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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 002798 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; 
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; 
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; 
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
 
SUBJECT:  JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 12/08/09 
 
INDEX: 
 
Futenma issue: 
1) Hatoyama to inform Obama of delay on Futenma decision on the 
sidelines of COP15 summit  (Yomiuri) 
2) Kitazawa to visit Guam this week  (Sankei) 
3) Terashima calls for early settlement of Futenma issue  (Asahi) 
 
Secret accords: 
4) Okada says Japan will coordinate with U.S. before results of 
blue-ribbon panel's investigation are released  (Nikkei) 
5) Japan covered cost of returning land to original state in return 
for America's keeping secret accord on Okinawa a secret  (Asahi) 
 
Environment: 
6) Japan fails to outline a strategy for COP15  (Nikkei) 
 
Politics: 
7) Ozawa: solidarity of coalition important  (Asahi) 
8) Futenma and extra stimulus measures rattle the coalition 
(Nikkei) 
9) Bill eliminating vice ministers to be submitted to regular Diet 
session  (Mainichi) 
10) Ozawa agrees with Pope's opinion  (Sankei) 
 
Foreign relations: 
11) World Bank President and Japanese leaders agree to coordinate on 
Asian aid  (Asahi) 
12) Hatoyama says Japan will move forward with East Asian Community 
initiative based on a strengthened Japan-U.S. alliance  (Nikkei) 
13) Ozawa-led DPJ delegation leaves for China on Dec. 10  (Mainichi) 
 
 
Economy: 
14) Final touches being put on 7.2-trillion-yen stimulus package 
(Nikkei) 
15) Taiwanese President eager for FTA among Japan, U.S., Europe, and 
Asia  (Nikkei) 
16) Japan-U.S. civil air talks begin  (Asahi) 
 
Opinion: 
17) Yomiuri poll: 45 PERCENT  think Japan-China relations are good; 
up 9 points  (Yomiuri) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) FUTENMA ISSUE 
 
PM Hatoyama to tell President Obama Futenma decision deferred at 
COP15 meeting 
 
YOMIURI (Top play) (Abridged) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters at the Prime Minister's 
Official Residence (Kantei) on Dec. 7 that he intends to firm up his 
policy on dealing with the question of the relocation of the U.S. 
forces' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa by the time of the summit 
level meeting of the 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) on Dec. 17-18. The 
dominant view in the government and the ruling parties is that the 
Prime Minister's policy will not specify the relocation site and 
 
TOKYO 00002798  002 OF 009 
 
 
will postpone a conclusion in consideration of the Social Democratic 
Party and others who insist on relocation out of Okinawa or out of 
Japan. It is believed that Hatoyama has judged that in order to 
settle the confusion over the Futenma issue, it is necessary to 
decide on the government's official policy before year end and 
notify the U.S. formally. 
 
Hatoyama also said: "It would be good if I can meet President Obama. 
Until then, I will explain the government's thinking clearly and 
seek his understanding," indicating his desire to meet with 
President Obama, who will also attend the COP15 summit meeting, and 
convey the Futenma policy to him directly. 
 
However, with regard to whether the relocation site will be 
specified, Hatoyama refrained from answering the question, saying: 
"I am not necessarily saying (that I will specify the relocation 
site)." 
 
Hatoyama met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, Foreign 
Minister Katsuya Okada, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, and 
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Seiji 
Maehara on this issue at the Kantei on Dec. 7. Okada also met with 
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos at the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs on the same day. 
 
Since Kitazawa is making a trip to Guam in the afternoon of Dec. 8, 
Hatoyama will hold another meeting with the four cabinet members to 
confirm the policy of deferring a conclusion before Kitazawa's 
departure. 
 
2) Defense chief to visit Guam this week 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa will visit Guam this week to take 
a look at the U.S. military bases there. Japan and the United States 
have reached an intergovernmental agreement on a "roadmap" to 
realign U.S. forces in Japan. Based on this agreement, the United 
States will transfer about 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa 
Prefecture to Guam. These troops will be redeployed to air and naval 
bases on Guam, and Kitazawa would like to take a look at these 
bases. 
 
"I want to look at things like geographical features and U.S. 
military deployments there," Kitazawa said in a press conference 
yesterday. The Social Democratic Party, one of the ruling Democratic 
Party of Japan's two coalition partners, has been calling for the 
government to consider Guam to take over the heliport functions of 
the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa 
Prefecture. Kitazawa is therefore likely to explore whether it would 
be possible to move the Okinawa-based Marines to Guam. 
 
3) Interview with Jitsuro Terashima, Prime Minister Hatoyama's 
foreign policy adviser - Redesigning Japan-U.S. relationship 
necessary for settling Futenma issue 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Keiichi Kaneko 
 
 
TOKYO 00002798  003 OF 009 
 
 
Jitsuro Terashima, chairman of the Japan Research Institute, gave an 
interview to the Asahi Shimbun. Terashima is a long-time friend of 
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and is also known as his foreign 
policy adviser. 
 
-- Prime Minister Hatoyama is flip-flopping on the issue of 
relocating Futenma Air Station (in Ginowan, Okinawa). 
 
Terashima: In mid-November, Prime Minister Hatoyama reached a 
general agreement with President Obama to discuss the Japan-U.S. 
security arrangements from a broad perspective in the future. Japan 
and the United States will discuss a strategic dialogue for one 
year. It is vital to confirm that the two countries will put the 
future bilateral alliance and the Status of Forces Agreement on the 
table (for discussion). It is essential to reach a conclusion to the 
Futenma issue as soon as possible premised on the determination of 
its framework and the timetable. This issue will not end even if 
Futenma Air Station is moved to the Henoko district in Nago or 
outside the prefecture. 
 
-- What does that mean? 
 
Terashima: Even if the air station is moved to the site promised by 
the previous administration, it is clear the matter must be resolved 
in the process of reviewing the modalities of U.S. bases in Japan 
over the next 10, 20, 30 years. 
 
The Prime Minister must say, "What we must push ahead now is a 
redesign of the overall Japan-U.S. relationship." There will be no 
settlement to the Futenma issue unless a clear goal is presented. 
 
Bases must be reduced after conducting thorough discussions on the 
purpose and the modalities of each base, as was done by Germany. 
Even if the U.S. military withdraws its forward-deployed troops to 
the Hawaii-Guam line, there is the approach of Japan and the United 
States jointly maintaining an emergency dispatch force, with Japan 
shouldering the cost. 
 
-- Do you understand the Prime Minister's feelings? 
 
Terashima: Being a member of an administration that must deal with 
postwar Japan, he is aware of the problems that must be resolved. 
There are people who don't question the presence of foreign forces 
in Japan. But they must possess strong critical minds. 
 
-- It is a problem that the Prime Minister cannot explain things. 
 
Terashima: It is true that his ability to offer a convincing 
explanation of the Japan-U.S. alliance is being questioned by people 
in various positions. He must also convince the Social Democratic 
Party from the long-term perspective. If he does not and abruptly 
announces acceptance of relocation to Henoko, people will be 
flabbergasted. 
 
4) Foreign Ministry to hold discussion with U.S. before disclosing 
results of secret nuclear accord examination 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Appearing on an NHK program yesterday, Foreign Minister Katsuya 
Okada referred to the results of an examination on a secret nuclear 
 
TOKYO 00002798  004 OF 009 
 
 
agreement between Japan and the United States, which the Foreign 
Ministry plans to announce as early as January next year. He said, 
"It is not good to shock the U.S. by suddenly announcing the 
results," indicating that he will coordinate views with the U.S. 
side before disclosing the results of the examination, which has 
been conducted by a committee of experts (which is an advisory panel 
Okada has set up in the ministry). 
 
5) Former MOF official testifies on involvement in secret agreement 
on Okinawa's reversion to Japanese administration 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Shunichi Kawabata, Norio Yatsu 
 
In connection with Japan's alleged payment in secret of the cost of 
restoring U.S. military base land to its original state that the 
U.S. was obliged to pay for at the time of Okinawa's reversion to 
Japanese administration, Hajime Morita, 75, who was involved in this 
matter at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) at that time, gave an 
interview to Asahi Shimbun in which he said that he was notified by 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and approved of the payment. 
He said he was also involved in calculating the amount. 
 
Although a previous testimony by Bunroku Yoshino, 91, former 
director general of MOFA's North American Affairs Bureau, had 
revealed the "secret agreement" on the payment of restoration cost 
and the amount paid, the coordination process within the Japanese 
government over the calculation of the amount had not been 
disclosed. Morita's testimony not only supports Yoshino's testimony 
from the MOF side, but also clarifies the details of the process. 
 
Morita became a House of Representatives member subsequently and 
served as transport minister. In 1970-71, before Okinawa's 
reversion, he was assistant to the chief of the MOF's Legal 
Division. He consulted with senior officials of MOFA's Treaties 
Bureau seven or eight times to study the legality of Japan's payment 
of the restoration cost. The Legal Division was responsible for 
checking if budget allocations complied with legal provisions. 
 
6) COP15: Japan unable to formulate strategy 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Excerpts) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Japan is aiming to reach a political agreement on the formulation of 
a new protocol (at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties 
to the Climate Change (COP15)). It will take the position of 
opposing a proposal to extend the current Kyoto Protocol. The 
government plans to adopt a strategy for the COP15 talks at a 
ministerial committee meeting to be held on Dec. 11 to discuss the 
global warming issue. However, it has yet to set a policy course for 
reaching a consensus at COP15. 
 
Japan's goal of cutting domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 25 
percent is premised on industrialized countries agreeing on an 
ambitious target. 
 
However, since discord between industrialized countries and emerging 
and developing countries remains deep-rooted, it will difficult to 
reach a consensus on the direction of formulating a new protocol. 
 
TOKYO 00002798  005 OF 009 
 
 
 
For this reason, some in the administration are beginning to take 
the view that a proposal for formulating a protocol as well as a 
separate framework might be acceptable as a second-best option, 
provided that the U.S. and China set their reduction targets high. 
In that case, it is unclear whether Japan will stick to the goal of 
achieving a 25 percent reduction. 
 
Industrial circles are worried about this indecisiveness of the 
government. Sources related to the steel and power industries are 
concerned that Japan might fail to learn the lessons of the Kyoto 
Protocol (in which a heavier burden was imposed on Japan in 
comparison with other countries) or that Japan's industrial 
competitiveness will decline, undermining national interests. 
 
7) Ozawa places priority on coalition unity in dealing with Futenma 
issue 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of 
Japan, has indicated that it is important for the DPJ and its two 
coalition partners, the People's New Party and the Social Democratic 
Party, to pull together in dealing with the pending issue of 
relocating the U.S. military's Futenma airfield in Okinawa 
Prefecture. The SDP has been calling for the Futenma airfield to be 
moved out of Okinawa Prefecture or Japan. "I was one of the members 
that formed the new administration and I'm in charge of party 
affairs, so I think we will have to work together as partners to 
make the government better," Ozawa said in a press conference 
yesterday. 
 
8) SDP, PNP shaking the administration; Prime Minister fails to 
display leadership regarding Futenma and additional stimulus issues 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Excerpts) 
December 8, 2009 
 
In the process of deciding additional pump-priming measures, the 
instability of the ruling coalition administration, which is at the 
mercy of (the Democratic Party of Japan's) junior partners which 
hold the deciding vote, has now become clear. Pressed hard by the 
People's New Party (PNP) which is calling for a greater 
supplementary budget, the DPJ has been forced to increase the 
issuance of government bonds, making a major compromise. On the 
question of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Station as 
well, the government has postponed its conclusion in deference to 
the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which has been persistently 
insisting on moving the air station outside Okinawa or even out of 
Japan. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's leadership is being 
questioned. 
 
On Dec. 4, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano called on PNP 
head Shizuka Kamei at his office in Tokyo's Yotsuya district and 
promised that the government will make efforts to increase the size 
of the supplementary budget. Hirano later ordered Cabinet Office 
Senior Vice-Minister Motohisa Furukawa to work things out while 
respecting the three-party framework. 
 
In the process of mapping out economic stimulus measures, there have 
been no signs that the Prime Minister demonstrated his leadership. 
 
TOKYO 00002798  006 OF 009 
 
 
 
In the recent Japan-U.S. working group meeting on the Futenma 
relocation issue, the government also informed the U.S. side of its 
decision to postpone a conclusion to next year partly in 
consideration of the SDP. The Hatoyama administration is likely to 
continue facing the risk of problems associated with the coalition 
government. 
 
9) Sengoku eyes abolishment of administrative vice ministerial post 
in reform of public servant system 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
December 8, 2009 
 
State Minister for Government Revitalization Unit Yoshito Sengoku 
(for reforming the Public Servant System) indicated yesterday that 
he would consider abolishing the administrative vice ministerial 
post in each government agency in the reform of the public servant 
system. He said in responding to questions by reporters at the 
Cabinet Office: "(No private firm) has the post of chief 
administrative official in addition to the presidency and the post 
of top manager for personnel affairs." 
 
Sengoku said that he aimed to create a system to enable the cabinet 
ministers, senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries to 
make instructions direct to career bureau director general-level 
officials. He added: "We have decided to submit at an early date 
related bills necessary for such reform plans to the next ordinary 
Diet session (next year)." 
 
10) DPJ's Ozawa: What Pope said is true 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Isamu Koshiishi, chairman of the National Christian Council Japan 
(NCC), called on Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary General 
Ichiro Ozawa yesterday at party headquarters and presented a letter 
of complaint that said, "We cannot overlook Mr. Ozawa's remarks in 
November that Christianity is an exclusive and self-righteous 
religion. We want him to know that Christianity is a religion of 
love." Referring to his past comment, Ozawa, at a press conference 
after that, said, "I have heard that the (Catholic) Pope said that 
Western civilization reached an impasse because Western countries 
pursued simple rationalism, a machine civilization, and a material 
civilization without correctly understanding the true meaning of 
Christianity. I agree with what he said." 
 
11) World Bank governor, Finance Minister agree to work together in 
assisting Asia 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
World Bank Governor Robert Zoellick on Dec. 7 met with Finance 
Minister Hirohisa Fujii at the Finance Ministry. They agreed to 
deepen cooperation for economic assistance to Asian nations. 
Zoellick, who arrived in Japan on the 6th, also met with Prime 
Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and 
discussed the Hatoyama administration's measures to assist 
developing countries. 
 
 
TOKYO 00002798  007 OF 009 
 
 
12) Prime Minister Hatoyama: Strengthening Japan-U.S. alliance is 
basis 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met yesterday with members of the 
Japan-U.S.-India strategic dialogue, which is composed of experts 
from the three countries, at the Prime Minister's Official Residence 
(Kantei). Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage 
handed to Hatoyama a set of suggestions, which stipulates their 
concern about Japan's rapidly increasing fiscal deficit, as well as 
the significance of antiterrorism measures in Afghanistan and 
Pakistan. Hatoyama told them, "I will make an effort to stabilize 
politics, the economy and security in Asia, while promoting my East 
Asian Community initiative based on the policy of strengthening the 
Japan-U.S. alliance." 
 
13) DPJ delegation to China to leave for Beijing on Dec. 10 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 8, 2009 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced yesterday that a 
delegation to China led by Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa will visit 
Beijing for four days from Dec. 10. The delegation will be composed 
of 143 DPJ lawmakers and about 630 people supporting the DPJ. 
Coordination is now underway for Ozawa to meet with Chinese 
President Hu Jintao on Dec. 10. Ozawa will then visit Seoul on the 
11th to attend a dinner party hosted by South Korea President Lee 
Myung Bak on the evening of Dec. 12. He will return to Tokyo on the 
13th. 
 
14) Final coordination continuing on 7.2 trillion yen for economic 
stimulus package 
 
NIKKEI (Top play) (Lead paragraph) 
December 8, 2009 
 
The government and the ruling coalition continued final coordination 
yesterday to complete an emergency economic package to be 
incorporated in the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009. The 
government presented a plan to scale up actual fiscal spending in 
the economic package by 100 billion yen to 7.2 trillion yen. The 
People's New Party (PNP), which is calling for at least 8 trillion 
yen in spending, put a decision on hold yesterday. PNP President 
Shizuka Kamei plans to attend a meeting of the Ministerial 
Conference on Basic Policies this morning. The government hopes to 
adopt the package in a cabinet meeting today. 
 
15) Taiwanese President eager to conclude FTAs with Japan, U.S., 
Europe, and Asia 
 
NIKKEI (Page 8) (Excerpts) 
December 8, 2009 
 
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou gave an interview on Dec. 7 to 
several Japanese media organizations. The president during the 
interview indicated his intention to aim at signing free trade 
agreements with Japan, the U.S., and European and Asian countries 
after concluding an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), 
which is equivalent to the FTA, with China. 
 
TOKYO 00002798  008 OF 009 
 
 
 
At the outset of the interview, Ma underscored his eagerness to 
strengthen ties with Japan. He countered reports made by some 
Japanese media organizations last May when he took office that he 
was anti-Japanese, noting, "Relations between Taiwan and Japan have 
moved forward since I took office." He thus indicated his stance of 
aiming at strengthening ties with Japan and the U.S. as well, 
instead of focusing exclusively on China. 
 
The Democratic Progressive Party in the opposition camp has 
criticized the envisaged ECFA as lacking transparency. This 
criticism was one factor contributing to the ruling Nationalist 
Party or Kuomintang losing seats in local elections on Dec. 5. 
 
In response to the criticism, Ma pointed out the importance of trade 
with China, including the fact that Taiwan's exports to China 
(including Hong Kong) account for 40 percent of the total amount of 
its exports. While noting that FTAs with China or with members of 
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would put Taiwan 
at a disadvantage, Ma reaffirmed his intention to work toward 
signing an ECFA with China, saying, "Improving economic relations 
with China is unavoidable." 
 
Concerning the key issue of purchasing weapons from the U.S., Ma 
revealed the outlook that the U.S. government would reach a new 
decision to sell weapons to Taiwan. However, regarding purchases of 
modified F16 fighter jets, he said that he could not say anything 
definite at the present stage. 
 
16) Japan-U.S. aviation talks start 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
December 8, 2009 
 
The governments of Japan and the U.S. started bilateral aviation 
talks in Washington on Dec. 7 to discuss such issues as further 
opening trans-pacific air service, aiming to agree on concluding a 
pact. The issue of distributing increased departure and arrival 
slots at Haneda and Narita airports will also be discussed. 
 
The 5th round of talks, which started in October of last year, will 
continue until Dec. 10. The talks have been joined by Land, 
Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism Ministry Deputy Vice Minister 
Keiji Takiguchi and others from the Japanese side and Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State John Byerly and others from the U.S. 
side. 
 
The governments of the two countries have decided flight routes and 
other details, based on the International Civil Aviation Convention. 
However, a pact, if concluded, will make it possible for Japanese 
and U.S. airlines to decide such details without any restrictions in 
principle. In this case, it will become possible for Delta Air 
Lines, United Air Lines, and FedEx Corp of the U.S., and Japan 
Airlines, All Nippon airways, and Nippon Cargo Airlines of Japan to 
operate without any restrictions. This means that all Japanese and 
U.S. airlines will be subjected to the liberalization of operations 
between the two countries. 
 
As a result, the Japanese and U.S. authorities are likely to place 
joint operations by the airlines companies outside the reach of 
their respective antitrust acts. If a pact is concluded, since 
companies of Japan and the U.S. will be allowed to coordinate such 
 
TOKYO 00002798  009 OF 009 
 
 
details as prices and arrival and departure times, they will be able 
to become more competitive and provide convenient services for 
travelers. Such moves have prompted European and U.S. airline 
companies to lower their fares. 
 
Departures and arrivals slots will be increased at Narita next March 
and at Haneda next October. How to allocate these increased slots is 
also expected to be discussed in the talks. 
 
17) Poll: 45 PERCENT  in Japan, 50 PERCENT  in China see Japan-China 
ties as "good" 
 
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Abridged) 
December 8, 2009 
 
The Yomiuri Shimbun and Liaowang Dongfang Zhoukang (Oriental Outlook 
Weekly), a weekly magazine published by China's New China News 
Agency, conducted a joint public opinion survey of the Japanese and 
Chinese public, in which respondents were asked about the current 
status of bilateral relations between Japan and China. In Japan, 45 
PERCENT  answered that Japan-China relations are in "good" shape, 
while 47 PERCENT  said they are "bad." In China, "good" accounted 
for 50 PERCENT , with "bad" at 43 PERCENT . As seen from these 
figures, the Japanese public's view of bilateral ties was severer 
than the Chinese public's. In Japan, however, "good" increased 9 
percentage points from 36 PERCENT  last year, reaching the highest 
ever since 2006 when the two countries' relations were going from 
bad to worse with the Koizumi cabinet in office. The increase can be 
taken as reflecting the fact that there were no issues for the two 
countries to clash over. 
 
In Japan, respondents were also asked if they thought China is 
trustworthy. To this question, "yes" accounted for 28 PERCENT  (19 
PERCENT  last year), with "no" at 69 PERCENT  (78 PERCENT  last 
year). The figures show that the Japanese public's view of China has 
changed for the better. In China, respondents were also asked if 
they thought Japan is trustworthy. In response, 34 PERCENT  answered 
"yes," with 63 PERCENT  saying "no." 
 
In the survey, respondents were also asked about economic relations. 
"When comparing China and the United States, which country do you 
think will be more important to Japan?" To this question, 46 PERCENT 
 in Japan picked China, while 28 PERCENT  chose the United States. 
In China, respondents were likewise asked to choose between Japan 
and the United States. In response, 52 PERCENT  picked the United 
States, with 6 PERCENT  choosing Japan. 
 
ROOS