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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TOKYO 000003 
 
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 01/02/09 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Government to unroll "New Deal Plan," focusing on job creation, 
medical services and nursing care (Yomiuri) 
 
(2) Prime Minister Aso resolves in New Year's statement to put 
effort into measures to stimulate the economy (Yomiuri) 
 
(3) Prime Minister Aso asks Israeli premier to halt Gaza strikes 
(Nikkei) 
 
(4) Prime Minister Aso to probe into possibility of Diet dissolution 
after budget is passed; 871 plan to register as candidates in Lower 
House election (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(5) Opinion poll on where our lives are headed finds 52 PERCENT 
pessimistic about long-term future, 80 PERCENT  strengthening 
defense against future by being frugal (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
(6) Government speeding up investment-agreement negotiations, with 
consideration being given to over a dozen countries, particularly in 
the Middle East and Africa; Aim is to secure natural resources and 
food (Nikkei) 
 
(7) Interview with LPD Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda: Decision 
on Diet dissolution will come in the spring or later (Nikkei) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Government to unroll "New Deal Plan," focusing on job creation, 
medical services and nursing care 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
January 1, 2009 
 
The full contents of a plan the government is drafting in order to 
deal with the rapidly worsening employment situation was revealed on 
Dec. 31. It is tentatively called the "Employment New Deal Plan." 
The plan will undertake to create jobs in specific occupational 
areas, such as by assisting individuals to obtain credentials to 
work in the medical services or nursing care fields, in which there 
are now shortages of employees. To tackle the problem of rapidly 
growing unemployment among non-permanent employees, the government 
is considering revising the legal system in order to protect their 
right to work, centering on such programs as cash payments to cover 
job training-related expenses and expansion of assistance to cover 
living expenses during the training period, and the terms of 
employment. 
 
The plan would increase temporary jobs in administrative offices of 
the central and local governments, as well as reopen and expand the 
so-called "green jobs" that would nurture a corps of workers to 
shoulder responsibility in the forestry industry. 
 
In order to prevent companies from going bankrupt, the main cause of 
rapidly growing unemployment, there would be assistance to companies 
to revive their businesses, and subsidies would be included in the 
measures to cover occupational training expenses through 
unemployment insurance available to workers who have lost their 
jobs. 
 
In addition, in order to balance the load of working and raising 
 
TOKYO 00000003  002 OF 007 
 
 
children, income subsidies to persons taking leave to raise children 
-- now limited to a maximum one and half year and 30 PERCENT  of 
one's salary - would be raised in stages, the aim being to enhance 
the system of taking leave in order to rear children. 
 
Combined with the simultaneous establishment of an industrial 
revival organization, the government also is considering restarting 
the program of providing concentrated assistance to revive jobs lost 
at companies and to unemployed workers. The program ended in 
September 2008.  The government in Dec. 2008 came out with a package 
of measures to prop up jobs of 1.4 million workers. However, the new 
measures being planned have the characteristic of strategically 
creating jobs. 
 
The government intends to compile by this spring in the Council on 
Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP, chaired by Prime Minister Aso) a 
package of specific measures of a "future development plan" that 
would focus investment in seven growth areas. This package will 
become the main pillar for the new jobs-creation plan. Fiscal 
resources would come from the economic emergency-response reserves 
included in the fiscal 2009 national budget bill. The government is 
also considering obtaining a portion from the allocations in the 
fiscal 2009 supplementary budget. 
 
(2) Prime Minister Aso resolves in New Year's statement to put 
effort into measures to stimulate the economy 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
January 1, 2009 
 
Prime Minister Taro Aso has issued a New Year's message dated Jan. 
¶1. In it, he stressed his government's intention of putting every 
effort into devising measures to revive the economy that has been 
hit by the global financial and economic crisis. The prime minister 
stated: "The government will expend all efforts to remove the 
nation's anxieties about the economy and peoples' livelihoods. Japan 
will become the first country in the world to emerge from this 
recession." He expressed his personal resolve by stating, "I will 
never run away (from this task). Together with the people of this 
nation, we will move ahead steadily." He sought to rouse the nation 
by further stating: "We cannot be passive. In order to shape a 
hopeful future, we must make it happen." 
 
The statement continued: "The Japanese people until now have upheld 
this country Japan by their own choices and efforts. They have 
developed this country, while changing it. We must continue to have 
a country that is strong and bright." He also expressed his hopes 
toward the future by using his pet phrase, "Japan's deep strength." 
 
 
The prime minister's message, in contrast to those of other premiers 
in recent years, did not refer to specific policies, such as in 
foreign affairs or education. The characteristic of his statement 
was his placing weight on moral arguments. 
 
(3) Prime Minister Aso asks Israeli premier to halt Gaza strikes 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 1, 2009 
 
Prime Minister Taro Aso on the afternoon of Dec. 31 held an 
approximately 30 minute telephone conversation with Israeli Prime 
 
TOKYO 00000003  003 OF 007 
 
 
Minister Ehud Olmert. In it, Prime Minister Aso expressed regret 
about the situation of civilians also being killed or wounded by 
Israeli military air strikes in the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian 
autonomous territories. He also asked Israel to swiftly halt the 
attacks. 
 
Commenting on Japan's humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, 
Prime Minister Aso informed Prime Minister Olmert: "We are starting 
talks with the Palestinian Authority and relevant international 
organizations. He requested that Israel carry out assistance, such 
as bringing in relief goods, and he urged the continuation of peace 
negotiations. 
 
Prime Minister Olmert indicated his intention to cooperate by 
providing humanitarian assistance, adding, "In order to restore 
peace, we would like to cooperate with the international community, 
including Japan." 
 
(4) Prime Minister Aso to probe into possibility of Diet dissolution 
after budget is passed; 871 plan to register as candidates in Lower 
House election 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Full) 
January 1, 2009 
 
With the terms of the House of Representatives legislators set to 
expire in September, Prime Minister Taro Aso (president of the 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)) intends to seek the right timing for 
dissolving the lower chamber in the spring or later, following the 
passages of the second fiscal 2008 supplementary budget and the 
fiscal 2009 national budget, which is the largest one on record. The 
budgets will be passed within the current fiscal year that ends 
March 31. 
 
In the regular Diet session that convenes Jan. 5, the second fiscal 
2008 supplementary budget and the fiscal 2009 regular budget will be 
deliberated on in turn. The prime minister has a strong desire to 
see them passed expeditiously. (TN: Another news article has the two 
budgets being deliberated in tandem.) 
 
In response, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has 
adopted a policy course of taking a strong confrontational stance 
against the ruling camp in order to press for an early dissolution 
of the Diet. At the beginning of the regular Diet session, the DPJ 
will submit a bill to remove from the second supplementary budget 
allocations for a cash payment scheme to workers. The cash payment 
idea has been sharply criticized by the public. The DPJ will urge 
the ruling camp to adopt its bill. 
 
Centering also on budget deliberations, the DPJ has taken a stance 
of trying to shake the administration, while eyeing carefully the 
mood of the public toward its Diet tactics. One possible tactic is 
to drag out adoption of the budgets in the Upper House, which the 
opposition controls. 
 
The prime minister has lost the ability to unify his party, mainly 
due to his cabinet's support rates having fallen sharply in the 
polls, so it is unclear whether he will be able to pass the two 
budgets as planned. 
 
A number of LDP lawmakers, such as former Administrative Reform 
Minister Yoshimi Watanabe, have stepped up their criticism of the 
 
TOKYO 00000003  004 OF 007 
 
 
prime minister, and depending on the situation, the administration 
could find itself in a deadlocked situation. 
 
There is also the possibility of an agreement on Diet dissolution 
being reached by talks with the DPJ in return for the opposition's 
letting the budgets be passed smoothly. 
 
On the other hand, according to this newspaper's compilation as of 
Dec. 31, a total of 871 persons are expected to declare their 
candidacies to run in the next Lower House election, including small 
district seats and proportional representation seats. Of the 300 
small district seats, the LDP will support candidates in all but 8 
districts in which coalition partner New Komeito plans to run 
candidates, and in the Hiroshima 6 district, where the situation 
remains unsettled. 
 
The DPJ has informally selected candidates to run in 264 election 
districts, with direct clashes with the LDP expected in 257 of 
them. 
 
(5) Opinion poll on where our lives are headed finds 52 PERCENT 
pessimistic about long-term future, 80 PERCENT  strengthening 
defense against future by being frugal 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
January 1, 2009 
 
The Japan Research Institute, of which this newspaper is a member, 
carried out a national opinion survey on a direct interview basis on 
Dec. 6-7 last year on the theme, Where is our lives headed?  The 
poll found 52 PERCENT  of the nation believing that their lives 
would "become worse" or "somewhat worse" ten years from now. This is 
a 14-point jump from the result found in the previous similar poll 
in Sept. 2003, indicating that people now have increased qualms 
about their future livelihoods. 
 
The survey also found that 80 PERCENT  of the public are cutting 
daily living expenses "very much" or "to a certain degree." This 
result shows vividly that people are scrambling to defend their 
lifestyles. 
 
Regarding their current lives, only a total of 11 PERCENT  of the 
public replied that things were "getting better" or "somewhat 
better." Another 32 PERCENT  said that nothing has changed. But 56 
PERCENT  replied that their current lives "have become worse." 
Compared to the previous survey, there was a three-point drop in 
those seeing improvement, while the percentage of those experiencing 
a worsening of their daily lives was about the same. 
 
Asked about what life would be like 10 years from now, only 12 
PERCENT  felt that things would "get better" or "somewhat better." 
This is an eight point drop from the last survey. Another 33 PERCENT 
 felt their lives would not change. This is a five-point drop from 
before. However, 52 PERCENT  felt that things would "get worse" or 
"somewhat worse," a major increase from the last survey. 
 
If the respondents who answered that their lives would get worse are 
broken down by age, those in their twenties and thirties fell below 
50 PERCENT , but for people in their fifties, the number reached 60 
PERCENT , and for those in their 60s, it was 56 PERCENT . So for 
middle to advanced aged people, there was a noticeable pessimism 
about their future lives. 
 
TOKYO 00000003  005 OF 007 
 
 
 
Asked for the reasons why they felt their lives would get worse 
(multiple answers), the most picked response with 57 PERCENT  of the 
respondents was "tax and social security expenditures will rise." 
Next, with 46 PERCENT  of the public, was "my income will drop," 
followed by 28 PERCENT  who picked "social welfare situation will 
worsen." For people in their twenties, the most chosen response with 
42 PERCENT  was "employment will get worse," reflecting the 
expansion of feelings of anxiety about their careers. Those in their 
fifties and sixties picked income, 52 PERCENT  and 60 PERCENT 
respectively felt similar anxieties. 
 
Asked to give specific examples of cost cutting (multiple answers), 
37 PERCENT  of the respondents picked clothing, as well as hobbies 
and leisure pleasures. The next favored answer was food expenses, 
with 35 PERCENT  of the public, after which came utilities costs 
with 21 PERCENT . The answers showed clearly that people are cutting 
daily living expense as much as possible. 
 
On the question of what policies should be chosen to improve the 
economy and consumption (multiple answers), 54 PERCENT  chose 
"improving pensions," 45 PERCENT  went for expanding medical and 
nursing care, and 25 PERCENT  wanted tax cuts. 
 
The questionnaire also asked what policy measures were needed to 
maintain the vitality of the society in the future (multiple 
answers). The most frequently picked answer with 48 PERCENT  was "an 
environment that is easy to work in."  Next, with 46 PERCENT  of the 
public, was the answer, "improve the social welfare system so that 
everyone contributes his or her fair share." The answer show strong 
calls for a stable social security system over short-term policy 
measures to cut the burden. 
 
(6) Government speeding up investment-agreement negotiations, with 
consideration being given to over a dozen countries, particularly in 
the Middle East and Africa; Aim is to secure natural resources and 
food 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Abridged) 
January 1, 2009 
 
The government will speed up negotiations to sign bilateral 
investment agreements with other countries that will strengthen 
economic cooperation ties. The aim is to secure natural resources, 
as represented by oil and natural gas, and basic food staples, such 
as wheat. The government is concentrating in particular on signing 
such accords with countries rich in natural resources in the Middle 
East, Africa, and South and Central America, as well as food 
producing countries. In addition to Qatar, Colombia, and Afghanistan 
- countries with which negotiations will start in 2009 - countries 
being considered as subject to signing such a treaty will be 
increased one after the other to a planned goal of over a dozen. In 
addition to assisting the resource development planning of Japanese 
companies and expanding trade, the pacts will bring investments into 
Japan by companies of the countries signing bilateral investment 
treaties with Japan. 
 
Investment agreements are accords that set rules to protect and 
liberalize investments by one country in another country in order to 
remove or ease restrictions that would harm foreign companies 
investing in the other country. Such treaties include provisions 
that give foreign companies the same treatment as domestic firms in 
 
TOKYO 00000003  006 OF 007 
 
 
that country. Japan has concluded such pacts with 15 countries and 
regions, including China, South Korea, and Russia. In addition, 
negotiations are going one with one country and one region. There 
are also cases of essentially the same contents being contained as 
an "investment chapter" in an EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement). 
 
 
In newly emerging countries and developing countries, when Japan 
wishes to sign an EPA, which puts pressure on that country to 
liberalize in a wide range of industrial areas, many cautious views 
in that country emerge, the fear being that domestic industries will 
be dealt a blow. In dealing with such countries and regions, 
priority will be given to signing first an investment treaty. 
 
Investment agreements all over the world now total 2,500. Japan 
therefore is far behind other countries in the West in signing such 
pacts. An EPA requires several years to complete from start of 
negotiations to signing the agreement, but an investment treaty can 
be nailed down by negotiations in less than a year. The thinking now 
is to strengthen relations with each country by rushing ahead with 
such agreements. 
 
There are already many countries in Asia that have investment 
agreements and EPAs and the like. For that reason, Japan is 
considering giving priority to negotiations with such countries in 
other regions as the UAE, Oman, and Bahrain. There are many 
countries in the Middle East into which Japanese companies have 
advanced. Reportedly, requests for an investment treaty have gone 
out to Oman, Bahrain, Libya and other countries in that region. 
 
The Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 
last December created an "External Investment Strategy Council." It 
has participation by the private sector, such as the Japan Business 
Federation (Nippon Keidanren), and the Nippon Export and Investment 
Insurance (NEXI), as well as the Japan Finance Corporation. In the 
same council, many views are coming out for promotion of investment 
agreements with countries in the Middle East and other regions. By 
combining investment agreements with other policy tools such as 
trade insurance and official development assistance (ODA), relations 
with those countries can be further strengthened. 
 
(7) Interview with LPD Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda: Decision 
on Diet dissolution will come in the spring or later 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
January 1, 2009 
 
The regular Diet session will be convened on Jan. 5. We asked senior 
party officials in the ruling and opposition camps of their outlooks 
for maneuvers expected that will lead up a Lower House election. We 
start with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Hiroyuki 
Hosoda. 
 
-- What is the strategy for an early passage of the second 
supplementary budget for fiscal 2008, the fiscal 2009 national 
budget, and bills connected with the budgets? 
 
"Since it is a 14-month budget in order to get us out of recession, 
it must be passed without delay. During ordinary times, when the 
Budget Committee is in session, the bills related to the budget bill 
are not deliberated on, but it would be only natural to deliberate 
on the budget in the Upper House Budget Committee during the day and 
 
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on the relevant bills during the evening." 
 
-- The opposition camp is demanding that the money for the cash 
payment program be cut out of the second supplementary budget. 
 
"The cash payment plan is essential as an economic stimulus measure. 
We have no intention of changing it. The biggest problem of the 
recession is that people are saying because the economy is bad, they 
won't travel or buy things. It is important for them to feel at 
least a little warmth in their hearts." 
 
-- There is a possibility of the bills related to the budget having 
to be approved by a two-thirds Lower House vote override. If there 
are 17 from the ruling camp who rebel, the bills will not pass the 
Diet. 
 
"I cannot conceive at all of anyone rebelling. If we split apart, we 
will indeed lose in the election. The sense of crisis overall is 
even more serious than it was at the time of the vote on postal 
privatization." 
 
-- What about the timing of the dissolution of the Diet and the snap 
election that would follow? 
 
"When we have a clear picture that the budget and essential bills 
will pass, we can think about such. It is Prime Minister Aso's 
decision as to whether it would be better to seek the public's will 
as soon as possible after the budget passage from April, or whether 
the summer or fall would be better." 
 
-- Is there a possibility of Diet dissolution by talks between the 
two camps, or a cabinet to manage the election? 
 
"Inconceivable. We have the responsibility of making policies that 
we think are correct." 
 
-- What will be the campaign issues going into the next Lower House 
election? 
 
"We will ask the people's judgment on the policies of the coalition 
government of the LDP and New Komeito. The budget bill will place at 
our disposal maximum policy tools, such as a regional package and 
countermeasures to fight the recession. I can't think of anything 
more we can do to fulfill the government's responsibility." 
 
ZUMWALT