 
(2) Precious metals: Strengthen resource recovery system 
 
TOKYO 00002225  010 OF 010 
 
 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Delisting of North Korea: Don't be impatient 
(2) Recommendation by National Personnel Authority: Use 
resourcefulness when conforming to standards of private sector 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Integration of SDF counterintelligence units: We will not allow 
reinstate of military police politics 
 
(11) Prime Minister's schedule, Aug. 12 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
August 13, 2008 
 
10:34 
Met at Kantei with Minister for Declining Birthrate Nakayama. 
 
11:04 
Met with Minister for Consumer Administration Noda. 
 
14:23 
Met with incoming and outgoing Tokyo Metropolitan Commissioner 
Yonemura and Yashiro. Met afterwards with Special Advisor to the 
Cabinet Okuda. 
 
16:30 
Met with Kyushu International University Next Generation System 
Institute President Okamoto and the Land, Infrastructure and 
Transport Ministry's Housing Bureau Director General Izumi. 
18:36 Met at his official residence with Defense Minister Ishiba. 
 
SCHIEFFER