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P 210628Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
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INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8150
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 7680

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 002426 
 
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 10/21/09 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Concerned about possible derailment of U.S. force realignment, 
U.S. Defense Secretary Gates throws cold water on Tokyo's intention 
to postpone Futenma issue (Mainichi) 
 
(2) Residents near U.S. bases in areas other than Okinawa also call 
for base realignment (Asahi) 
 
(3) Editorial: It is wrong for the U.S. to insist on relocating the 
Futenma base within Okinawa (Okinawa Times) 
 
(4) U.S. Ambassador to visit Okinawa in November; SDP head Fukushima 
calls for his visit (Okinawa Times) 
 
(5) Hatoyama administration's "backsliding" on postal privatization 
questioned (Nikkei) 
 
(6) Editorial: New basic policy of postal reform; isn't this the 
withdrawal of postal reform? (Nikkei) 
 
(7) New flu infections estimated at 640,000 (Yomiuri) 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Concerned about possible derailment of U.S. force realignment, 
U.S. Defense Secretary Gates throws cold water on Tokyo's intention 
to postpone Futenma issue 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full) 
October 21, 2009 
 
Yoso Furumoto 
 
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is the first U.S. 
cabinet minister to visit Japan since the Hatoyama administration 
was launched, held talks with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (on 
Oct. 20). The talks revealed a wide gap between the views of Japan 
and the United States on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine 
Corps' Futenma Air Station, throwing cold water on Tokyo's intention 
to postpone its decision. If Tokyo takes a wrong step, it could 
adversely affect the entire Japan-U.S. relationship. With President 
Barack Obama's visit to Japan coming up in November, Tokyo is faced 
with a tough task. 
 
"I especially want to discuss the relocation of Futenma Air 
Station," Secretary Gates said before taking questions about the 
matter from the traveling press corps including a Mainichi Shimbun 
reporter onboard a special government plane (traveling to Japan). He 
made it clear that the major purpose of his trip to Japan is to 
discuss the Futenma relocation issue. 
 
Afghan policy is the biggest challenge facing U.S. foreign and 
security policies. As such, seeking cooperation on aid for 
Afghanistan had been regarded as the main purpose of Gates's current 
tour that will also take him to Slovakia where the defense ministers 
of Japan, South Korea, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
(NATO) will meet. 
 
Contrary to such speculation, Gates has decided to focus on the 
Futenma relocation issue during his stay in Japan. He has apparently 
recognized the need to press the Japanese government to implement 
 
TOKYO 00002426  002 OF 008 
 
 
the relocation plan, as was agreed upon, by setting Nov. 12, the day 
President Obama is to arrive in Japan, as the de facto "deadline" 
for the issue. 
 
In the wake of the launch of the Hatoyama administration, there were 
moves in the United States to wait and see for several months, as 
seen in Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell's statement 
calling for patience, thinking applying foreign pressure would draw 
backlash from Tokyo. These moves prompted the Hatoyama 
administration to postpone its conclusion on the Futenma issue. 
 
A package deal between Japan and the United States is designed to 
complete the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, including the 
transfer of a carrier-based air wing from U.S. Naval Air Facility 
Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture to the U.S. Martine Corps' Iwakuni Air 
Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, by 2014. The plan is already 
slightly behind schedule. Washington thinks that if it allows Tokyo 
to put off a decision, it is possible that the U.S. force 
realignment plan will be stalled and that the discussion will go 
back to square one. 
 
Asked about the possible impact of the Japanese government's failure 
to implement the agreement, Gates said clearly: "I don't want to 
speculate. It is a government-to-government agreement, and I am 
certain that the two sides will keep their promises." The defense 
secretary was not only applying pressure on the Japanese government 
but also implying that a failure to abide by the agreement would 
have a serious impact on the bilateral alliance. 
 
(2) Residents near U.S. bases in areas other than Okinawa also call 
for base realignment 
 
ASAHI (Kanagawa edition) (Page 31) (Full) 
October 20, 2009 
 
Sagami Depot, a U.S. Army facility, is located north of JR 
Sagamihara Station and covers a vast expanse of land. Hisao Kishi, 
76, who was an employee of Sagamihara City's municipal government 
and lives near the facility, has been wondering if this huge base 
should be there. The base has constituted a major hindrance to the 
daily lives of local residents and urban development. In the roadmap 
adopted in May 2006 for realigning U.S. forces in Japan, the U.S. 
agreed to return 17 hectares west of the land covering a total area 
of about 214 hectares to Japan and to allow the municipal government 
to use 35 hectares with the U.S. military. All the more because he 
was engaged in a campaign for returning the site of the base as a 
leader of local residents, he was especially pleased with this 
decision. 
 
Kishi participated in working out a local development plan in 
cooperation with the municipal government. More than three years 
have already passed since then, but little progress has been made. 
Kishi angrily said: "I wonder how the central government has taken 
the citizens' strong desire to see the plan smoothly implemented." 
 
The government led by the Democratic Party of Japan has advocated 
reviewing the existing plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan. But the 
focus of attention is always on U.S. military bases in Okinawa. In 
the campaign for the upcoming by-election (in Kanagawa) for an Upper 
House seat, as well, attention is being paid to Okinawa. Kishi 
emphasized: "The prefecture hosts the nation's second largest number 
of U.S. bases. I want the government to properly pay attention to 
 
TOKYO 00002426  003 OF 008 
 
 
the realignment of U.S. forces in areas other than Okinawa." 
 
(3) Editorial: It is wrong for the U.S. to insist on relocating the 
Futenma base within Okinawa 
 
OKINAWA TIMES (Page 5) (Full) 
October 21, 2009 
 
We hope that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama firmly conveys to the 
U.S. his pledge to the voters to relocate the Futenma out of Okinawa 
or out of Japan. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is on a 
visit to Japan, met Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. He indicated his 
desire to implement the plan to relocate the U.S. forces' Futenma 
Air Station to Henoko in Nago City based on the agreement reached 
between Japan and the U.S. Mr. Okada explained that the political 
situation has changed with the change of administration and sought 
his understanding of the delay in reaching a conclusion. 
 
The Obama administration in the United States has also reviewed an 
agreement to deploy a missile defense system in Europe after the 
change of administration. It is absurd that the U.S. is fixated with 
an agreement reached with Japan's previous administration. Prime 
Minister Hatoyama remarked that "the flexibility of deciding after 
discussing with the U.S. government with an open mind is necessary." 
This is right on the mark. 
 
Mr. Gates will meet with Prime Minister Hatoyama and Defense 
Minister Toshimi Kitazawa today. Inasmuch as the wavering of Prime 
Minister Hatoyama and the concerned cabinet ministers on the 
relocation issue has become pronounced recently, we hope that they 
will firmly assert the principle of relocation out of Okinawa or out 
of Japan pledged during the House of Representatives election 
campaign. That, we think, will contribute to a "close and equal 
relationship" with the U.S., as stated in the (Democratic Party of 
Japan's) manifesto (campaign pledges). 
 
However, it appears that Prime Minister Hatoyama is postponing his 
conclusion until after the Nago mayoral election in January. If the 
security of the country is left to the judgment of one local public 
entity, this will be an indication of the vulnerability of the 
Japan-U.S. security alliance. We think this is unacceptable. It 
would be outrageous if the intention is, actually, to find a way to 
carry out the existing plan depending on the outcome of the 
election. The will of the citizens of Nago has already been 
expressed through the referendum held in 1997. The local community 
should not be plunged into further division and confusion. 
 
On the other hand, Mr. Gates did not object to Japan's proposal to 
withdraw the Maritime Self-Defense Force from the refueling mission 
in the Indian Ocean by January and to cooperate with vocational 
training of former Taliban soldiers and other forms of civilian 
aid. 
 
We ask Governor Hirokazu Nakaima to give some thought to how his 
messages are being received outside of Okinawa. While he is saying 
that the best option is relocation out of the prefecture and the 
second best option is to relocate within the prefecture to a new 
offshore facility, the first half of his message has mostly been 
lost on the Japanese mainland, and only the second half is being 
emphasized. His real intent is not coming across clearly. If 
Governor Nakaima thinks that relocation outside of Okinawa is the 
best option, he should try to persuade the DPJ administration 
 
TOKYO 00002426  004 OF 008 
 
 
proactively, and now is the time to do so. 
 
The superiority of Okinawa's geographic location no longer holds 
water. Since the Marines are being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, 
which are far away from Okinawa, there is no necessity of stationing 
them in the prefecture. Experts also see no role for them with 
regard to North Korea's missile issue, which is a cause of concern 
in East Asia. As to the possibility of an armed conflict between 
China and Taiwan, this has become hard to imagine with their 
increasingly close economic ties. 
 
The DPJ's position on relocating the Marines out of Okinawa or out 
of Japan since its days in the opposition is rational. The 
construction of Futenma's replacement facility in the coastal area 
of Henoko in Nago City is being planned for these Marines. 
 
The DPJ has taken over the administration from the Liberal 
Democratic Party. Candidates opposed to relocating the Futenma base 
to Henoko won in all four electoral districts in Okinawa in the 
recent Lower House election. 
 
At his meeting with Mr. Gates, we hope that Prime Minister Hatoyama 
will explain in detail that the political situation has changed 
completely, stand firm on the principle of relocation out of Okinawa 
or out of Japan, and show his guts in winning the United States' 
understanding. 
 
(4) U.S. Ambassador to visit Okinawa in November; SDP head Fukushima 
calls for his visit 
 
OKINAWA TIMES (Page 3) (Full) 
October 21, 2009 
 
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos will visit Okinawa in November in 
connection with the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air 
Station. This was revealed by State Minister for Consumer Affairs 
Mizuho Fukushima (who heads the Social Democratic Party) at a news 
conference on the morning of Oct. 20. According to Fukushima, she 
learned of the news from Ambassador Roos during his courtesy call on 
her. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has announced 
that DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa will hold talks with Roos at 
DPJ headquarters on the evening of Oct. 21. The event -- Ozawa's 
first meeting with Roos since becoming DPJ secretary general -- will 
take place at the request of Roos, according to the DPJ. 
 
Fukushima indicated that during her meeting with Roos on Oct. 19, 
she said: "You visited Hiroshima (on Oct. 4). This time around, I 
want to see you visit Okinawa." Fukushima quoted Roos as replying, 
"I will go there next month." 
 
Fukushima also asked not to build a base in the Henoko district in 
the city of Nago, the relocation site for Futenma Air Station, where 
(the ocean) is especially beautiful in Okinawa. There was no 
clear-cut answer. 
 
(5) Hatoyama administration's "backsliding" on postal privatization 
questioned 
 
NIKKEI (Page 1) (Full) 
October 21, 2009 
 
Mikio Kanno, editorial staff member 
 
TOKYO 00002426  005 OF 008 
 
 
 
The Hatoyama administration's backsliding on postal privatization 
will accelerate with Japan Post President Yoshifumi Nishikawa's 
announcement of his resignation. The administration's talk of 
reviewing postal privatization for improving services in the 
localities and rectifying disparities is music to the ear, but 
reforms to move from the government operations to the private 
sector, aimed at sustaining Japan's economic vitality in an age of 
global competition, declining birth rate, and aging society, may be 
seriously set back. 
 
Private sector vitality to be jeopardized 
 
Nishikawa looked back on his four years in office at his news 
conference announcing his resignation, saying: "I have made efforts 
to transform a government business backed by the government's 
credibility into a private business that works to win the trust of 
customers and the market through its own efforts." 
 
The job of Nishikawa, who was asked by former Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi to head Japan Post, was to use his management 
skills from his experience working for a private bank to reform the 
enormous postal businesses. 
 
Postal savings and insurance had sucked financial assets amounting 
to several hundred trillion yen from Japanese households, serving as 
a government-run financial institution used to fund unprofitable 
projects. Drastic measures had to be taken to change the economy 
into one where funds and resources were mainly channeled to the 
private sector. The reform of moving government operations to the 
private sector was indispensable for Japan to sustain its capacity 
for economic growth. 
 
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a landslide victory in the 
2005 House of Representatives election, where Koizumi reduced the 
points of contention to just one -- postal privatization --  and won 
the voters' support. There was also strong criticism of the 
excessive expansion of the government-run postal businesses. 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which used to compete with the 
LDP in promoting structural reforms, subsequently used opposition to 
the Koizumi reforms as a means of expanding its support. Its policy 
of reviewing postal privatization also clearly arose from the desire 
to promote election cooperation with the People's New Party (PNP), 
which is opposed to postal privatization. After the DPJ won an 
impressive victory in the recent Lower House election, its 
abandonment of the privatization policy became obvious when PNP 
leader Shizuka Kamei was appointed state minister for postal reform 
and financial affairs. 
 
The policy now is to integrate the postal savings, insurance, and 
delivery services and use the network of post offices as hubs for 
the protection of the rights of the weak and the rectification of 
social disparities. For sure, it is important to improve services to 
the users. However, the new administration's policy turns its back 
on the policy direction of entrusting the postal businesses to the 
private sector, and this amounts to the "re-nationalization" of the 
postal businesses. 
 
Yet, the revival of government-run financial operations will not be 
able to open new horizons for Japan's economy. Government will 
remain involved in management of postal savings and insurance, while 
 
TOKYO 00002426  006 OF 008 
 
 
financial operations backed by the government's credibility will be 
preserved. Under this set-up, private sector financial services 
cannot hope to develop, although the private financial institutions' 
lack of creativity in their management is partly to blame for this. 
 
The same is true for the postal delivery business, which is 
suffering from declining profits like elsewhere in the world because 
of the spread of the Internet. Efforts to find ways to survive 
through collaboration with private companies both in Japan and 
overseas have been made since privatization. Can such private sector 
business sense be sustained after the policy change? 
 
Nishikawa's management did have its shortcomings. Investing 80 
percent of funds from postal savings and insurance in government 
bonds can hardly be considered normal. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama 
should explain what were the problems with postal reforms. 
 
Take responsibility for the future 
 
The government will have to issue over 50 trillion yen in bonds in 
FY09, giving rise to the abnormal situation of bond issuance 
exceeding revenue income for the first time in postwar history. The 
formulation of the FY2010 budget has also seen the inflation of 
budget requests, particularly appropriations for social security, 
under the slogan of a "welfare economy." 
 
Breaking away from the bureaucracy and political leadership is well 
and good, but has this not resulted only in greater reliance on the 
government? It will not be surprising for people who hope for change 
under the new administration to come to have doubts. 
 
Voters who are concerned about the future will certainly see through 
this backsliding aimed at winning support in the immediate future. 
 
(6) Editorial: New basic policy of postal reform; isn't this the 
withdrawal of postal reform? 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
October 21, 2009 
 
The governments has adopted at a cabinet meeting a basic policy of 
postal reform designed to drastically revise postal privatization. 
Following the move, Japan Post Holdings Co. president Yoshifumi 
Nishikawa announced his intention to step down before serving out 
his term. The postal privatization was aimed to turn around the 
economy through the switch of the direction of the flow of funds 
from the public sector to the private sector. A major change to the 
privatization plan, even though it has some problems, including that 
the plan will cause a decline in services for residents in some 
areas, would substantively increase costs to be shouldered by the 
Japanese economy. 
 
According to the basic postal reform policy, the present 
four-company system under Japan Post Holdings Co. will be 
reorganized into a system in which mail delivery, postal savings, 
and postal insurance are available at every post office. Regulations 
that are different from those applied to the Banking Law and the 
Insurance Law will be introduced. This system will be used for 
administrative service with the use of the network of post offices 
as bases for correcting regional disparities. Following the 
decision, the government will submit to the Diet session to be 
convened on Oct. 26 a bill freezing the sale of stocks of the Japan 
 
TOKYO 00002426  007 OF 008 
 
 
Post Group. 
 
Many questions remain. Providing courteous service nationwide would 
inflate business costs. Who would shoulder those costs? It can be 
assumed that the government intends to have Japan Post Bank Co. and 
Japan Post Insurance Co. give up becoming independent as privatized 
companies. If that is the case, we are afraid that the basic policy 
could cause the emerging efficiency at both companies to decline. 
 
The stocks of Japan Post Bank Co. and Japan Post Insurance Co. were 
to be put up for sale on the market as early as next year. If the 
plan is suspended for a long period of time, the two companies with 
the backing of public trust in the government (the government still 
wholly owns their stocks) will likely squeeze the operations of 
private financial institutions. 
 
What is more, if the Japan Post Group, the government's wholly owned 
company, has sole jurisdiction over funds coming from postal savings 
and postal insurance, the postal business would return to the 
previous state. As a matter of fact, State Minister for Postal 
Reform has suggested a plan to invest such funds as postal savings 
into the development of local regions (as was the case during 
previous administrations). 
 
An enormous amount of postal savings funds and postal insurance 
funds had been funneled into special corporations and the central 
and local governments under the fiscal investment and loan system 
and used in an inefficient manner. The principle of postal reform 
was supposed to use those funds effectively in the private sector 
for the revitalization of the economy by correcting such a system. 
 
The process leading to President Nishikawa's decision to step down 
casts a shadow on the future of the postal reform. President 
Nishikawa, who once served as the president of Sumitomo Mitsui 
Banking Corporation, assumed the post at the request of former prime 
minister Junichiro Koizumi. Even some in the Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP) during the previous administration took a view that the 
sale of Kampo no Yado (a Japan Post-owned resort hotel chain) 
involved questionable procedures. However, an investigation by the 
Internal Affairs Ministry did not find clear irregularities. Neither 
the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) nor the People's New Party (PNP) 
has come up with new revelations. 
 
The government relegated the management of Japan Post Holdings Co. 
to a private citizen, and yet it treated him in a manner close to 
bullying. On top of that, if it had pressed him to resign, giving 
the policy switch as the reason, it is questionable whether a 
private citizen would to accept an offer for the presidency of such 
a company. Considering such a situation, we cannot but regard the 
government plan to review postal privatization as synonymous with 
withdrawing from postal reform. 
 
(7) New flu infections estimated at 640,000 
 
YOMIURI CHUBU EDITION (Page 32) (Full) 
October 17, 2009 
 
The number of people who visited medical institutions across Japan 
for flu treatment during the period from Oct. 5 to 11 was estimated 
to be about 640,000, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases 
announced on Oct. 16 based on its fixed-point survey of about 5,000 
medical institutions nationwide. The number of flu patients 
 
TOKYO 00002426  008 OF 008 
 
 
increased rapidly from about 330,000 recorded the previous week. The 
number of people infected with influenza since July totaled about 
2.34 million. It appears that most of the 2.34 million were infected 
with the new flu. 
 
More than 80 PERCENT  of the 640,000 flu patients were minors. About 
40,000 patients were aged four and younger, 160,000 were aged 5 to 
9, 230,000 were aged 10 to 14, and 100,000 were aged 15 to 19. The 
figures indicated an increase in flu infections, particularly among 
elementary and junior high school students. 
 
By prefecture, Hokkaido had the highest ratio at 38.96 patients per 
institution, easily exceeding the prefectural warning level of 30, 
followed by Aichi with 23.52, Fukuoka with 23.48, Kanagawa with 
21.63, Okinawa with 19.48, Tokyo with 18.98 and Osaka with 16.96. 
 
The number of flu cases treated per institution in Aichi increased 
by more than double from 10.39 patients recorded the previous week. 
In both Mie and Gifu prefectures, the number of flu cases treated 
per institution doubled to 11.07 and 7.45 patients, respectively. 
The 11.07 patients in Mie exceeded the prefectural alert criteria of 
¶10. 
 
ROOS