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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 000408 
 
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 02/23/09 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Aso to visit Okinawa on March 7 for first time; to tour Futenma, 
Camp Schwab (Ryukyu Shimpo) 
 
(2) 15 mayors opposed to Guam pact (Ryukyu Shimpo) 
 
(3) Japan's anti-piracy bill to allow destroyers to fire at pirate 
ships and protect foreign vessels (Yomiuri) 
 
(4) Barrier to U.S. entry into Japanese government's procurement: 
U.S. calls for reform at WTO (Nikkei) 
 
(5) U.S. special envoy: Reduction of greenhouse gases 25-40 PERCENT 
, as advocated by Europe as a mid-term target is impractical 
(Nikkei) 
 
(6) Asahi Shimbun concludes there is no truth in Shimamura's Shukan 
Shinsho claim that he had attacked newspaper head office (Asahi) 
 
(7) TOP HEADLINES 
 
(8) EDITORIALS 
 
(9) Prime Minister's schedule, February 21 (Nikkei) 
 
(Corrected copy): Tensions between China and neighbors emerging over 
sovereignty of Senkaku, Spratly islands with China taking tougher 
stance (Nikkei) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Aso to visit Okinawa on March 7 for first time; to tour Futenma, 
Camp Schwab 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 1) (Full) 
February 23, 2009 
 
Prime Minister Taro Aso will visit Okinawa on March 7 for the first 
time since he assumed office. He is scheduled to visit the U.S. 
Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, Camp Schwab, on which a Futenma 
replacement facility will be constructed, and other locations, 
according to informed sources. He will return to Tokyo the same day. 
He is also considering a visit to the site of an incident (that 
occurred last month) in Kohagura, Itoman City (in which a 
construction worker was seriously injured) from an exploding 
ordnance from the last war. Attention is being focused on what 
response the prime minister will make to Okinawa's request that the 
central government pay the full amount of the funds needed to hunt 
by private firms for unexploded bombs and shells that remain 
buried. 
 
Aso is expected to meet with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima. In 
their meeting, if realized, Aso and Nakaima will likely discuss the 
new Futenma relocation plan, in which the governor and the Nago 
mayor have called for moving the construction site further offshore, 
as well as the signed agreement on transferring U.S. Marines in 
Okinawa to Guam, which has met fierce opposition from local 
residents. 
 
With an eye on the next House of Representatives election, Aso has 
energetically been making campaign tours. The planned visit to 
 
TOKYO 00000408  002 OF 010 
 
 
Okinawa is also aimed to boost public support for his 
administration. 
 
Upon arriving in Okinawa on the morning of the 7th, Aso will visit 
the Foundation for Peace in Itoman. He then will go to Futenma Air 
Station and Camp Schwab. On the afternoon, he will attend a 
convention of the Women's Section of the Liberal Democratic Party's 
(LDP) Okinawa prefectural chapter at a hotel in Naha. Afterward, he 
is slated to meet with LDP lawmakers who have been elected or come 
from the prefecture. 
 
Following the explosion in Itoman, Governor Nakaima called on Prime 
Minister Aso at his official residence on the 16th and asked him to 
establish a system to finance private work to hunt for unexploded 
bombs and shells, as well as to compensate victims of explosions. 
These requested measures are not included in the government's 
package of unexploded bomb-disposal measures. In response to this 
request, Aso reportedly just said: "I will look into it." 
 
Regarding a government response to the request of the governor and 
the Nago mayor for reviewing the Futenma relocation plan, Aso said 
in January, "I cannot comment at the present stage". On the purpose 
of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, though, Aso replied in a 
House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on the 19th, "The 
aim is to strengthen deterrence," taking a step forward from what he 
used to say. 
 
In past prime ministerial visits to Okinawa, there were many cases 
in which solutions to pending issues or new measures were presented. 
Given this, attention is being focused on what remarks the prime 
minister will make on such issues as the disposal of unexploded 
bombs and U.S. military bases, including Futenma relocation. 
 
(2) 15 mayors opposed to Guam pact 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 1) (Full) 
February 22, 2009 
 
The Ryukyu Shimpo conducted a questionnaire survey of the heads of 
Okinawa Prefecture's 41 municipalities on the agreement signed by 
the Japanese and U.S. governments to transfer U.S. Marines in 
Okinawa to Guam. There were answers from 39 municipal heads. Among 
them, 15 mayors (37 PERCENT ) answered that they were opposed to the 
Guam relocation pact, with 11 mayors (27 PERCENT ) saying they were 
in favor of it. As seen from these figures, negative answers 
outnumbered affirmative ones. There were eight mayors (20 PERCENT ) 
who responded to the survey but said they could not say whether they 
approved of the agreement or not. Meanwhile, the Japanese and U.S. 
governments also reconfirmed their course of action in their 
agreement signed this time to transfer Okinawa-based Marines to 
Guam, relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, and 
return the sites of its military bases located south of Kadena Air 
Base in a package. Asked about this package implementation, 18 
mayors (44 PERCENT ) were opposed to it, with only 4 mayors (10 
PERCENT ) in favor. In the survey, a deep-seated feeling of 
rejection to the package implementation became clear again. 
 
The questionnaire form was distributed to all municipalities on Feb. 
17 when Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and U.S. Secretary of 
State Clinton signed the agreement. The deadline was Feb. 18. There 
were answers from 39 municipal heads by Feb. 20, and their answers 
were tabulated. There was no response from Onna Village's Mayor 
 
TOKYO 00000408  003 OF 010 
 
 
Fumiyasu Shikiya and Minamidaito Village's Mayor Kensho Nakada. 
 
Most of the municipal heads who responded to the survey insisted 
that the Guam relocation itself should be pushed, regardless of 
whether they are in favor of the Guam relocation pact or not. Many 
of those affirmative about the Guam pact and those negative about it 
insisted that the government should continue listening to local 
views even though the pact was signed. 
 
The municipal heads opposed to the Guam relocation pact, with the 
exception of one mayor, expressed their strong opposition to the 
Japan-U.S. bilateral agreement on the package implementation, with 
Okinawa City's Mayor Mitsuko Tomon stating that the greater part of 
Okinawa Prefecture's people are opposed to the package. 
 
Those in favor of the Guam pact also clarified their opposition to 
the package implementation, with Tomigusuku City's Mayor Toyoaki 
Kinjo stating that the package is questionable. They are in favor of 
the signed agreement but remain doubtful of the package. There was 
also an opinion calling for the government to answer the requests of 
Okinawa Prefecture and Nago City over the planned relocation of 
Futenma airfield. 
 
Five municipal heads, including Kadena Town's Mayor Tokujitsu Miyagi 
and Yaese Town's Mayor Shinkichi Nakamura, did not answer whether 
they are in favor of the Guam relocation pact or not. 
 
The Guam pact reconfirmed the package incorporated in the roadmap 
for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. In this regard, most of 
those who did not clarify whether they are in favor of this 
reconfirmation or not were negative about the package. Kin Town's 
Mayor Tsuyoshi Gibu stated, "It is desirable to do immediately from 
where it is possible to lessen the burden." 
 
Nago City's Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, whose city is where Futenma 
airfield's heliport functions will be relocated, and Higashi 
Village's Mayor Seikyu Iju did not clarify whether they are in favor 
of the Guam pact and the package, saying local governments are not 
in a position to evaluate. 
 
(3) Japan's anti-piracy bill to allow destroyers to fire at pirate 
ships and protect foreign vessels 
 
YOMIURI (Top play) (Abridged slightly) 
February 22, 2009 
 
The outline of the bill on measures to counter piracy, which the 
government is planning to submit to the Diet in early March, was 
revealed on Feb. 21. The legislation includes a provision allowing 
(the MSDF) to fire at pirate ships to stop acts of piracy. The 
legislation is also designed to give (the MSDF) greater authority to 
use weapons than in the maritime policing action provision of the 
Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Law and to make it mandatory to report to 
the Diet any dispatch of SDF personnel. 
 
Based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the bill defines 
piracy as "all illegal acts of violence, detention or looting 
committed for private gain by the crew of a private ship or 
aircraft." 
 
In line with that definition, the legislation is designed to: (1) 
expand the scope of protection, which is now limited to 
 
TOKYO 00000408  004 OF 010 
 
 
Japan-related vessels under the current maritime policing action 
provision, to include all vessels, (2) task the Japan Coast Guard 
(JCG) and the SDF with tackling piracy, with the SDF being called 
upon when the JCG cannot handle the task, (3) let the SDF stop 
piracy and the JCG clamp down on pirates, such as arresting them, 
(4) apply Article 7 of the Police Duties Execution Law to the use of 
weapons, (5) add firing at a pirate ship to stop piracy to a set of 
requirements for firing at the other party to inflict harm, and (6) 
require an SDF dispatch implementation plan to be reported to the 
Diet. 
 
The government is also considering imposing either the death penalty 
or life imprisonment as the punishment for hijacking a ship that 
results in death. 
 
In order to relax conditions surrounding the use of weapons against 
pirates, the bill incorporates a provision that applies Article 7 of 
the Execution of Police Duties Law, which currently allows police 
officers to use weapons in cases of self-defense or during emergency 
evacuations. 
 
It clearly states that the MSDF can fire directly at a pirate ship. 
 
 
For instance, if a pirate ship defies an order to stop moving toward 
a civilian ship, the MSDF can fire on the pirates if there are no 
other means of stopping the vessel, even if the situation does not 
constitute an act of self-defense. 
 
In a case when an act of piracy occurs in Japanese territorial 
waters, it is possible to fire at pirates during maritime policing 
activities by invoking the JCG Law. But in foreign seas, such as 
waters off Somalia and the Strait of Malacca, the use of weaponry is 
restricted, prompting the government to try to use the bill to 
expand the law to cover a broader range of circumstances in which 
the authorized use of weapons is permissible. 
 
When the government decides to dispatch its vessels, the bill 
requires that it submit to the Diet a report on its implementation 
program. Some within the government were keen to require that the 
government seek a Diet vote to sanction a dispatch of SDF personnel. 
 
 
The government plans to issue an order by early March to sent two 
MSDF vessels to engage in maritime policing activities in waters off 
Somalia. After the new law is implemented, the government will shift 
its legal basis for MSDF activities to allow operations under the 
new law, aiming to continue its work in the area without 
interruption. 
 
(4) Barrier to U.S. entry into Japanese government's procurement: 
U.S. calls for reform at WTO 
 
NIKKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
February 23, 2009 
 
The U.S. at a meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade 
Policy Review Body on the Trade Policy Review of Japan, held on 
February 18 and 20, called on Japan to reform its bidding system, 
noting that it is very difficult for foreign companies to break into 
the Japanese government's procurement market. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000408  005 OF 010 
 
 
The U.S. has been criticized by various countries, including Japan, 
for the inclusion in its economic stimulus package of a "Buy 
American" clause, which mandates the use of U.S.-made products in 
public works. It has expressed dissatisfaction with Japan's trade 
policy, ignoring its own policy. 
 
The trade policy review, which is held every two years, is a forum 
for member nations to confer on problems of Japan's trade policy, 
based on WTO reports. 
 
The U.S. pointed out that there are various impediments in the 
Japanese government's procurement system, and that it lacks 
transparency. Expressing concern that the penetration of foreign 
companies into such a market remains very low, the U.S. referred to 
the strict requirements that had to be met in order for foreign 
companies to be able to take part in bidding. It also pointed out 
the many irregularities and discretionary contracts in the system. 
 
In addition to government procurement, the U.S. also called for 
reform of the inspection system Japan applies to imported beef, 
noting that it is a non-scientific method that is not in compliance 
with international guidelines. Pointing out Japan's high tariffs on 
agricultural products as a whole, one U.S. delegate said that the 
U.S. was disappointed at Japan's stance toward the agricultural area 
in the multilateral trade liberalization talks (Doha Round). 
 
However, the US urged Japan's cooperation, with one delegate saying, 
"We expect Japan to press ahead with structural reforms and market 
opening in order to help the global economy grow." 
 
(5) U.S. special envoy: Reduction of greenhouse gases 25-40 PERCENT 
, as advocated by Europe as a mid-term target is impractical 
 
NIKKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
February 21, 2009 
 
It has been learned that U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd 
Stern, who is responsible for negotiations on global warming for the 
United States, told Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito that 
attainment of the mid-term goal for reducing greenhouse-gas 
emissions being advocated by Europe, China and India is 
"impractical." Since there are many parts of Stern's statement that 
Japan agrees with, the government is hurrying to erect a framework 
for cooperation. 
 
During their summit meeting in Washington on Feb. 24, it is expected 
that Prime Minister Aso and President Obama will agree on a policy 
course of bilaterally cooperating under the post-Kyoto Protocol 
international framework to deal with global warming after 2013. 
Coordination is underway to establish a new consultative venue at 
the working level for discussing such global-scale challenges as 
global warming, the world economy, and aid to Africa. 
 
Special Envoy Stern, during his meeting with Environment Minister 
Stern on Feb. 17, expressed his view that reaching the target set 
for advanced countries to reduce by the year 2020 greenhouse-gas 
emissions by 25 to 40 PERCENT , based on the year 1990, was 
impractical. "For the U.S. to realize this goal will require much 
greater efforts, compared to the EU," he said. President Obama has 
made a public commitment to constrain domestic emission amounts by 
2020 to the level they had been in 1990. He stressed that the EU's 
ambitious target would require different (reduction) efforts by 
 
TOKYO 00000408  006 OF 010 
 
 
Europe. 
 
Stern also hinted at the possibility of revising the standards for 
comparing emissions reductions. He stated, "I do not think there is 
need to set only 1990 as the standard year." He continued: "It is 
conceivable to make it a more recent year such as 2005 or 2007." 
Although under the Kyoto Protocol, the standard year was 1990, Japan 
at that time had made progress in conserving energy, and complained 
about the fairness of the date. It has been urging a reconsideration 
of the standard year for the post-Kyoto regime. The Environment 
Ministry has not released the details of the meeting between 
Minister Saito and Special Envoy Stern. 
 
This was the first time for a high-level official to explain the 
U.S. government's position since the launching of the Obama 
administration. It is expected that at the Japan-U.S. summit meeting 
on the 24th, there will be agreement to strengthen cooperation in 
the environment and energy areas, such as post-Kyoto negotiations 
and development of renewable energy sources. In tandem with the 
Prime Minister, working-level officials will enter into specific 
talks with Stern and other officials. 
 
(6) Asahi Shimbun concludes there is no truth in Shimamura's Shukan 
Shinsho claim that he had attacked newspaper head office 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Abridged slightly) 
February 23, 2009 
 
The weekly magazine Shukan Shincho has run since late January a 
series of four articles with notes by Masanori Shimamura, 65, who 
claims to have attacked the Asahi Shimbun's Hanshin bureau in 1987, 
killing one reporter and wounding another. 
 
The Asahi Shimbun interviewed Shimamura in 2006. The newspaper has 
concluded from examining the Shimamura interview and the data it had 
obtained from its news-gathering activities that there was no truth 
in Shimamura's notes that contained many points that conflicted with 
the facts. Investigative authorities, including the National Police 
Agency (NPA), think that what Shimamura confessed to is 
untrustworthy and that there is no possibility that he was involved 
in the incident. 
 
According to the Shukan Shincho's articles, Shimamura was asked by 
an official (then) at the U.S. Embassy in Japan to attack the Asahi 
Shimbun and that besides its Hanshin bureau, he attacked the 
newspaper's Tokyo head office in January 1987, its dormitory in 
Nagoya in September 1987, and attempted to bomb its Shizuoka bureau 
in March 1988. 
 
When Shimamura was imprisoned in a separate case, he sent more than 
10 letters to the Asahi Shimbun from April 2005 through September 
2006, saying he was the attacker in the 1980s. In May 2006, two 
Asahi Shimbun reporters interviewed Shimamura in prison. However, 
his statements to the reporters contradicted the facts established 
in the Hanshin shooting, including the clothes worn by the attacker, 
the scene at the office and the weapons used. Contradictions also 
appeared in his motive and other factors in the Shukan Shincho 
articles. 
 
The NPA instructed Hyogo prefectural police to check the contents of 
the Shukan Shincho articles. "We cannot ignore these stories because 
the attack was a major incident that shook society," an NPA official 
 
TOKYO 00000408  007 OF 010 
 
 
said. The NPA also found that Shimamura's words deviated from the 
facts of the case. In addition, he included many doubtful points 
about his personal life and career. 
 
The Asahi Shimbun phoned Shimamura on Feb. 22 for an interview, but 
he told the newspaper that the request should be made through Shukan 
Shincho. 
 
(7) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Organization headed by lawmaker Iwaki found unaccounted expenses 
amounting to 340 million yen 
 
Mainichi: 
Poll: Public support for Aso cabinet at 11 PERCENT , with 39 PERCENT 
 calling for immediate resignation 
 
Yomiuri & Tokyo Shimbun: 
ASEAN plus 3 agrees to set up institute to monitor economic 
conditions 
 
Nikkei: 
Metal, chemical firms to slow output reduction 
 
Sankei: 
Domestic pharmaceutical firms expect to place new drugs for 
influenza on market in 2010 or 2011, at earliest 
 
Akahata: 
Rallies held across nation calling for protecting employment 
 
(8) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Personal information leak should be punished not with penalty 
but with compensation 
(2) Bridge construction in Tomonoura should be reconsidered in view 
of landscape 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) People calling for Prime Minister Aso to quickly step down 
(2) U.S. should present blueprint for success through dispatching 
more troops to Afghanistan 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Detailed preparations and studies needed for lay judge system 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Introduce citizen-numbering system to disseminate electronic tax 
filing 
(2) Financial and economic crisis becoming more serious 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Ministries' measures to review clinical training improper to 
produce good doctors 
(2) We expect Obama administration to come up with sensible 
strategy, instead of relying only on military power 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Steadily speed up resuming operations of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 
Nuclear Power Station 
 
TOKYO 00000408  008 OF 010 
 
 
(2) Trial for Pol Pot: Continuing personal contributions imperative 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Disposal of unexploded shells: Don't continue evading 
responsibility 
 
(9) Prime Minister's schedule, February 21 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 22, 2009 
 
09:58 
Took a walk around his official residence. 
 
17:00 
Received a call from Australian Prime Minister Rudd. 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, February 22 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
 
February 23, 2009 
 
07:24 
Took a walk around his official residence. 
 
10:15 
Departed from Haneda Airport on JAL 1203 accompanied by LDP 
Secretary General Hosoda and Policy Research Council Chairman Hori. 
 
11:17 
Arrived at Aomori Airport. 
 
12:02 
Met at an Aomori hotel with Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Oshima, 
followed by Aomori Gov. Mimura. Afterward met with former Private 
Kindergarten Association of Japan President Miura, followed by LDP 
Tax System Research Commission Chairman Tsushima. 
 
12:43 
Attended an LDP Aomori economic seminar, followed by a meeting. 
 
14:13 
Met at Aomori Airport with Oshima, LDP Aomori Chapter Secretary 
General Yamauchi and Policy Research Council Chairman Nagao. 
 
14:48 
Departed from Aomori Airport on JAL 1206. 
 
15:51 
Arrived at Haneda Airport. 
 
16:25 
Had a haircut at a barber in the Hotel Pacific in Takanawa. 
 
17:59 
Met at his official residence with Vice Foreign Minister Yabunaka, 
North American Affairs Bureau Director General Umemoto, and 
Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi. 
 
(Corrected copy): Tensions between China and neighbors emerging over 
sovereignty of Senkaku, Spratly islands with China taking tougher 
 
TOKYO 00000408  009 OF 010 
 
 
stance 
 
NIKKEI (Page 6) (Full) 
February 20, 2009 
 
Tensions are emerging between China and its neighbors over the 
sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands (called the Diaoyutai Islands in 
Chinese) and the Spratly Islands, since China has toughened its 
stance. Late last year, Chinese oceanographic research vessels 
intruded into Japanese waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands, but 
China, in reaction to Japan's increased security in the waters in 
the wake of the invasion case, lodged a protest against Japan. China 
also filed a complaint against the Philippines for its adoption of a 
law that recognizes the Spratly Islands as its territory. It seems 
that an increasing number of Chinese people, with the ongoing 
economic recession in mind, are calling on their government to take 
hard-line stands toward foreign countries. 
 
In an executive meeting in Beijing on Feb. 16, Sun Zhi-hui, 
administrator of the State oceanic Administration, referred to the 
case of intrusion of two oceanographic research vessels possessed by 
the administration into the Japanese waters near the Senkaku Islands 
last December. He then revealed that the intrusion was intended to 
demonstrate that China has the right of ownership. 
 
Sun said: "Our vessels navigated all the oceanic areas over which 
China holds sovereignty," emphasizing that China has stepped up 
warning and surveillance in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and 
other waters. He also said that China dispatched a total of about 
200 ships and 140 planes to these areas over the past year. 
 
Set off by the invasion case, the Japanese government has 
strengthened security in the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands. 
The Japan Coast Guard reportedly has deployed patrol ships carrying 
helicopters in the surrounding sea areas on a regular basis. A 
responsible official of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs 
Bureau called in a Japanese embassy staff member in Beijing on Feb. 
10 and told him: "If Japan moves more aggressively, China will have 
to take harsh response measures." 
 
On Feb. 17, the Philippine Congress passed a law that specifies 
Huang Yan Island and some Spratly islands as its territories. In 
reaction, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the 
18th reading: "China has ownership of Huang Yan Island, Spratly, and 
other oceanic areas. Other countries' claims to these areas are 
invalid." Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Kuang Ya summoned the 
acting head of the Philippine Embassy and conveyed a stiff protest. 
 
Such a resolute posture of the Chinese government reflects a flood 
of hard-line views posted on the Internet. The Chinese people, given 
the current economic recession, tend to fall into an introverted way 
of thinking. The Chinese Foreign Ministry cannot ignore such 
messages as: "Don't show a weak posture"; and, "We demand that the 
Chinese government take substantial action." 
 
China has settled onshore borderline issues with its neighboring 
countries one after another. But the nation remains unable to find 
solutions regarding oceanic territorial issues that involve national 
interests, such as seabed oil and gas fields. Some observers 
speculate that the military, which has enhanced its operational 
capability in the East China Sea, may be gaining more influence. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000408  010 OF 010 
 
 
ZUMWALT