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Viewing cable 09TOKYO455, DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 02/27/09

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09TOKYO455 2009-02-27 07:49 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tokyo
VZCZCXRO4331
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #0455/01 0580749
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 270749Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1111
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RHMFIUU/USFJ //J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/CTF 72
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 5010
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 2665
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 6455
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 0473
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 3216
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7967
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3994
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3931
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 000455 
 
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 02/27/09 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Japan-U.S. Summit: U.S. places high expectations on Japan (Part 
2) (Asahi) 
 
(2) Diet debate likely to kick off March 11 on Guam relocation 
(Ryukyu Shimpo) 
 
(3) Relocation scale variable: Nakasone (Ryukyu Shimpo) 
 
(4) DPJ's Maehara in Lower House committee calls for review of Three 
Principles on Arms Exports (Akahata) 
 
(5) Japan, China to start talks on two treaties: extradition treaty 
and prisoner-transfer treaty; Foreign ministers expected to reach 
agreement to start negotiations (Asahi) 
 
(6) IWC proposal seeks mutual compromises in dispute over whaling 
(Nikkei) 
 
(7) Job losses: Safety net full of defects; "Government in reality 
did not help me" (Asahi) 
 
(8) TOP HEADLINES 
 
(9) EDITORIALS 
 
(10) Prime Minister's schedule, February 26 (Nikkei) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Japan-U.S. Summit: U.S. places high expectations on Japan (Part 
2) 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) 
February 26, 2009 
 
President pins hopes on Japan's economic power, urges Japan to 
expand domestic demand to conquer financial crisis 
 
"Why has Japan come first?" 
 
"That is because Japan is our great partner." 
 
U.S. President Barack Obama, sitting next to Prime Minister Aso, 
promptly replied to a question by a reporter in the Oval Office just 
before the start of their private meeting. 
 
Obama added: "Japan is the cornerstone of U.S. security policy in 
East Asia and a major U.S. economic partner." Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton, who has just returned from a round of visits to 
Asia, was also in the meeting room. 
 
The Obama administration's stance of placing emphasis on Japan was 
underscored by Clinton's section of Japan as the destination of her 
first overseas trip in her new role and Obama's invitation of Aso to 
the White House as his first foreign guest. Pointing out that the 
administration has assigned persons knowledgeable about Japan to the 
State Department and the Defense Department, some sources familiar 
with Japan-U.S. relations take the view that its consideration to 
Japan might be more than the Bush administration's in its first 
term. 
 
TOKYO 00000455  002 OF 010 
 
 
 
However, the U.S. side is fully aware of the fact that the Aso 
administration is significantly losing its grip on power. 
 
On the day of the Japan-U.S. summit meeting, major U.S. newspapers 
carried articles dispatched from Tokyo, with such titles as: 
"Japan's embattled leader to meet Obama" (Washington Post) and 
"Japan's Prime Minister Aso aims to improve image through U.S. 
visit" (Wall Street Journal). These titles emboss the prime 
minister's plight. 
 
The Washington Post also reported on the front page that the rate of 
public support for President Obama was 68 PERCENT  in its latest 
opinion survey. This figure is in contrast to the slightly over 10 
PERCENT  level for Aso. 
 
One Obama administration source called the prime minister "a dead 
dog." As shown by this, the administration properly understands the 
current state of Japanese politics. In addition, those knowledgeable 
of Japan share this view: If the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 
assumes political power, "it will become somewhat difficult to 
manage the bilateral alliance," said former Deputy Secretary of 
State Richard Armitage. Particularly focusing on the DPJ's views, 
such as comparison of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the United Nations 
as diplomatic tools, some U.S. government sources define the DPJ's 
way of thinking as a "high school student's composition." 
 
Despite such Japanese circumstances, Washington places 
unprecedentedly high expectations on Japan, because in the Asia 
Pacific region, there is no other nation but Japan that has great 
national power and on which the U.S. can rely. The global economic 
crisis, climate change and other crucial international challenges 
cannot be resolved by the U.S. alone. 
 
Chuck Todd, NBC chief White House correspondent, said: "Now that the 
U.S. needs help to override the ongoing economic crisis, there is no 
more essential economic partner than Japan." 
 
In the summit, Obama urged Japan to expand domestic demand. He also 
expressed hopes to see that Japan will create more jobs related to 
environmental technologies and stabilize its exchange market. When 
considering the Aso administration's limitations, however, the U.S. 
apparently has placed such expectations not on the administration 
but on Japan and its people. The question is whether Japan will be 
able to respond to the U.S. expectations. 
 
(2) Diet debate likely to kick off March 11 on Guam relocation 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 2) (Full) 
February 27, 2009 
 
The government made a cabinet decision on Feb. 24 to present the 
Diet with the already-signed agreement on relocating U.S. Marines in 
Okinawa to Guam. The Diet is likely to enter into deliberations on 
March 11 over the Guam relocation pact, given the House of 
Councillors' schedule for its deliberations on the fiscal 2009 
budget that is expected to clear the House of Representatives today. 
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a 
meeting of its directors to schedule deliberations. However, if the 
opposition bench calls for early entry into deliberations, the Diet 
could then enter into deliberations on March 6. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000455  003 OF 010 
 
 
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee regularly 
meets on Wednesdays and Fridays. The committee can meet on March 4 
at the earliest. In the first week of March, however, the House of 
Councillors will start deliberations on the budget with all cabinet 
ministers attending. Accordingly, the House of Representatives 
Foreign Affairs Committee can hardly be scheduled to meet that week 
with the foreign and defense ministers attending. The committee will 
therefore hold a meeting of its directors during the latter half of 
the first week of next month and will likely decide to enter into 
deliberations on March 11 in the second week of next month. 
 
In addition to the Guam relocation pact, the Foreign Ministry is 
going to present more than 10 treaties to the Diet. In normal cases, 
the Diet deliberates on several treaties all together or separately. 
The Guam relocation pact has direct bearing on the budget, so it is 
expected to be subject to separate deliberations. If the House of 
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meets on March 11, the 
Guam pact will likely be debated on a priority basis. 
 
The House of Representatives is expected to pass the Guam relocation 
pact with a majority of votes in favor of it, given the ruling 
coalition holds a majority of the seats in the lower chamber. 
However, once the Diet debate kicks off, all eyes will be on the 
leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto), which is 
opposed to relocating Futenma airfield as specified in the Guam 
relocation pact and which is upholding its advocacy of relocating 
the airfield elsewhere outside Okinawa Prefecture or Japan. In the 
case of treaties up for Diet approval, the House of Representatives 
takes precedence over the House of Councillors. Accordingly, any 
treaties before the Diet will be approved spontaneously 30 days 
after they are sent to the House of Councillors even if they are 
left pending in the upper chamber, and the Guam pact will come into 
effect in as early as April. 
 
(3) Relocation scale variable: Nakasone 
 
RYUKYU SHIMPO (Page 2) (Full) 
February 27, 2009 
 
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, sitting in yesterday on the 
House of Representatives Budget Committee, answered an 
interpellation over the planned relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines in 
Okinawa and 9,000 family members to Guam and indicated that the Guam 
relocation's scale could change. "The number of persons is always 
variable and this is not the actual number of persons," Nakasone 
stated before the committee. "This is, so to speak, an approximate 
number based on the number of troops," he added. He was replying to 
a question asked by Seiken Akamine, a House of Representatives 
member of the Japanese Communist Party. 
 
Prime Minister Taro Aso, who will visit Okinawa Prefecture on March 
7, was asked about where to visit in Okinawa Prefecture. Aso stated, 
"The Liberal Democratic Party is coordinating the schedule for me as 
LDP president, and I don't know the schedule." He was replying to a 
question asked by Kantoku Teruya, a House of Representatives member 
of the Social Democratic Party. 
 
(4) DPJ's Maehara in Lower House committee calls for review of Three 
Principles on Arms Exports 
 
AKAHATA (Page 2) (Full) 
February 27, 2009 
 
TOKYO 00000455  004 OF 010 
 
 
 
In a House of Representatives Budget Committee session on Feb. 26, 
Seiji Maehara, vice president of the main opposition Democratic 
Party of Japan (DPJ), called for a review of the Three Principles on 
Arms Exports, which ban Japan's weapons exports based on its 
pacifist Constitution. He made the request in order for Japan to 
promote joint development of arms with other countries. 
 
Maehara, who took the floor to question Prime Minister Taro Aso 
about his visit to the United States, repeated his stock argument 
that Japan should jointly develop arms and equipment with other 
countries. He stated: "It is now time for Japan to review the 
contents of the Japan-U.S. alliance. Where should we start?" He then 
added: "Since the Three Principles on Arms Exports prohibit Japan" 
from jointly developing weapons with other countries, "reviewing 
them is unavoidable." 
 
Referring to the 2004 chief cabinet secretary's statement, which 
regarded Japan-U.S. joint development and production for "a missile 
defense system" as an exception to the Three Principles, Aso 
responded: "We have decided to study every individual case and then 
reach a conclusion." 
 
(5) Japan, China to start talks on two treaties: extradition treaty 
and prisoner-transfer treaty; Foreign ministers expected to reach 
agreement to start negotiations 
 
ASAHI (Top Play) (Full) 
February 27, 2009 
 
Foreign Minister Nakasone, who will visit China on February 28, is 
expected to reach an agreement with his Chinese counterpart Yang 
Jiechi to begin negotiations on concluding a treaty to extradite 
suspects and a prisoner-transfer treaty. They are also expected to 
agree to start negotiations to conclude an agreement on search and 
rescue operations in the East China Sea. Agreement also will be 
reached to expand the teacher exchange program to 1,500 teachers 
over the next three years. 
 
The extradition treaty would allow suspects who fled to their home 
country to be sent back to the other country for trial. The treaty 
on prisoner transfer is intended to make those convicted of crimes 
in each other's country serve out their prison terms in their 
country. Japan has so far only signed extradition treaties with the 
U.S. and South Korea. Regarding a prisoner-transfer treaty, Japan is 
a signatory to an international agreement prepared by the Council of 
Europe. However, a treaty with China on the transfer of prisoners 
would be the first bilateral accord for Japan. 
 
Chinese nationals accounted for about 30 PERCENT  of foreign 
prisoners in Japan as of the end of 2007. If the two countries sign 
such a treaty, it would reduce the burden on Japanese prisons and 
help Chinese convicts rehabilitate themselves through prison terms 
in their own country. The planned extradition accord will also speed 
up criminal investigations. 
 
Japan has already signed maritime search and rescue agreements with 
the U.S., South Korea and Russia. Such an agreement with China would 
help materialize a previous agreement to turn the East China Sea 
into a "sea of peace, cooperation and friendship" for the two 
countries, following the agreement on the joint development of gas 
fields signed in June last year. 
 
TOKYO 00000455  005 OF 010 
 
 
 
The exchange of teachers has also been carried out as part of 
exchanges of young people. However, its scale was small. Both 
countries have determined that the role of teachers is important in 
improving public sentiments toward each other's country. The size of 
teacher exchanges will be expanded to 1,000 from China and 500 from 
Japan. The teachers would come from elementary, junior and senior 
high schools, as well as universities. They would deepen mutual 
understanding by observing classes. 
 
Top leaders of both countries last year visited each other's country 
a record five times in the history of relations between the two 
countries. The two countries will reach an agreement at the upcoming 
foreign ministerial meeting to strengthen broad-based collaboration 
with the aim of maintaining close bilateral relations in 2009, as 
well. 
 
(6) IWC proposal seeks mutual compromises in dispute over whaling 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 25, 2009 
 
A panel of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) released a 
report in early February that suggested allowing Japanese whalers 
who specialize in small whales to catch minke whales in Japan's 
coastal waters. But the report also called for reducing or 
discontinuing large-scale research whaling in the Southern Ocean. 
Will this proposal contribute to bringing about a settlement in the 
dispute that has continued over Japan's research whaling since the 
1980s? 
 
The panel began discussing future options for the IWC in earnest 
last year, joined by 31 countries, including Australia, which 
opposes whaling. Chairman William Hogarth and others members of the 
panel compiled the report on their own discretion, based on the 
contents of the discussions. 
 
The report takes up more than 30 items, of which points at issue are 
Japan's research whaling and coastal commercial whaling. The IWC 
report suggests that Japan should reduce the number of whales caught 
in the Southern Ocean under the research whaling program by 20 
PERCENT  each year and make the number zero in five years or place 
restrictions on research whaling with an upper limit set. 
 
According the chairman's report, the panel would maintain for five 
years the general principle of allowing minke whales to be taken in 
Japanese coastal waters, while freezing commercial whaling 
(moratorium). Although the report is a stopgap compromise proposal, 
it is significant in that it urges pro-whaling and anti-whaling 
countries to make mutual concessions. 
 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shigeru Ishiba 
commented: "Japan will reject a proposal that would halt its 
research whaling." 
 
Kazutaka Sangen, the mayor of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, also 
said: "The research whaling in the Southern Sea and the coastal 
whaling share the same destiny. If Japan suspends the research 
whaling program, it might be told to also stop coastal whaling five 
years later. Japan as a whole should consider what response it 
should make." Taiji is a town that has been whaling for 400 years. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000455  006 OF 010 
 
 
The mayor, however, also said: "If scaling down research whaling in 
the Southern Ocean is possible, we can offer cooperation." Some 
coastal whalers have begun to call for reviewing the research 
whaling program in the Southern Ocean, given that the program has 
gradually expanded. The mayor's remark also reflects the reality 
that coastal whalers have had to put up with the situation. 
 
Whale meat marketed as a by-product of the research whaling has 
increased about five times more than the level at the start of the 
program to about 5,000 tons annually. But meat prices have dropped 
to half of what they were at their highest level. Coastal whalers 
catch species that are excluded from WTO regulations, such as the 
Baird's beaked whale, although the catches are placed under 
restraints set by the Fisheries Agency. They have continued 
operations in the red. 
 
Before the moratorium was introduced, coastal whalers took 300 to 
400 minke whales annually. Recently, though, such whalers have 
become mere research whaling's subcontractors. Coastal whalers have 
seen the expansion of research whaling as pressure on the "private 
business" by the "government's business." Given this, many of them 
expect to see research whaling scaled down. 
 
In a briefing for coastal whalers early this month, an official of 
the Fisheries Agency, even while saying: "It is impossible to 
drastically reduce the scale of whaling for the purpose of 
scientific research easily," indicated the ministry would review the 
program. 
 
The IWC will listen to views from various countries about the 
chairman report during its meeting in Roma starting on March 9. 
Australia, a representative of anti-whaling countries, is determined 
not to ease its call for abolishing research whaling, but the U.S., 
the current chair of the IWC, reportedly has said that an agreement 
could be reached without Australia. The upcoming meeting will also 
be a crucial juncture for Japan. 
 
(7) Job losses: Safety net full of defects; "Government in reality 
did not help me" 
 
ASAHI (Page 3) (Abridged slightly) 
February 8, 2009 
 
A temporary male staffer (38) working at a auto air-conditioner 
plant in Shiga Prefecture received a dismissal notice late last year 
because the company had excess capacity due to production cutbacks. 
 
He only started working in November on a two-month contract. The 
company pledged that he would be covered by employment and health 
insurances when his contract was renewed early in the following 
year. However, the recession prevented him from having his work 
contract renewed. 
 
It has been nearly three years since he was ejected from the social 
safety net, losing his employment and health insurances and his 
pension scheme. After leaving university before graduating, he has 
worked at various plants as a nonpermanent worker or subcontractor. 
He quit a food factory in Gifu Prefecture over trouble with a 
permanent worker. Since then, he has not been able to pay insurance 
premiums. 
 
After quitting the food factory in Gifu, he lived on the streets for 
 
TOKYO 00000455  007 OF 010 
 
 
a year and a half. He gave up on the idea of applying for welfare 
benefits, determining that it would be impossible to receive such, 
if he applied while being homeless. He then found an apartment, not 
due to public assistance but because he began to earn income by 
selling the "Big Issue," a magazine aimed at helping homeless people 
become self-reliant. 
 
This individual, who is now looking for another job, said, "I am 
worried about my health, because it was tough to live on the 
streets. I want a health insurance card, but I cannot think of my 
future, as all I can do is just to support myself on a day-to-day 
basis." 
 
Another man (51), who worked at an auto parts plant in Tochigi 
Prefecture, was notified of the termination of his work contract 
after two years of employment there. He earned 1,200 yen for night 
work -- about 100,000 yen in a month after the deduction of 
dormitory fees and heating and electricity expenses. He had no 
savings. He got by but had to get an advance on his salary when he 
worked less. 
 
He has become increasingly concerned about his life in the future, 
such as how to find the next job, when he is in his 50s, where to 
live after being evicted from the company housing, etc. Applying for 
welfare benefits has crossed his mind. He queried the local 
government of his home town in the Tohoku District twice on the 
phone. However, an official in charge of social benefits turned down 
his request, saying, "I am sorry, we cannot pay you welfare 
benefits, because people like you who are not sick can work. Please 
find a job and work until you turn 65." 
 
For a while, he seriously thought that the only way he could make a 
living would be to go to prison. He in the end found a 
construction-related job. He said, "When I was really in trouble, 
the state did not help me." 
 
When lifetime employment was common, companies served as a role to 
provide employees' social security. The mechanism of social security 
was set, premised on permanent employees. Now that that 
Japanese-style employment system has collapsed, and one of three 
workers has become a nonpermanent worker, the number of people who 
are ousted from the social security network is on the increase. 
 
Relief measures: Social benefit system cold to working generation 
 
A safety net to rescue unemployed people is not fully functioning. 
People who are entitled to receive unemployment benefits are, in 
principle, those who have been insured for more than a year. There 
are cases in which nonpermanent workers who have been hired for a 
short period of time cannot meet requirements for receiving 
benefits. There are also many who cannot afford to pay medical 
insurance and pension premiums due to unstable income. 
 
The last safety net for those whose income base has been undermined 
is social security benefits. However, Senshu University Professor 
Naoyoshi Karakama, a specialist in social security studies, 
lamented: "Now, when streets are full of jobless people, is the time 
when the social security system should be fully used, and yet, such 
people in the working generation are not receiving benefits." 
 
It is not unusual for young people in Europe and the U.S. to receive 
benefits from the social security system. In Japan, among 1.07 
 
TOKYO 00000455  008 OF 010 
 
 
million households that receive social security benefits, those in 
the working generation -- excluding sick, disabled and elderly 
people -- account only 200,000 or roughly 20 PERCENT . 
 
Japan's welfare benefit system, which is based on the principles of 
nondiscrimination and impartiality, does not make any distinction 
according to age and the cause of poverty. It is said that the 
system is in fact to harsh on the working generation. According to 
an investigation by the Japan Federation of Bar Association (JFBA), 
so-called "water's edge operations," which are illegally designed to 
prevent young people from receiving welfare benefits, are widely 
carried out by local governments throughout the nation. For this 
reason, many workers who were forced out of their jobs do not even 
go for advice due to misunderstanding that they are not entitled to 
receive welfare benefits or due to an aversion to the idea of 
receiving welfare benefits. 
 
A proposal for further tightening the system to the working 
generation has been made. The expert research group of the Council 
on Economic and Fiscal Policy has proposed shortening the welfare 
benefit payment period to five years because of the fiscal burden, 
which reached 2.63 trillion yen in fiscal 2006 -- up 27 PERCENT 
over five years. 
 
The U.S. Support System for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, 
which started in 1997, is the precedent of the five-year welfare 
benefit payment. Under that system, the number of recipients 
decreased 60 PERCENT  from the peak period. Cases in which 
recipients were unable to find jobs after the expiration of the 
payment, lost houses and are unable to receive sufficient medical 
services have been reported. The deep-seated view is that if such a 
system is introduced in Japan, it would no longer be possible to 
call the welfare system the last safety net, as Hanazono University 
Professor Atsushi Yoshinaga said. 
 
How to improve situation: Self-reliance effort should be backed with 
quicker assistance 
 
Cases in which attorneys or members of private-sector organizations 
accompany jobless people when they go to municipal offices to apply 
for welfare benefits are becoming visible. Their aim is to help them 
surmount local governments' so-called water's edge operations 
intended to turn down applications. Another aim of their 
accompanying jobless people is to monitor illegal activities seen at 
the counter of municipal offices. Officials, for instance, refuse to 
give application forms, saying that since they are young, they 
should work. 
 
The JFBA last year compiled an amendment to the Public Assistance 
Law. The key elements of the draft amendment include the 
introduction of a system to block the water's edge operations and 
the provision of positive assistance to the working poor. The draft 
amendment also includes a proposal for enabling people in the low 
income bracket, whose income only slightly exceeds the level 
eligible for welfare benefits, to receive housing and medical 
allowances. The report thus proposes reforming the system to make it 
more usable. It also aims at helping low income earner become 
self-reliant. 
 
(8) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
 
TOKYO 00000455  009 OF 010 
 
 
Japan, China to discuss bilateral extradition accord, treaty for 
repatriation of convicts 
 
Mainichi: 
GM reports net loss of 3 trillion yen for 2008: Sales suffer 17 
PERCENT  drop 
 
Yomiuri: 
U.S. to see 171 trillion yen deficit in fiscal 2009 
 
Nikkei: 
Government mulls boosting funds for CP purchases, public loans to 
4.5 trillion yen 
 
Sankei: 
Defense Ministry start mulling intercepting North Korean missiles 
after introduction of missile defense system 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
U.S. to boost public fund framework by 24 trillion yen in Budget 
Message by President 
 
Akahata: 
U.S. forces Japan realignment, transfer of marines to Guam: Burden 
of Okinawa unlikely to decrease; possibility of deployment of 
another unit 
 
(9) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) To Prime Minister Aso: We call on dissolution of Lower House at 
early date 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) New piracy law: It is necessary to halt easing of guidelines for 
use of weapons 
(2) North Korea's test-launching warning: Even launch of artificial 
satellite unacceptable 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Cell-phone use by children: Fill gap in perception between 
parents and children 
(2) Ten years since Japan's first brain transplant: Organs no longer 
available from abroad 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Pain of South Korean president over economy one year since 
taking office 
(2) Secure safety of medical technology for reproduction 
 
Sankei: 
(1) USFJ curtailment: Democratic Part of Japan President should 
clarify entire picture of his stance 
(2) New astronauts: Change in selection of candidates indicates 
Japan's space development has entered turning point 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Children and cell-phones: Many parent do not know reality of 
situation 
(2) Foreign minister to visit China: Pour oil on trouble waters in 
East China Sea 
 
 
TOKYO 00000455  010 OF 010 
 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Financial revitalization: Setting international rules to be 
called into question 
 
(10) Prime Minister's schedule, February 26 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
February 27, 2009 
 
07:34 
Met Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsumoto at the Kantei. 
 
09:00 
Attended a Lower House Budget Committee meeting. 
 
12:13 
Called at Imperial Palace to report his return. 
 
12:31 
Arrived at the Kantei 
 
14:55 
Met Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Uruma. 
 
15:21 
Met Upper House member Yoriko Kawaguchi, chair of the international 
committee of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Followed by 
the Ecuadorean Telecommunications Management Agency Director General 
Jaramillo, with Internal Affairs & Communications Deputy Vice 
Minister Terasaki. 
 
16:04 
Met Cabinet Office's Vice Minister Yamamoto and Decoration Bureau 
Director General Fukushima. Followed by International Basketball 
Federation Chairman Elphinstone, Japan Basketball Association Vice 
Chairman Samuro and others. 
 
17:07 
Met Cabinet Intelligence Director Mitani. Later, met Internal 
Affairs & Communications Minister Hatoyama, Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Kawamura, and Uruma. Kawamura stayed behind. 
 
18:24 
Met LDP Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters Head Chuma. 
Followed by baseball special envoy Sadaharu Oh and others. 
 
19:35 
Met his local support group members at the Hotel New Otani. 
 
21:34 
Returned to his official residence. 
 
ZUMWALT