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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 000198 
 
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 1/28/09 
 
Index: 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei) 
 
Defense and security affairs: 
4) Government today will order MSDF to prepare for dispatch to 
waters off Somalia for anti-piracy mission  (Nikkei) 
5) U.S., Japan agree to funding arrangement for move of U.S. Marines 
from Okinawa to Guam  (Asahi) 
6) Okinawa continues to press central government in working team 
meeting to shift Futenma relocation site toward the ocean off Camp 
Schwab  (Asahi) 
 
7) Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, now visiting Saudi Arabia, 
calls for cooperation on coping with global climate change  (Asahi) 
 
 
8) Despite no-visa agreement, Russia is asking for Japanese visitors 
to the northern territories to provide disembarkation cards  (Tokyo 
Shimbun) 
 
9) Tourisms slumps in Japan, down 24 PERCENT  last month  (Mainichi) 
 
 
10) Japanese companies may get a boost from President Obama's 
stricter auto-emission standards  (Mainichi) 
 
Diet affairs: 
11) Second supplementary budget finally passes the Diet  (Mainichi) 
 
12) Opposition parties criticize the second supplementary budget's 
passage, saying that the public is against the package  (Nikkei) 
13) Government reveals 32 cases of "watari" - retired bureaucrats 
flitting from one private-sector position to another picking up pay 
and pensions at each stop  (Yomiuri) 
14) Former LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa denies that he is 
pushing for political realignment  (Asahi) 
15) Machimura faction of the LDP may split apart if Nakagawa leaves 
(Mainichi) 
 
16) Poll finds 63 PERCENT  of the public against sitting on a jury 
that will have to hand out a capital-punishment sentence  (Mainichi) 
 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Government panel to make on-site visits to resolve public 
environmental hazard problems: Shortening period of time taken for 
settlement and increased use of system aimed at 
 
Mainichi: 
Second supplementary budget enacted, based on constitutional rule 
giving priority Lower House's decision 
 
Yomiuri: 
Diet passes second extra budget featuring 2 trillion yen cash 
handout plan 
 
TOKYO 00000198  002 OF 011 
 
 
 
Nikkei: 
Government to back bank stakes in borrowers under aid plan: New 
system valid until end of 2010: 1.5 trillion yen loss compensation 
framework 
 
Sankei: 
Passage of second extra budget: Full implementation of cash handout 
plan before end of fiscal year difficult; Enactment of fiscal 2009 
budget also becoming unclear 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
About 400,000 nonpermanent workers likely to lose jobs within 
current fiscal year, according to estimate by industrial 
organization -- 4.7 times higher than government estimate 
 
Akahata: 
Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member of JCP offer consultation service 
in streets to temp workers who lost jobs and evicted from company 
housing, by helping them apply social security benefit and find 
accommodation 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Passage of second supplementary budget after many twists and 
turns: What will likely happen in future concerned about 
(2) Guantanamo: Underbelly of war on terror to disappear 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Anti-piracy measures: Maritime policing activities are a measure 
just for once 
(2) Measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions: Before falling behind 
new competition 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Passage of second extra budget: Do not use joint committee of 
both Houses to delay Diet deliberations 
(2) Reinforcement of Chinese Navy: What is the aim of building 
aircraft carrier? 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Assistance to companies with public money should be extended in 
a fair and transparent manner 
(2) Environmental measures press U.S. industry to change 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Battle over cash handout plan: Have sense of alarm about 
stagnant national administration 
(2) Restriction on exhaust fumes to question new administration 
about its seriousness 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Obama diplomacy: Revival of confidence first 
(2) Accommodation ladder accident: Buck-passing of slighting safety 
measures 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Bomb disposal: State should fulfill full responsibility 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
 
TOKYO 00000198  003 OF 011 
 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, January 27 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
07:33 
Took a walk around his official residence. 
 
10:02 
Attended a cabinet meeting at the Kantei. 
 
13:23 
Arrived at his personal office in Nagata-cho. 
 
13:52 
Arrived at his official residence. 
 
15:59 
Met Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs Shinohara and 
Deputy Foreign Minister Otabe. 
 
16:41 
Met Ambassador to China Miyamoto. 
 
17:01 
Met incoming and outgoing supreme court justice Kanetsuki and 
Izumi. 
 
17:33 
Attended a meeting of lawmakers in the Diet Building. 
 
17:42 
Attended a Lower House plenary session. 
 
17:53 
Issued an official appointment to Met Toshiba Advisor Morimoto as a 
member of the APEC Business Advisory Commission, with METI Trade 
Policy Bureau Director General Okada and Foreign Ministry Economic 
Affairs Bureau Director General Suzuki. 
 
18:11 
Met LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Hori, New Komeito Policy 
Research Council Chairman Yamaguchi, and co-chairs of the ruling 
camp's project team on anti-piracy measures Nakatani and Sato, with 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura. 
 
18:59 
Dined at a Japanese restaurant in Tsukiji with his family members. 
 
21:14 
Returned to his official residence. 
 
4) Order to prepare for MSDF anti-piracy mission to be issued today 
under existing law; Prime minister plans to present new law to Diet 
in March 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
The government will convene a Security Council of Japan meeting 
today to confirm a policy course or expediting preparations for 
dispatching the Maritime Self-Defense Force on an anti-piracy 
 
TOKYO 00000198  004 OF 011 
 
 
mission in waters off Somalia under existing legislation. Following 
this, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada is expected to issue an order 
within the day to the Maritime Self-Defense Force to prepare for the 
dispatch. 
 
Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairman Kosuke 
Hori, his New Komeito counterpart Natsuo Yamaguchi and others last 
night called on Prime Minister Taro Aso at his office and requested 
an early maritime policing action order to dispatch the MSDF 
dispatch under the SDF Law. 
 
In response, the prime minister emphatically said: "It is necessary 
to deal with pirates at sea under existing law. Sooner or later, I 
would like to ask the ruling parties to make preparations for (new) 
legislation." The prime minister later indicated to the press corps 
that a new law would be presented to the Diet "around March." 
 
Ahead of this, policy chiefs of the LDP and New Komeito met and 
endorsed the ruling bloc project team's interim report specifying: 
(1) an early dispatch of the MSDF under existing legislation, and 
(2) a plan to submit a new law to the Diet in early March. 
 
Yamaguchi asked that joint exercises between the MSDF and the Japan 
Coast Guard that will be conducted before the dispatch should be 
opened to the public. 
 
Following the defense minister's order to prepare for the dispatch, 
the government will formulate at an early date an action plan 
specifying a lineup of destroyers and specific duties. The Defense 
Ministry, in collaboration with police authorities and the JCG, will 
draw up a set of action standards listing specific cases allowing 
using weapons in legitimate self-defense and emergency evacuation. 
 
5) Bilateral pact eyed for funding Guam relocation 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
Japan will enter into a bilateral arrangement with the United States 
regarding the planned relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to 
Guam in the process of realigning U.S. forces in Japan, the Foreign 
Ministry said yesterday. The arrangement will specify that the 
Japanese government will set the ceiling of its funding for this 
Guam relocation at 2.8 billion dollars (approx. 250 billion yen). In 
addition, the pact will prohibit the U.S. government from using the 
money for any other purposes. 
 
The government has for the first time earmarked spending related to 
the Guam relocation in its budget for fiscal 2009, and the pact is 
intended to prepare a legal framework. 
 
The Japanese and U.S. governments are expected to sign the bilateral 
pact in early February. The government will ask the Diet during its 
current session for its approval of the pact. 
 
In order to prepare for Diet deliberations, Foreign Minister 
Nakasone will visit Okinawa Prefecture for two days from Jan. 31. 
During his visit to the island prefecture, Nakasone will visit 
Futenma airfield and Camp Schwab, where an alternative facility is 
planned to be built. He will also exchange views the Okinawa Gov. 
Hirokazu Nakaima and other local officials. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000198  005 OF 011 
 
 
In May 2006, the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed on a roadmap 
for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. Based on the roadmap, 
the United States will relocate 8,000 Marines and 9,000 family 
members to Guam. Japan is to provide financial backing for that 
purpose. 
 
"Japan will fund the Guam relocation for multiple years," a senior 
Foreign Ministry official said. "We will enter into this agreement 
since we need binding over the U.S. side as well," the official 
added. 
 
6) Okinawa calls for offshore relocation for Futenma alternative 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
The government yesterday held a meeting of its working team in Tokyo 
with officials from Okinawa's prefectural and municipal government 
officials to discuss the pending issue of relocating the U.S. Marine 
Corps' Futenma Air Station (to a coastal area of Camp Schwab in 
Okinawa Prefecture's northern coastal city of Nago). In the meeting, 
Okinawa Prefecture and Nago City asked the government to fully 
consider the local request to move the alternative facility to an 
offshore area as much as possible. The government reported on the 
progress of an environmental impact assessment currently conducted 
around the relocation site. "We would like to promote the plan in an 
appropriate manner while considering the local living and natural 
environment," a government official said, seeking local 
understanding. 
 
In addition, an official from Ginoza Village, which is situated on 
an extension of the alternative facility's tarmac, said, "We want 
the government to do this based on the agreement to avoid flying 
over the village." A government official explained, "There is no 
change in the agreement to avoid flying over the village, but they 
could fly over there in some training." 
 
7) Abe calls for cooperation on measures against global warming 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
Tsuyoshi Yamashita, Riyadh 
 
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is visiting the Middle East as 
a prime ministerial special envoy, addressed the Global 
Competitiveness Forum on January 27. In his speech, Abe called for 
cooperation on measures against global warming, stating: "Japan has 
been proceeding with a project to develop innovative technologies 
that can achieve economic growth and a reduction in greenhouse gas 
emissions at the same time. Buds of cooperation with Middle Eastern 
countries, including Saudi Arabia, have begun to sprout." 
 
Abe also indicated that the global economic crisis has resulted from 
an excessive concentration of speculative funds in U.S. and European 
markets, noting: "Because there not enough investment opportunities 
in emerging nations and developing countries, blood concentrated in 
a part of the body and the part burst." He added: "Countries in the 
world should advance measures for the promotion of innovation." 
 
8) Japanese officials on humanitarian mission requested to submit 
disembarkation cards before arriving on Kunashiri 
 
TOKYO 00000198  006 OF 011 
 
 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
(Kenji Nakajima, Moscow) 
 
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials and others on a humanitarian 
mission were not allowed to enter the disputed Kunashiri Island 
yesterday, according to informed sources. Russian authorities 
requested that the members of the mission submit disembarkation 
(E/D) cards before landing on the island. Such submission would mean 
that the Japanese side accepts the Russian claim that the four 
northern islands belong to Russia, so the officials rejected the 
request. The Russian side intends also to require Japanese visitors 
to the four islands under the visa-free exchange visit program to 
submit E/D cards. If the Russian side does not withdraw the request, 
the mutual visit program will inevitably be affected. 
 
According to the Foreign Ministry, the Japanese officials and five 
civilians belonging to a relief organization left Nemuro, Hokkaido, 
on a chartered vessel carrying medical and other aid materials early 
yesterday and arrived off the Kunashiri Island on the morning of the 
same day. 
 
Those in charge of Japan's humanitarian aid to the four northern 
islands have been allowed to enter the islands only with 
identification cards, based on an agreement that both sides' legal 
positions "will not be undermined," in line with the visa-free 
exchange program among Japanese and Russian residents on the four 
islands. 
 
But the Russian side has indicated that it would seek Japanese 
visitors to the four islands under the mutual visit program to 
submit E/D cards starting 2009. Russia applied this policy to the 
transport of humanitarian aide. For coordination, the chartered ship 
left the port behind the initial schedule. 
 
Unless the Russian side withdraws the request, the visa-free visit 
program, which is scheduled to resume this spring, may be suspended. 
 
 
9) Number of foreign travelers to Japan decreased in latter half of 
last year, affected by recession, yen appreciation 
 
MAINICHI (Page 8) (Excerpts) 
January 28, 2009 
 
The number (estimate) of foreign travelers to Japan in 2008 
increased 0.1 PERCENT  over the previous year to 8.352 million, 
recording the fifth consecutive yearly rise, according to a report 
announced yesterday by the Japan National Tourist Organization 
(JNTO). But the number sharply decreased in the latter half of the 
year due to economic recession. It now seems difficult to attain the 
government goal of raising foreign travelers to 10 million in 2010. 
 
 
In December, the number dropped by 24.1 PERCENT , marking the second 
largest monthly dip, following the 34.2 PERCENT  marked in May 2003 
because of the effect of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 
(SARS). The decrease last year is attributed to the appreciation of 
the yen, in addition to economic recession. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000198  007 OF 011 
 
 
Travelers from South Korea totaled 2.383 million, marking the 
largest number but 8.4 PERCENT  below the previous year due to a 
weak won. Those from the U.S., beset with a financial crisis, and 
from Britain decreased by 5.8 PERCENT  and 7.0 PERCENT , 
respectively. 
 
10) U.S. to strengthen emission restrictions, welcomed by Japanese 
companies as "tailwind" 
 
MAINICHI (Page 8) (Excerpts) 
January 28, 2009 
 
U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the U.S. will 
strengthen restrictions on exhaust emissions from vehicles. Many in 
the Japanese automobile industry have welcomed this policy, with one 
executive of a leading automaker said: "Tighter restrictions would 
provide a tailwind for us." Japanese companies have leading-edge 
technologies to produce equipment for eco-friendly vehicles. A 
company executive said: "The U.S. new policy is expected to help 
boost our business." 
 
President Obama's new policy will raise the level of emission 
controls in the U.S. to that of Japan and European countries. 
Specific measures have yet to be worked out, but the U.S. is 
expected to restrict sales of certain models and to urge makers to 
change their leading products from large-size models to compact 
cars. 
 
Japanese manufacturers have advanced technologies to produce 
fuel-efficient compact cars, as well as hybrid cars. In addition, 
many of the auto models produced in the U.S. have been designed to 
fit the regulations of Japan and Europe on the premise that they 
will be put on the global market. Given this, a leading company 
executive said: "I think there will be no need to review our sales 
and production strategies on a large scale." Honda Motor Co. 
developed a model that satisfies the U.S. Muskie Act, which was said 
to be the tightest in the world in 1973, boosting its profile in the 
U.S. A mid-ranking executive said: "We may be given a good 
opportunity to increase our sales." 
 
11) Second supplementary budget enacted, based on constitutional 
rule giving priority Lower House's decision 
 
MAINICHI (Top Play) (Almost Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
The fiscal 2008 second supplementary budget that incorporates the 
flat-sum cash handout plan totaling 2 trillion yen was enacted on 
the evening of January 27. Following the confirmation made by the 
joint committee of both Houses that decisions by the ruling and 
opposition camps differ, Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono declared at 
a plenary session of the Lower House that the decision of the House 
of Representatives should be the decision of the Diet, based on 
Article 60 of the Constitution that gives priority to the decision 
reached by the Lower House. Following the end of the joint committee 
of both Houses, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) agreed to have four government 
speeches, including Prime Minister Taro Aso's policy speech, on the 
28th. Now that the second extra budget has secured Diet approval, 
the focus of a battle between the ruling and opposition parties will 
shift to the fiscal 2009 budget. Debate on a hike in the consumption 
tax and the employment issue is expected to occur. 
 
TOKYO 00000198  008 OF 011 
 
 
 
The Diet on the 27th got into high gear for normalization, based on 
arbitration by Lower House Speaker Kono and Upper House President 
Eda. The joint council of both Houses held two sessions in the 
afternoon. It took only about two hours for both meetings to end 
because the DPJ did not hold out. 
 
The joint council reported the outcome of the meeting to Chairman 
Kono. Kono then called to his office LDP Diet Policy Committee 
Chairman Tadamori Oshima and several others and asked them to 
postpone four government speeches. The postponement of those 
speeches was formally decided at a meeting between Oshima and his 
DPJ counterpart Kenji Yamaoka. A compromise was apparently made with 
the ruling parties postponing four government speeches in return for 
the DPJ accepting the termination of the joint committee of both 
Houses and passage of the second extra budget. 
 
Oshima and Yamaoka also signed a confirmation paper noting: (1) 
delivering the four speeches on the 28th; and (2) holding 
interpellations in both Houses on the 29th, 30th and February 2. 
They also agreed to hold a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on 
February 3. 
 
The DPJ will have Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and former 
Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, with whom the party forms a joint 
parliamentary group, stand at the podium at the Lower House 
interpellations on the 29th. It wants to toughen its confrontational 
stance toward the Aso administration by letting Tanaka display her 
"destructive power," according to a senior official of the party's 
Diet Policy Committee. The DPJ will pursue the ruling parties at the 
budget committee debate on: (1) the consumption tax; (2) amakudari 
practice; (3) reallocation of road construction special revenues; 
and the employment issue. It intends to suspend a vote in the Upper 
House on bills designed to secure fiscal resources to finance the 
flat-sum cash benefit plan as a card to shake up the ruling 
parties. 
 
12) Second extra budget enacted, with opposition camp criticizing, 
"Most of the public is against it" 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
When asked by reporters about the Diet passage of the fiscal 2008 
second supplementary budget bill, Prime Minister Taro Aso stressed: 
"It was great that the bill containing employment measures and 
measures to directly support the livelihoods of the people was 
enacted." He added: "Unless the bills related to the budget are 
passed, we will not be able to implement a free gynecological exam 
plan and cash handout program, even if we wanted to." 
 
All opposition parties criticized in unison the passage of the bill. 
Yukio Hatoyama, secretary of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), 
told reporters: "It is extremely regrettable that the bill to which 
a majority of the public opposes was enacted." He, referring to four 
government speeches to be delivered today, said: "It will be Prime 
Minister Aso's first and last policy speech." 
 
Japanese Communist Party Diet Affairs Committee Keiji Kokuta 
criticized the cash handout program, saying: "It is the ultimate 
pork-barrel spending for the election." Social Democratic Party 
Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno released a statement that went: 
 
TOKYO 00000198  009 OF 011 
 
 
"The public's view calling for dropping the cash handout program 
from the budget was rejected by the majority of the ruling coalition 
members in the Lower House." 
 
13) Government: 32 watari cases in past three years 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
The government yesterday adopted in a cabinet meeting a written 
response stipulating that there had been a total 32 cases over the 
past three years from 2006 through 2008 of the watari practice in 
which ministries or agencies can arrange cushy jobs multiple times 
at government-related corporations for retiring senior bureaucrats. 
 
 
During the three years, there were 19 watari cases in 2007, eight in 
2008 and five in 2006. A total of 11 ministries and agencies 
arranged the watari practice for retired bureaucrats. The 11 
ministries include: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 
Communications, which arranged six cases; the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Land, 
Infrastructure and Transport, each of which carried out five cases; 
the National Personnel Authority, four watari cases, and other 
ministries. The written response states that as the center for 
personnel exchanges between the public and private sectors was 
established late last year, the center will strictly prohibit in 
principle the watari practice from now on. The government has 
adopted the written response to memorandum on questions presented by 
House of Representatives member Mitsunori Okamoto of the Democratic 
Party of Japan (DPJ). 
 
14) Nakagawa dismissive about political realignment 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
Hidenao Nakagawa, a former secretary general of the Liberal 
Democratic Party, in the taping of an Asahi Newstar program 
expressed a view dismissive of political realignment occurring 
before the next general election. He said: "(Political realignment) 
might occur in the near future, but the Democratic Party of Japan is 
now united (to aim at) a change of government, so I don't think the 
party will make a move." 
 
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in an Asahi Shimbun interview had 
urged Nakagawa to leave the faction due to his words and actions 
regarding the political situation in connection with a consumption 
tax hike plan. Asked about this fact, Nakagawa expressed his 
displeasure, saying: "He did not say such a thing directly to me. I 
am talking about policy, not the political situation. Such words as 
"rebellion" and "internal strife" come from the old LDP nature." 
 
15) Many Machimura faction members calling for dropping Nakagawa 
from the faction's three-leader system 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
January 28, 2009 
 
A gulf exposed with the consumption tax hike issue appears to be 
widening in the largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP). In a meeting last night of former Chief Cabinet 
 
TOKYO 00000198  010 OF 011 
 
 
Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, who heads the faction, and first-term 
lawmakers, many said that the system of the faction being led by 
three leaders, including Machimura and Hidenao Nakagawa, was 
difficult to understand. The view that Nakagawa should be excluded 
from the leadership and Machimura alone should head the faction was 
presented in succession in the meeting. 
 
Meanwhile, Nakagawa, who has strengthen criticism of the Aso 
administration, in the taping of an Asahi Newstar program yesterday, 
expressed his annoyance with former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's 
criticism of his objection to the government's proposal of hiking 
the consumption tax by calling him a rebel. He said: "I think the 
word 'rebel' itself shows the nature of the old LDP." 
 
Nakagawa, who served as chief cabinet secretary of the Mori cabinet, 
has close ties with Mori, but Mori recently has been highly 
dissatisfied with Nakagawa for his critical view of the Aso 
administration. 
 
16) Poll: 63 PERCENT  opposed to involvement in death sentence 
 
MAINICHI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
January 28, 2009 
 
In a recent telephone-based nationwide poll conducted Jan. 24-25 by 
the Mainichi Shimbun, respondents were asked about the lay judge 
system which will start in May. When asked if citizens should take 
part in the court's death sentence, 63 PERCENT  answered "no," with 
only 28 PERCENT  saying "yes." Respondents were also asked whether 
they would participate if they are chosen to become lay judges. To 
this question, "yes" accounted for 49 PERCENT , fewer than a 
majority. The poll shows a strong feeling of resistance to the lay 
judge system that may hand down capital punishment. 
 
The lay judge system is to try those charged with serious crimes, 
such as murder, robbery resulting in death or injury, and arson. Lay 
judges, chosen from among the people, will not only take part in a 
guilty-or-not-guilty judgment but will also determine appropriate 
punishment for the accused. In some cases, the death penalty is 
likely. 
 
Among male respondents, 35 PERCENT  answered "yes" when asked if 
they thought citizens should take part in a death sentence, with 60 
PERCENT  giving negative answers. Among female respondents, "yes" 
accounted for 21 PERCENT , with "no" reaching 66 PERCENT . As seen 
from the figures, the feeling of resistance was stronger among 
women. In the breakdown of generations, the highest figure of 
negative answers was 69 PERCENT  among those in their 50's, and the 
lowest figure of negative answers was 55 PERCENT  among those in 
their 20s. 
 
In the meantime, 14 PERCENT  answered that they were willing to 
participate in the lay judge system, with 35 PERCENT  saying they 
would participate because it is mandatory to do so. In a previous 
face-to-face survey taken in September 2006, the proportion of those 
"willing" to participate was 17 PERCENT , with the proportion of 
those citing the "mandatory" reason at 34 PERCENT . The proportion 
of those who would not like to participate if possible was 46 
PERCENT , the same as in the last survey. The results of the 
previous survey and the one taken this time cannot be simply 
compared due to different polling methodologies. However, there was 
no change in this tendency even though the lay judge system is about 
 
TOKYO 00000198  011 OF 011 
 
 
to start. 
 
ZUMWALT