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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 003139 
 
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 11/13/08 
 
Index: 
 
Financial summit: 
1) Japan to propose at financial summit a 10-trillion yen fund drawn 
from foreign reserves to strengthen IMF  (Nikkei) 
2) At financial summit that starts tomorrow, Prime Minister Aso to 
propose surveillance of credit rating agencies  (Mainichi) 
 
3) Aso's meeting with U.S. President Bush is off  (Mainichi) 
 
North Korea problem: 
4) North Korea refuses to provide nuclear samples as means of 
verification  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
5) North Korea hints at new information about abductees, but won't 
tell unless Japan removes its sanctions  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
6) Pyongyang's promise to reinvestigate abduction issue has not 
progressed, possibly influenced by changeover of U.S. 
administrations  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
Diet agenda: 
7) Bill to extend the refueling mission in the Indian Ocean expected 
now to pass the Diet as early as Nov. 18  (Sankei) 
8) Bill to extend the MSDF refueling mission to pass the Diet on 
Nov. 20  (Mainichi) 
 
9) Second supplementary budget likely to be delayed in submission, 
possibly until the next regular Diet session  (Nikkei, Yomiuri) 
10) Commotion in Diet over resources to pay for the government's 
planned cash handouts to families  (Mainichi) 
11) Opposition parties are planning to blast ruling parties for free 
cash handouts to nation  (Tokyo Shimbun, Yomiuri) 
 
12) Japan scaling back research whaling this year  (Asahi) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) Financial summit: Japan to propose up to 10 trillion yen 
contribution from foreign currency reserves to IMF to aid emerging 
countries 
 
NIKKEI (Top Play) (Excerpts) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The upcoming emergency financial summit is to be held in Washington 
starting on November 14 in order for industrialized countries and 
emerging countries to confer on measures to address the financial 
crisis. The draft of proposals Japan will make at the meeting was 
revealed on the 12th. According to the plan, Japan will back the IMF 
expanding its emergency financial assistance to emerging countries 
with a proposal for making up to a 10 trillion yen contribution to 
the organization, using portions of its foreign currency reserves. 
It will also reveal a public and private-sector joint fund 
assistance initiative to help Asian countries, where the influx of 
private funds is deteriorating due to due to the financial crisis, 
procure funds. It will also underscore the need to strengthen the 
IMF's market monitoring function and substantially increase its 
capital base in the future. 
 
Fund contribution to the IMF using foreign currency reserves is one 
of the showcase measures to deal with the financial crisis that 
Prime Minister Taro Aso will reveal at the financial summit. The aim 
is to contribute to stabilizing the global economy by urging the IMF 
 
TOKYO 00003139  002 OF 011 
 
 
to actively extend loans to emerging countries. 
 
The prime minister will reveal a plan to lend portions of Japan's 
foreign currency reserves, which exceed 980 billion dollars 
(approximately 98 trillion yen), to the IMF so that the organization 
can smoothly procure funds for emergency loans in the event it runs 
short of funs. Though the amount of disbursement has yet to be set, 
the likelihood is strong that the contribution will be around 10 
trillion, about 10 PERCENT  of Japan's foreign reserves. The prime 
minister plans to call on China and Middle Eastern oil-producing 
countries, flush with foreign reserves, to also contribute funds. 
 
Specific methods of lending foreign reserves to the IMF will be 
devised later. Since approximately 10 trillion yen in foreign 
reserves is comprised of bank deposits, the government will use this 
money for the time being. Since there is concern that if it sells 
long-term U.S. government bonds, it could have an adverse effect on 
the long-term interest rates of the U.S., the government will 
consider lending U.S. bonds to the IMF and having the IMF procure 
funds secured using those bonds. 
 
Gist of Japanese government's proposals to be made at financial 
summit 
 
¶1. International cooperation to overcome financial crisis 
? Various countries properly implement macroeconomic policies, 
including fiscal disbursement (Japan has compiled a package of 
additional economic pump-priming measures worth approximately 27 
trillion yen) 
 
¶2. Mid- to long-term international economic and financial system 
? Correction of international imbalance (Ask countries like the U.S. 
to constrain consumption and countries like China to expand domestic 
demand) 
? Strengthen the functions of the IMF (Propose strengthening market 
monitoring and early warning functions and expanding emerging 
countries' right to speak) 
? Step up assistance to smaller and medium-size emerging countries' 
efforts to deal with the financial crisis (Urge the IMF to 
substantially increase its capital base for active assistance in the 
future. Japan's fund disbursements using its foreign reserves) 
 
 
¶3. Financial supervision and regulations 
? International cooperation among financial authorities on financial 
regulations and oversight (Propose taking a second look at 
mark-to-market accounting and regulating credit-rating agencies) 
 
2) Financial G-20 summit to open tomorrow; Aso to propose 
supervising credit rating agencies 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The first emergency financial summit of the leaders of 20 countries 
and regions, including Japan, the United States, Europe and newly 
developing countries, will be held in Washington on Nov. 14-15 to 
discuss measures to deal with the global financial crisis. According 
to the Japanese government's basic policy for the financial summit 
revealed yesterday, Prime Minister Taro Aso is expected to propose 
such measures to overcome the financial crisis as strengthening the 
functions and funding ability of the International Monetary Fund 
 
TOKYO 00003139  003 OF 011 
 
 
(IMF), as well as introducing a system to supervise credit rating 
agencies. 
 
The G-20 summit will be attended by the leaders of Group of Seven 
(G-7) economies, including U.S. President George W. Bush, host of 
the summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as Chinese 
President Hu Jintao and other leaders of emerging countries. 
 
Through the planned dinner party on Nov. 14 and full session on the 
15th, the G-20 leaders are expected to discuss such measures as (1) 
policy coordination on a fiscal and financial area for supporting 
the global economy, (2) ways to supervise and control the financial 
market and financial institutions in order to prevent the financial 
crisis from expanding and recurring; and (3) reform of the 
IMF-centered international financial system. 
 
President Bush will announce a joint statement on the afternoon of 
Nov. 15 and the summit will end. 
 
According to the Japanese government's basic policy, Prime Minister 
Aso will assert that the financial summit should identify themes up 
for consideration in a second summit, after displaying a clear 
direction for cooperation among financial authorities of the 
participating countries in supervising financial affairs, as well as 
for how international financial institutions (including the IMF) 
should be. Aso intends to propose boosting capital strength, 
including an increase in reserves of the IMF. 
 
3) Prime Minister Aso has no plan to meet with U.S. President Bush 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
Prime Minister Taro Aso will leave tonight for the United States on 
a government airplane. He is expected to meet on the 14th with 
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Indonesian President 
Yudhoyono. The government failed to arrange a meeting between Prime 
Minister Aso and U.S. President George W. Bush. 
 
4) N. Korea refuses sampling 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
SEOUL-A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry yesterday 
released a statement regarding how to verify its nuclear programs, 
in which North Korea clarified its position to refuse sampling, 
according to Korean Central News Agency. As it stands, the next 
round of six-party talks over North Korea's denuclearization, which 
is to focus on the documentation of how to verify North Korea's 
nuclear programs, will likely be delayed further. 
 
In addition, the spokesman has also revealed that North Korea's 
Yongbyon nuclear facility has halved the speed of extracting spent 
fuel rods from its experimental graphite-moderated nuclear reactors, 
citing as a reason a delay in economic and energy aid that is to be 
provided to North Korea in return for disabling its nuclear 
facilities. 
 
The spokesman said there was an agreement in written form when U.S. 
Assistant Secretary of State Hill visited North Korea in October, 
maintaining that the subjects of verification are to be limited to 
 
TOKYO 00003139  004 OF 011 
 
 
the nuclear facility at Yongbyon and that the methods of 
verification are to be limited to visiting the site there, 
confirming documentation, and interviewing engineers. 
 
In the statement, Pyongyang took the position that any demands 
beyond the written agreement infringe on the sovereignty of North 
Korea, thereby constraining calls for strict verification. 
 
The spokesman warned that a further delay in North Korea's receiving 
of aid would result in delaying the process of disabling its nuclear 
facilities, adding that it would be difficult to forecast an outlook 
for the six-party talks. Pyongyang called for the aid to be 
implemented without fail. 
 
5) N. Korea implied new info on abductions 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Abridged) 
November 13, 2008 
 
North Korea promised to reinvestigate the cases of Japanese 
nationals abducted to North Korea when Japan and North Korea 
negotiated in the run-up to their working-level talks held in June 
this year. On that occasion, North Korea officials clarified that 
Pyongyang was ready to provide information about Japanese abductees 
other than the 17 acknowledged by the GOJ and to provide new 
information about the fate of those government-acknowledged 
abductees, sources revealed yesterday. 
 
This means that there are more Japanese nationals abducted to North 
Korea, or it otherwise means corrections to what North Korea has 
said so far about the Japanese abductees. This will lead to a 
complete changeover of North Korea's usual standpoint, in which 
Pyongyang has taken the position that the abductions issue has 
already been settled. It will also raise questions about the 
authenticity of Pyongyang-provided information about the fate of 
Japanese abductees, including Megumi Yokota, who Pyongyang has said 
is dead. 
 
6) N. Korean reinvestigation delayed for 3 months 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
It has now been three months since North Korea agreed in its 
working-level consultations with Japan to look again into the fate 
of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea. North Korea was to 
have released its findings by this fall. However, Pyongyang's moves 
have stopped since the Fukuda cabinet stepped down. North Korea will 
likely not even set up an investigative committee, with winter just 
around the corner. 
 
In the working-level consultations held this August, North Korea 
agreed to set up a committee to reinvestigate the fate of Japanese 
abductees and release findings by this fall as far as possible. "At 
that point," a government official recalls, "North Korea was really 
willing to do so." The stalemated abduction issue appeared to move 
again. However, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced his 
resignation. Pyongyang then said it would postpone its planned 
setting up of an investigative committee, taking the position that 
it would wait and see the new prime minister's policy. Since the Aso 
cabinet came into office, the Japanese government has been urging 
North Korea through diplomatic and other channels to start 
 
TOKYO 00003139  005 OF 011 
 
 
reinvestigations into the pending issue of Japanese abductees. 
However, there has been no response from North Korea, according to 
the sources. 
 
Japan recently extended its economic sanctions against North Korea. 
Then, North Korea blamed Japan, saying Prime Minister Aso broke the 
agreement between Japan and North Korea. There is no mood for 
starting reinvestigations. 
 
Furthermore, the United States has now delisted North Korea as a 
state sponsor of terrorism. This means the loss of leverage for 
Japan against North Korea. 
 
Ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Obama and his 
administration, Pyongyang is reportedly watching how the United 
States' policy toward North Korea will change. North Korea, now 
taking a wait-and-see attitude, can hardly be expected to move on 
the abductions issue. 
 
7) New antiterrorism legislation to be put to vote on Nov. 18; DPJ 
elusive about Aso-Ozawa debate 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Abridged slightly) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 
which has been deliberating on a bill amending the New Antiterrorism 
Special Measures Law to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force's 
refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, decided at its directors 
meeting yesterday to carry out a wrap-up interpellation session and 
take a vote on Nov. 18. The new antiterrorism legislation is now 
expected to be voted down in an Upper House plenary session as early 
as Nov. 19 and get enacted on Nov. 20 following a Lower House 
override vote based on Article 59 of the Constitution. 
 
The directors meeting also agreed to conduct a question-and-answer 
session attended by Prime Minister Taro Aso. 
 
The meeting also confirmed a policy course to make arrangements to 
hold before the end of the current Diet session intensive 
deliberations on civilian control in the presence of the prime 
minister and the four SDF chiefs of staff, as was requested by the 
Democratic Party of Japan in connection with the dismissal of Toshio 
Tamogami from the post of ASDF chief of staff. 
 
With an eye on the end of the current extraordinary Diet session 
(Nov. 30), the DPJ agreed yesterday with the LDP to enact a variety 
of bills in the current session, including taking a vote on the new 
antiterrorism legislation and a bill amending the Nationality Law in 
the Upper House. At the same time, the DPJ remains elusive about the 
ruling coalition's strong request to conduct a party-head debate 
between Prime Minister Aso and DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa. 
 
The DPJ began making moves yesterday to dispose of many bills. That 
is because the DPJ thinks that chances are high that the Aso cabinet 
will give up on submitting to the current Diet session a second 
supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 to realize a fixed-sum cash 
handout plan and related bills and that the Diet will close on Nov. 
30 as planned. 
 
Excluding weekdays and holidays, there are only 11 days left for 
regular Diet deliberations. An Aso-Ozawa party-head debate has not 
 
TOKYO 00003139  006 OF 011 
 
 
occurred since Aso took office in September. 
 
The reason is that Aso has not been able to grasp Ozawa's wishes. 
Ozawa has repeatedly indicated that he is not good at discussing 
matters in public. A DPJ source also ascribed the absence of an 
Aso-Ozawa debate to the latter's reluctance to attend such a 
session. 
 
DPJ Deputy Secretary General Hirofumi Hirano, who has become the 
DPJ's principal director of the Basic National Policy Committee to 
manage party discussions in place of Secretary General Yukio 
Hatoyama, met with Ozawa last evening. The reason is that the ruling 
bloc proposed earlier in the day a party-head debate conditioned on 
holding intensive deliberations at the Lower House Budget Committee 
on Nov. 17 attended by the prime minister. 
 
If Ozawa accepts the proposal, the first one-on-one debate with 
Prime Minister Aso would take place. But reportedly, Ozawa simply 
said, "It that so?" in response to Hirano's report on having become 
the principal director. 
 
A DPJ executive said: "A party-head debate would help Mr. Ozawa 
demonstrate to the public that he is a person of large caliber. It 
would also be a good opportunity to win support greater than that 
for Prime Minister Aso." A DPJ Diet affairs executive simply said to 
reporters that the matter was under consideration. 
 
8) Refueling bill to clear Diet as early as Nov. 20 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The Upper House Diet affairs committee chiefs of the ruling Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of 
Japan (DPJ) agreed yesterday to allow the upper chamber's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee to take a vote on Nov. 18 on a bill 
amending the New Antiterrorism Special Measures Law to extend 
Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. 
 
The legislation will be voted down at the committee by a majority of 
opposition members and it will also be voted down the next day in a 
plenary session of the opposition-controlled Upper House. However, 
the bill is expected to be approved as early as Nov. 20 in a plenary 
session of the Lower House by two-thirds of lawmakers from the 
ruling parties. 
 
Although the ruling coalition had called for holding a vote on Nov. 
13 at the committee, the DPJ demanded that intensive deliberations 
be held on civilian control of the Self-Defense Forces with the 
attendance of Prime Minister Taro Aso, following the Diet testimony 
of former Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Toshio Tamogami. As 
a result, the ruling coalition and the DPJ have agreed to hold 
deliberations on civilian control on Nov. 13. The two sides have 
also agreed to launch coordination on the holding of intensive 
deliberations on civilian control at the Upper House's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee, because the committee will discuss 
the Tamogami issue after it takes a vote on the refueling 
legislation. 
 
Last year it took about three months for the current refueling law 
to be enacted and 87 hours were spent for deliberations under the 
Fukuda administration due to the divided Diet. The refueling bill 
 
TOKYO 00003139  007 OF 011 
 
 
this time will likely clear the Diet in one month and a half, with 
less than 40 hours for deliberations. 
 
9-1) Calls for delaying submission of second supplementary budget 
bill to Diet gaining ground: Ruling camp becoming cautious about 
extending Diet session; Plan to frontloading regular session 
surfaces 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
Now that the outline of the flat-sum cash benefit plan totaling 
approximately 2 trillion yen was adopted, the government and the 
ruling parties will go into full coordination of views in the run-up 
to the submission of a fiscal 2009 second supplementary budget bill 
and related bills. With an increasing number of ruling party members 
becoming cautious about extending the current extraordinary Diet 
session, a plan to convene the regular Diet session early January by 
frontloading the timetable and deal with the bills at the outset of 
the session has surfaced. Prime Minister Taro Aso will reach a final 
decision possibly next week, after determining the political 
situation. 
 
Prime Minister to reach decision, after determining economic 
situation 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura at a press conference on 
November 12 stopped short of saying whether the government will 
submit the second supplementary budget bill during the current Diet 
session. He simply said, "The government is now carefully mulling 
the matter, while taking into the steering of the Diet in the next 
couple of months into consideration." 
 
A bill extending oil refueling operations in the Indian Ocean by the 
Maritime Self-Defense Force is now likely to be enacted, possibly on 
the 20th. A bill amending the Financial Functions Early 
Strengthening Law is also expected to be passed into law by the end 
of the current session on the 30th. Now that the two major bills are 
expected to be enacted, the prevailing view in the ruling parties is 
that the government should close the Diet session on the 30th as 
scheduled and solely focus on the work of the compilation of the 
fiscal 2009 budget and the annual tax code amendment in December 
They are concerned about the administration being corned by the 
opposition camp. 
 
A plan to convene the next regular Diet session as early as January 
5 has surfaced in the ruling camp. The idea is that if opposition 
parties, which holds a majority in the Upper House, do not agree to 
take a vote on a special exemption bill designed to use reserves in 
the special fiscal investment loans program to finance the second 
supplementary budget, the ruling parties can take a second vote on 
it in the Lower House before year's end, based on the 60-day rule 
stipulated under the Constitution (a legislation measure that if the 
House of Councillors fails to take final action within 60 days after 
receipt of a bill passed by the House of Representatives, it may be 
determined by the House of Representatives that it has rejected the 
said bill). 
 
It is viewed that the prime minister will not reveal his plan for 
the steering of the Diet till the last moment. Delaying the 
submission of the second supplementary budget bill means that the 
government will lose its card to dissolve the Lower House before 
 
TOKYO 00003139  008 OF 011 
 
 
year's end. This would make the propriety of its economic stimulus 
package a campaign issue. Given the fact that the government, when 
it released a package of additional economic stimulus measures, 
stressed its determination to speedily adopt it, there still remains 
a scenario of its dealing with the second supplementary budget, by 
extending the current Diet session. 
 
Asked about whether the government will submit the second 
supplementary budget bill to the current Diet session or not, the 
prime minister on the evening of the 12th made an unclear response, 
saying, "The matter is now under consideration. The possibility is 
not zero." 
 
9-2) Second extra budget likely to be dealt with in ordinary Diet 
session that will start in January 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The government and the ruling parties began coordination yesterday 
to forgo a plan to submit a second supplementary budget bill for 
fiscal 2008 that includes additional economic measures, including a 
fixed-sum cash-benefit program, to the current Diet session. They 
now intend to pass the bill in the ordinary Diet session to be 
convened in January. Upon ascertaining moves by the Democratic Party 
of Japan (DPJ) and other opposition parties, the government will 
make a final decision later this month. 
 
The DPJ has indicated its opposition to the second extra budget. If 
the bill is submitted to the current session, the government will 
unavoidably have to consider a lengthy extension of the session that 
is due to end Nov. 30. Given this situation, government and ruling 
party members are increasingly taking the view that it would be 
better to deal with the bill in the next ordinary session in order 
to avoid any effect on the budget-compilation work and the 
diplomatic timetable in December. 
 
A senior government official said last night: "A supplementary 
budget bill is usually dealt with in an ordinary Diet session." A 
Liberal Democratic Party source also remarked: "The Diet should be 
closed in December, and we should devote ourselves to dealing with 
domestic and foreign affairs." 
 
10) Cash handouts: Bill for resources creating commotion, with 
timing of submission to Diet unknown; Entangled in strategy for Diet 
dissolution 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Abridged) 
November 13, 2008 
 
In order to pay out the cash handouts to the public that the 
government and ruling parties agreed on yesterday, it is necessary 
to pass the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 and related 
bills. The government and ruling parties late last month agreed on 
disbursing the cash payments within the fiscal year, but the timing 
for submission of the essential pieces of legislation has yet to be 
determined. Each opposition party is clearly taking a stance against 
the cash-payment system, and Diet deliberation on the money package 
is expected to develop into a stormy situation, entangled in the 
Lower-House dissolution strategy on Prime Minister Aso. 
 
Extension of the current Diet session 
 
TOKYO 00003139  009 OF 011 
 
 
 
As a revenue source for the 2-trillion yen package of cash handouts, 
the government plans to use reserves for interest rate fluctuations 
found in the fiscal policy and investment special account. To tap 
such reserves, it is necessary to amend the special account law, but 
there have been objections for using hidden reserves, originally 
intended to be used for repaying the national debt, as cash 
handouts. For that reason, the government and ruling parties are 
considering presenting a bill to protect fiscal revenues as a new 
law in order to emphasize that the current handout measure is 
special treatment. 
 
The current session ends on Nov. 30. If the opposition camp is 
against holding deliberations, it will be necessary to have the 
legislation adopted by the Lower House, using the 60-day rule that 
regards the passage of such time without action a rejection of the 
legislation by the Upper House. If the government and ruling parties 
aim at passing the bills at all cost during the current Diet 
session, they must have the Lower House pass them by the end of this 
month and then extend the session significantly until the end of 
January. But the outlook for this action is pessimistic, with a 
senior member of the New Komeito saying, "Scheduling that would be 
difficult." 
 
However, since the Prime Minister has decided to put off a Lower 
House election, giving priority to the economy, "if we don't do the 
second supplementary budget, the argument for delaying the election 
makes no sense," said a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker. 
Speaking about presenting the second supplementary budget to the 
current session, the Prime Minister last evening told the press at 
his official residence: "We are now considering options. That is the 
only answer I can give you. (The possibility of presenting the 
bills) is not zero." 
 
11-1) Opposition parties set to block government's cash handout 
plan, calling it "blunder of the century" 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) 
November 13, 2008 
 
Opposition parties yesterday harshly criticized the flat-sum handout 
plan that was finally put together by the Aso Administration after 
tremendous difficulty. They have raised questions about the efficacy 
of the handout plan as part of an economic stimulus package. In the 
event the ruling bloc submits to the Diet a second supplementary 
budget to implement the plan and related bills, the opposition camp 
is set to put up do-or-die resistance. 
 
Before reporters, Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio 
Hatoyama cynically commented on the government: "It has flip-flopped 
several times. It's not functioning as a government." 
 
About the fact the government has decided to let each municipality 
decide on whether to set an income cap on eligibility for cash 
benefits, Hatoyama said in a critical tone: "The municipalities do 
not want to spend a lot of effort on the high-income earners who 
account for only 1 PERCENT  of the total, so they would probably not 
set income caps. The government and the ruling parties have forced 
their responsibility onto the municipalities." 
 
Policy Research Committee Chairman Masayuki Naoshima had this to say 
about the handout plan's efficacy to shore up the economy: "The 
 
TOKYO 00003139  010 OF 011 
 
 
DPJ's proposals of a child allowance system and the elimination of 
the provisional gasoline tax rate are far more effective." In the 
event a second supplementary budget and related bills are submitted 
to the Diet to implement the handout plan, the DPJ is set to block 
them in the opposition-controlled Upper House, with Hatoyama saying: 
"We cannot support anything with which the people are angry. We 
cannot let the related bills clear the Diet easily." 
 
Japanese Communist Party Chairman Kazuo Shii said: "The pork-barrel 
action that comes with a huge tax hike will not help revitalize the 
economy. We will demand the withdrawal of the plan." 
 
Social Democratic Party head Mizuho Fukushima described the step as 
a stopgap measure and the blunder of the century. People's New Party 
deputy representative Shizuka Kamei, too, criticized it as the 
abandonment of the government's responsibility. 
 
11-2) Opposition camp set to oppose cash benefit program, making 
distribution within this fiscal year difficult 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The government and the ruling parties yesterday finalize a draft 
plan to distribute a fixed-amount cash benefit per person. They 
intend to provide the benefits within this fiscal year, but Diet 
deliberations are expected to run into difficulties. 
 
To implement the cash benefit program, the government needs to enact 
a second extra budget bill for fiscal 2008 and bills related to 
fiscal resources for the program in the current Diet session, but 
the opposition has decided to vote down these bills. Democratic 
Party of Japan Secretary General Hatoyama told reporters in the Diet 
Building yesterday: "It is unknown where the necessary revenues (to 
fund the benefits) will come from. This issue naturally must be 
discussed. We cannot support a plan about which the people are 
angry, claming that the government has insulted them." 
 
If the opposition parties, which have a majority in the House of 
Councillors, try to delay a vote on the supplementary budget bill, 
the bill will automatically receive Diet approval 30 days after the 
bill is sent from the House of Representatives to the Upper House. 
On the related bills, however, it will become necessary for the 
government to take an override vote in the Lower House. The 
government and the ruling camp yesterday started coordination 
yesterday to enact the extra budget bill and the related bills in 
the regular Diet session in January. But even if the bills clear the 
Lower House at the outset of the ordinary session, it may become 
impossible to pass the related bills before mid-March. A government 
source said: "We would like to push the bills through the Diet at an 
early date and deliver an approximate price of money to each 
municipal government in mid-February." As it stands, it is now 
uncertain whether the government will be able to distribute the 
benefits within this fiscal year. 
 
If the bills are enacted by the end of this fiscal year, the 
government will hand over the benefits to municipal governments by 
the end of March, but the local government will be required to draw 
up guidelines and vote on supplementary budget bills related to 
benefits at their assemblies. They also need to do preparatory work, 
including education of staff members responsible for the benefit 
plan and the formation of measures to prevent bank-transfer frauds. 
 
TOKYO 00003139  011 OF 011 
 
 
In this respect, many observers think it would be difficult to 
distribute the benefits within this fiscal year. 
 
12) Japan to cut target for catch in research whaling for first 
time 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Full) 
November 13, 2008 
 
The government will cut its target for its catch in its research 
whaling program for the first time, according to informed sources 
yesterday. The government will reduce the targeted number of whales 
to be caught in the Southern Ocean this season by about 20 PERCENT 
to about 750. This figure is about 10 PERCENT  less than the total 
number of whales caught throughout the year. The capture number has 
been on the decrease recently, but Japan has decided to cut its 
target for the first time since the research program was introduced 
in 1987. The government's decision reflects radical activities by 
anti-whaling groups and declining demand for whale meat. 
 
Based on the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, 
Japanese research vessels have carried out whaling operations in the 
Southern Ocean and the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The current annual 
targeted number of whales is about 1,300. Whaling operations have 
been carried out mainly in the Southern Ocean from the fall through 
the spring, with the target of seizing 850 minke whales and 50 fin 
whales. The government will reduce the target for minke whales to 
¶700. 
 
Japan's research whaling, which has expanded in scale every year, 
will face a turning point. Intensifying activities by anti-whaling 
groups lie behind the policy switch. An anti-whaling organization of 
the U.S. obstructed the whaling operations of Japanese whalers by 
throwing bottles of liquid. Due to the effects of such protests, the 
number of whales caught in the Southern Ocean in the last season 
dropped to 551, 60 PERCENT  less than the target. Australia and 
European countries have criticized the Japanese government for its 
stance on whaling. 
 
Declining demand for whale meat also prompted the government to make 
the decision. The sales proceeds (amounting to 5 to 7 billion yen 
annually) have funded the necessary costs for research whaling, but 
the government took declining demand into consideration. 
 
SCHIEFFER