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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 000065 
 
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 01/12/10 
 
INDEX: 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei) 
 
Foreign relations: 
4) Chinese vice-president would like Hatoyama to visit China this 
year  (Asahi) 
5) Okada leaves for Hawaii for meeting with Clinton  (Sankei) 
 
Defense & security: 
6) Number of days nuclear-powered ships were in Yokosuka a record 
number of days in 2009  (Akahata) 
7) Blue-ribbon panel investigating secret accords decides to 
postpone the release of its findings  (Asahi) 
8) Numerous documents on secret accords were destroyed  (Yomiuri) 
9) Release of report on secret accords this month difficult 
(Nikkei) 
 
JAL restructuring: 
10) JAL likely to form tie-up with Delta  (Mainichi) 
11) International routes focus in JAL revitalization  (Nikkei) 
12) Ceiling on loans to JAL set at 800 billion yen  (Yomiuri) 
 
Politics: 
13) Regular diet session to be convened on 18th; stormy from the 
start  (Nikkei) 
14) Govt. to submit to the diet a bill granting foreigners with 
permanent residence status the right to vote in local elections 
(Asahi) 
15) Non-government advisers to prime minister to be doubled to 10 
(Tokyo Shimbun) 
16) Masuzoe says LDP should observe 70-year-age limit for candidates 
in the proportional representative block of the Upper House election 
 (Nikkei) 
 
Economy: 
17) Joint public-private initiative for Asia strategy is first under 
Hatoyama administration  (Nikkei) 
18) Geithner, Kan agree on importance of stable forex market 
(Sankei) 
 
Opinion: 
19) Kyodo poll: 85 PERCENT  say Ozawa's explanation of land deal 
insufficient  (Tokyo Shimbun) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi: 
Government to submit bill to grant local suffrage to permanent 
foreign residents 
 
Mainichi: 
Disaster Preparedness Center in Tokyo Bay found vulnerable to 
quakes 
 
Yomiuri: 
JAL credit line set at 800 billion yen: Stock likely to be delisted 
 
 
TOKYO 00000065  002 OF 011 
 
 
Nikkei: 
Medical services for elderly people: Government eyes having National 
Health Insurance cover people aged 65 or older 
 
Sankei: 
Government to submit bill granting local suffrage to permanent 
foreign residents to upcoming regular Diet session 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
Land purchase issue poll: 85 percent say, "DPJ Secretary General 
Ozawa has not yet provided sufficient explanation" 
 
Akahata: 
Nuclear-powered naval vessels stayed at U.S. Yokosuka base for 
record number of days in 2009 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) Three airports in Kansai district: Examine closing Itami Airport 
 
(2) System for determining cause of death: The deceased speak for 
the sake of the living 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) Introduction of lay judge system marks second anniversary: 
Competence of legal professionals to be questioned 
(2) Amendment to workers-dispatch law: Give peace of mind and 
dignity to workers 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) Cuts in global-warming greenhouse gasses: Create foundation for 
oil- and coal-free society 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Take advantage of Asia's vitality through trade liberalization 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Caliber of school teachers should be raised through competition 
and evaluation 
(2) Surplus imported new H1N1vaccine 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Review of dam construction projects: Expert Council should be 
made tangible 
(2) Situation in Yemen: Do not make the nation a haven for 
terrorists 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Self-help assistance lawsuit ends: Starting point for the 
physically handicapped to restore their dignity 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, January 11 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 12, 2010 
 
10:01 Attended a meeting of government and DPJ leaders at the Prime 
Minister's Official Residence. 
11:43 Visited the bookstore "Maruzen" in Marunouchi, with Deputy 
 
TOKYO 00000065  003 OF 011 
 
 
Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsui and Editorial Engineering Laboratory 
Chairman Seigo Matsuoka. 
12:52 Had lunch with Matsui, Matsuoka and Maruzen President Takehiko 
Obi at a Japanese restaurant in the Marunouchi Hotel. 
13:40 Talked with Matsui and Matsuoka 
15:50 Arrived at the official residential quarters. 
 
4) Chinese vice president asks for Hatoyama to visit China this 
year 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Kenji Minemura, Beijing 
 
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met yesterday with Shizuoka Gov. 
Heita Kawakatsu, now visiting Beijing. During the meeting, Xi sought 
a visit to China by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama before the end of 
the year. Referring to his Japan visit last month, the vice 
president said, "I thank the Japanese government and other circles 
for being able to deepen mutual understanding," without mentioning 
his meeting with the Emperor. 
 
5) FM Okada departs for Hawaii for talks with U.S. Secretary of 
State Clinton 
 
SANKEI (Page 3) (Abridged) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada departed from Narita Airport for 
Honolulu, Hawaii, on the evening of Jan. 11 for talks with U.S. 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Japan-U.S. foreign 
ministerial meeting will be held on Jan. 12 (Jan. 13, Japan time) 
and the two sides will engage in final coordination on the joint 
statement to be issued on Jan. 19 by the leaders of both countries 
on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the revision of the 
Japan-U.S. security treaty. With regard to the pending issue of the 
relocation of the U.S. forces' Futenma Air Station (in Ginowan City, 
Okinawa), the U.S. side is demanding the early implementation of the 
existing relocation plan, so no major progress is expected. 
 
This will be the third meeting between Okada and Clinton. It is an 
unusual meeting because Okada has flown to Hawaii specifically for 
the purpose of meeting Clinton, who is stopping over there on her 
way to visit Australia and other countries. 
 
6) Nuclear-powered naval vessels stayed at U.S. Yokosuka base for 
record number of days in 2009 
 
AKAHATA (Top play) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Nuclear-powered naval vessels stayed for a record number of days in 
2009 at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, 
according to data compiled by the city. The U.S. military's 
intention to enhance the Yokosuka base as an operational base for 
nuclear-powered vessels has been revealed by the deployment of the 
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington and visits by 
large nuclear-powered submarines. 
 
Last year, the Yokosuka base saw a nearly three-fold increase from 
the year 2008 in the total number of days that U.S. nuclear-powered 
 
TOKYO 00000065  004 OF 011 
 
 
vessels visited, marking 324 days, an increase of 204 days. The 
previous record of 244 days, marked in 1995, since the 
nuclear-powered submarine Snook visited the base in May 1966, has 
now been surpassed. 
 
The number of visits was 23, more than double the number recorded in 
¶2008. 
 
"The number of days that nuclear-powered vessels visited has been 
increasing since the conventional vessel USS Kitty Hawk deployed at 
the Yokosuka base was replaced by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier 
in September 2008," a city official of the base affairs section 
said. 
 
7) Foreign Ministry panel put off disclosure of secret accord 
examination results 
 
ASAHI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 12, 2010 
 
The committee of experts, chaired by University of Tokyo Prof. 
Shinichi Kitaoka, which is in charge of the Foreign Ministry's 
examination of secret Japan-U.S. agreements on, among other things, 
introducing nuclear weapons, held a meeting yesterday in the 
ministry and decided to postpone by about one month the disclosure 
of the results of its examination, although it had planned to made 
it public in mid-January. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada will 
apparently accept the panel's decision. Some committee members had 
claimed that they would need more time for the examination because 
of the enormous number of documents subject to the examination and 
because they are allowed to access the documents only at the 
ministry. 
 
8) MOFA panel to state in planned report that many documents 
pertaining to Japan-U.S. secret agreements were destroyed 
 
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) 
January 12, 2010 
 
The experts' committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) 
(chaired by Tokyo University Professor Shinichi Kitaoka) for 
investigating the "secret agreements" between Japan and the United 
States on the introduction of nuclear arms into Japan and other 
matters concluded at a meeting on Jan. 11 that it is highly possible 
that many documents attesting to these secret agreement have been 
destroyed. The panel plans to point out the sloppiness of MOFA's 
archiving of documents in its report. However, it appears that the 
documents were discarded based on ministry rules, so the report will 
not touch on the personal responsibility of senior officials. This 
issue will be left for Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to decide on. 
 
Before the experts' committee began its investigation, MOFA's 
internal investigation failed to find a document allegedly signed by 
then Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama and U.S. Ambassador to Japan 
Douglas MacArthur II in 1960, at the time of the revision of the 
bilateral security treaty, on exempting U.S. vessels with nuclear 
arms onboard calling on Japanese ports from the "prior consultation" 
requirement. However, a draft of this document without Fujiyama's 
and MacArthur's signatures was found. Some documents pertaining to 
the other secret accords have also been made public in the U.S. 
 
Therefore, the panel reckons that: "The same documents must exist in 
 
TOKYO 00000065  005 OF 011 
 
 
MOFA. There is evidence that many documents pertaining to the secret 
agreements have been destroyed. It is highly possible that MOFA 
officials destroyed them before the enforcement of the information 
disclosure law in April 2001 for fear that the secret agreements 
might be revealed." 
 
9) MOFA panel says producing report on Japan-U.S. secret agreements 
in January would be difficult 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 12, 2010 
 
At a meeting on Jan. 11, the experts' committee (chaired by Tokyo 
University Professor Shinichi Kitaoka) set up by Foreign Minister 
Katsuya Okada to examine a number of secret agreements between Japan 
and the United States, including one on the introduction of nuclear 
weapons, agreed that it would be difficult to produce a report in 
January as originally planned. This is because it will take more 
time to verify documents and interview former Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MOFA) officials. The committee plans to complete the report 
in February. 
 
At the meeting, MOFA officials distributed copies of a document kept 
by family members of the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato regarding 
the secret agreement on the re-introduction of nuclear arms during 
the negotiations on Okinawa's reversion to Japanese administration. 
Committee members concluded that this document substantiates the 
existence of the secret agreement. 
 
Based on work done by the committee so far, its members are leaning 
toward concluding that secret agreements did exist on: (1) port 
calls and passage through territorial sea by ships carrying nuclear 
weapons; (2) free use of U.S. military bases in Japan in a 
contingency in Korea; and (3) re-introduction of nuclear arms into 
Okinawa. 
 
10) JAL, Delta expected to form tie-up 
 
MAINICHI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Cash-strapped Japan Airlines is now likely to tie up with the 
world's largest carrier, Delta Air Lines, and to move from the 
global airline alliance Oneworld to Skyteam. American Airlines has 
also proposed increasing the amount of its capital investment in 
JAL, but JAL and the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism 
Ministry have inclined toward Delta. The Enterprise Turnaround 
Initiative Corporation of Japan has also begun to recommend Delta as 
JAL's partner. The new leadership to be put in place after the 
turnaround body determines reconstruction measures will formally 
decide the carrier with which JAL should form a tie-up. 
 
Based on the open skies agreement reached between the Japanese and 
U.S. governments in December, JAL and Delta are expected to apply 
for antitrust immunity. 
 
Delta has secured many profitable routes between the U.S. and Japan 
and between the U.S. and other Asian countries. Many people 
anticipate that forming a tie-up with Delta will bring more 
long-term benefits for JAL (than a tie-up with American Airlines) in 
terms of standardized airfares and coordination of flight 
schedules. 
 
TOKYO 00000065  006 OF 011 
 
 
 
If JAL moves to Skyteam, its share of passengers for the routes 
between Japan and the U.S. will exceed 60 PERCENT . Therefore, 
American Airlines, which belongs to Oneworld, has asserted: "U.S. 
authorities will not approve JAL's transfer to Skyteam." Meanwhile, 
Delta has rebutted the criticism, noting that since Star Alliance 
members have a considerably large share, competition will not be 
undermined. 
 
11) JAL turnaround with focus on international fight routes 
 
NIKKEI (Page 3) (Abridged) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Japan Airlines will aim at reconstructing its management under the 
Corporate Rehabilitation Law. The focus of the process will be on a 
business strategy. That is because while the restructuring of its 
financial affairs, personnel matters and a reduction in flight 
routes is expected to make headway, the future image of the carrier 
is not yet in sight. In the aviation industry, while passenger 
demand is flagging in industrialized countries, centered on Japan, 
the U.S. and European countries, it is expected to expand in 
emerging countries. Amid intensifying competition among 
flag-carriers, it is imperative for JAL to map out a business 
strategy with a focus on international flights. 
 
JAL will file for a petition for protection with the court under the 
Corporate Rehabilitation Law. Enterprise Turnaround Initiative 
Corporation of Japan (ETIC), which will help the carrier, will take 
charge of the drafting of a rehabilitation plan. Since ETIC has thus 
far been prioritizing the carrier's fiscal reconstruction, the 
drafting of a specific business plan has lagged behind. 
 
Earnings from international fight operations fluctuate more greatly 
than do revenues from domestic operations. This is because economic 
conditions, terrorism, epidemics, events like the Olympic Games, and 
relations with other countries - whether Japan has friendly 
relationships with them or not -- affect earnings from international 
flights. As such, the prevailing view is that one of the following 
three types of carriers can survive: (1) Mega carriers with major 
networks both for international and domestic flights; (2) low-cost 
carriers that specialize in one or two highly profitable 
international routes; or (3) carriers specializing in domestic 
flights. 
 
Which type will JAL aim to become? The prevailing view in the 
Transport Ministry is to use the occasion of legal liquidation to 
turn JAL into an internationally competitive carrier. On the other 
hand, some government officials, who attach importance to reducing 
the public financial burden, are calling on JAL to largely 
relinquish the global market to All Nippon Airways by slashing its 
international operations. 
 
12) JAL credit line set at 800 billion yen: Stock likely to be 
delisted 
 
YOMIURI (Top play) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) and the 
Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), which are in charge of the Japan 
Airline's (JAL) management reconstruction process, on Jan. 11 
 
TOKYO 00000065  007 OF 011 
 
 
started coordinating views in order to prepare 800 billion yen in 
total to cope with cash outflow in conjunction with the carrier's 
filing a petition for protection with the court under the Corporate 
Rehabilitation Law. JAL's stock is likely be delisted to clarify the 
responsibility of stockholders as the owners of the company. The 
government intends to decide on its policy for supporting the 
turnaround body on Jan.12 by calling in executives of megabanks and 
obtaining their cooperation for the legal liquidation of JAL. 
 
JAL intends to apply for protection with the court under the 
Corporate Rehabilitation Law as early as the 19th. There is a strong 
possibility that the carrier's cash payments to its business 
partners, including overseas companies, will temporarily balloon due 
to credit uncertainty. The government and the turnaround body have 
determined that it will be necessary to prepare sufficient funds to 
address the situation. 
 
To be precise, ETIC will prepare a credit line worth 400 billion yen 
for JAL by procuring funds on its own. The DBJ will create yet 
another credit line worth 200 billion yen. It has already set up a 
credit line for bridge financing worth 200 billion yen, of which 145 
billion yen remains unused. 
 
13) Ordinary Diet session to open on Jan. 18: Rough seas ahead 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) decided at a 
leaders' meeting yesterday to work hard to pass the fiscal 2010 
budget bill within this fiscal year at the ordinary Diet session 
scheduled to open on Jan. 18. The premise is that the second 
supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 should be enacted before the 
end of the month. The opposition camp is poised to call for thorough 
deliberations on the politics-and-money scandals involving Prime 
Minister Yukio Hatoyama and DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa. The 
upcoming Diet session is expected to face rough seas from the 
outset. 
 
Political events 
 
Jan. 18 Start of ordinary Diet session 
Late January Deliberations at Budget Committee on second 
supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 
Jan. 27-31 Annual assembly of World Economy Forum (Davos Conference, 
Switzerland) 
End of January? Enactment of supplementary budget 
Feb. 5-6 Meeting of Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers and 
central bank governors (Canada) 
Early February Start of deliberations on fiscal 2010 budget bill at 
Lower House 
Late February-Early March Deliberations in Lower House on fiscal 
2010 budget bill expected to reach crucial stage 
After March Enactment of fiscal 2010 budget. Focus to be shifted to 
bills linked to DPJ's policy manifesto 
June 16 End of Diet session 
July 11? Day of Upper House election? (if Diet session is not 
extended and if election is carried out on Sunday) 
 
14) Government to submit bill on suffrage for permanent foreign 
residents 
 
 
TOKYO 00000065  008 OF 011 
 
 
ASAHI (Top Play) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Government and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leaders met 
yesterday and agreed to submit a bill to grant permanent foreign 
residents local voting rights to the ordinary Diet session scheduled 
to be convened on Jan. 18. They also decided to submit bills 
amending relevant laws to allow the appointment of 15 more senior 
vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries 
 
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, 
and others attended the meeting. 
 
In a similar meeting held in November, the participants agreed to 
leave the issue of foreigners' suffrage in Ozawa's hands. In a 
speech in South Korea in December, Ozawa indicated that it should be 
a bill not sponsored by House members but by the government. In the 
meeting yesterday, too, Ozawa said: "In light of relations between 
Japan and South Korea, the government should handle the matter." The 
government side accepted Ozawa's proposal. Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Hirofumi Hirano has already instructed Internal Affairs Minister 
Kazuhiro Haraguchi to prepare a suffrage bill. 
 
If the bill is submitted to the Diet, the New Komeito and the 
Japanese Communist Party, both of which have insisted on the need to 
allow permanent foreign residents to vote in elections, are expected 
to vote for the bill. Yet, some DPJ members are calling for caution 
about granting foreigners local voting rights, although the Social 
Democratic Party in the ruling camp favors the measure. In addition, 
the People's New Party has expressed its opposition, so discussion 
on the legislation in the ruling coalition might heat up. 
 
When the DPJ was preparing a lawmaker-initiated bill, the premise 
was that the voting right should be given only to those with 
nationality of countries with which Japan has established diplomatic 
relations and those who come from countries with equivalent 
conditions. In this case, the possibility is high that people who 
come from the Korean Peninsula or their descendants but have no 
South Korean nationality will not be covered by the law. The right 
to run for election, however, is unlikely to be included in the 
suffrage legislation. 
 
15) Number of prime minister's advisers to be doubled to 10; senior 
vice-ministers and parliamentary secretaries to be increased by 15 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan held a leaders' 
meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
yesterday and decided to increase the total number of senior vice 
ministers and parliamentary secretaries by 15 to strengthen the 
politician-led decision-making system. They also decided to raise 
the maximum number of advisers to the prime minister, now set at 
five, to 10 by increasing the private-sector slot. They are aiming 
to submit related bills to the next regular Diet session to be 
convened on Jan. 18. 
 
Specifically, the number of senior vice ministers will be increased 
by three and that of parliamentary secretaries by 12. Included in 
them is an additional deputy chief cabinet secretary for 
parliamentary affairs (on the senior vice-minister level). The 
 
TOKYO 00000065  009 OF 011 
 
 
person in that post will be tasked with serving concurrently as 
chief of the National Policy Unit that will be upgraded from the 
national policy office. At the same time, a post for a national 
policy officer at the level of parliamentary secretary will be 
established. 
 
The number of Diet members who can join the government (currently 
set at 74) under the law will be 89. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama 
will explain this policy at a cabinet meeting today. 
 
16) LDP's Masuzoe: We must abide by 70-year-old retirement rule 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
January 2010 
 
Asked by reporters about whether the 70-year-old retirement rule 
should be applied to candidates for the proportional representation 
segment in the upcoming House of Councillors election, Yoichi 
Masuzoe, a member of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party 
(LDP) and former health and welfare minister, said, "We must observe 
the rule because we decided on it." His comment indicated that the 
LDP should forgo endorsing such veteran politicians as Taku 
Yamasaki, former LDP president, 73, and former internal affairs 
minister Toranosuke Katayama, 74, as official LDP candidates for the 
Upper House election in the summer. Yamasaki and Katayama have 
expressed their willingness to run in the election. Masuzoe, also in 
a speech delivered in Tokyo yesterday, stated, "The LDP's historical 
role has ended. We can't keep replaying a disk that is full of 
static," implying his intention to form a new party that can compete 
with the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). 
 
17) Public-private cooperation based on Asia strategy 
 
NIKKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Sho Baba, Jakarta 
 
Collaboration between the public and private sectors has been 
realized for the first time under the Democratic Party of Japan-led 
government based on its Asia strategy, which will become a pillar of 
new growth for Japan. Economic, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki 
Naoshima and Japan Business Federation (JBF or Nippon Keidanren) 
Chairman Fujio Mitarai reached an agreement yesterday with the 
Indonesian government to promote the development of Indonesian 
infrastructure. There was a rift between the government and JBF 
following the inauguration of the DPJ government, but the government 
and JBF are now set to cooperate in Asia, which is leading global 
growth. 
 
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 
met late last year and agreed to strengthen the bilateral economic 
relationship between Japan and Indonesia. Based on this agreement, 
the two countries held a forum of economic ministers and business 
leaders. The Hatoyama government has formulated a policy of placing 
importance on Asia and the environment in its new growth strategy 
and views strengthening ties with Indonesia as the first step to 
that end. 
 
Naoshima, Mitarai, Indonesian State Minister for the Environment 
Gusti Muhammad Hatta, who is in charge of economic affairs, and 
other officials attended the meeting. They released a joint 
 
TOKYO 00000065  010 OF 011 
 
 
statement calling for bilateral cooperation in such areas as the 
development of infrastructure, trade and investment, energy 
development, and the environment. In connection with infrastructure 
development, which is the focus of cooperation efforts, the two 
countries will push forward with a study of development in six 
regions, including Sumatra and Java. Japan expressed its intention 
to support the Indonesian Economic Development Corridor project 
aimed at building electric power plants, ports and harbors, and 
railroads in areas surrounding major cities, as well as developing 
coal and food industries in each region. 
 
18) Kan, Geithner confirm stability of foreign exchange market over 
telephone 
 
SANKEI (Page 11) (Abridged slightly) 
January 12, 2010 
 
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Naoto Kan spoke with U.S. 
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the phone last night. In the 
telephone conversation, the two ministers confirmed a statement 
released by the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors 
noting that it is desirable to maintain the stability of the foreign 
exchange market. 
 
They also promised to attend a G-7 meeting to be held in Canada in 
early February and hold Japan-U.S. finance ministerial talks. In 
addition, Kan reportedly explained the basic policy on the growth 
strategy formulated by the government late last year. The two 
ministers are also believed to have agreed to cooperate on fiscal 
and monetary policies, in addition to foreign exchange policies. 
 
The telephone discussion was requested by the Japanese side in order 
to allow Kan to introduce himself to Geithner as the successor to 
former Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii. Although Kan had held talks 
with Geithner as deputy prime minister and state minister for 
national policy during the Treasury Secretary's visit to Japan last 
November, it was Kan's first (telephone) meeting with his U.S. 
counterpart as finance minister. 
 
After the telephone conversation, Kan said, "We discussed that it is 
desirable to maintain the stability (of the exchange market)." 
 
During his first press conference as finance minister on Jan. 7, Kan 
called for a weaker yen, stirring up controversy. There is a 
possibility that the Kan-Geithner telephone meeting will also spark 
market speculation. 
 
19) Poll: 85 PERCENT  see need for further explanation from Ozawa 
about land purchase issue; cabinet support remains flat 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Top play) (Abridged) 
January 12, 2009 
 
Kyodo News conducted a telephone-based nationwide public opinion 
survey on Jan. 10-11, in which 85.4 PERCENT  of respondents said 
Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of 
Japan, has yet to provide a sufficient explanation in connection 
with his fund-managing body's purchase of land. In the survey, 
respondents were further asked what they thought Ozawa should do if 
his former secretary or others involved were prosecuted over the 
issue. In response to this question, 35.1 PERCENT  answered that 
Ozawa should resign from his party post, and 25.3 PERCENT  insisted 
 
TOKYO 00000065  011 OF 011 
 
 
that he should resign from his Diet membership. These figures reveal 
the public's harsh view of the matter. 
 
The public approval rating for the Hatoyama cabinet was 50.8 PERCENT 
, up 3.6 percentage points from the last survey conducted at the end 
of last year. Public support remained almost flat. The disapproval 
rating was 33.2 PERCENT . Asked about Finance Minister Naoto Kan, 
59.0 PERCENT  said they had high expectations for him, while 35.2 
PERCENT  said they did not. 
 
When asked whether Ozawa has provided a sufficient explanation on 
the land purchase issue, 8.6 PERCENT  answered "yes." In a relevant 
question asking about how Ozawa should take responsibility if 
someone connected to his fund-managing body is prosecuted, 34.6 
PERCENT  answered that he has only to provide a full explanation and 
take steps to improve the situation. 
 
In the breakdown of public support for political parties, the DPJ 
stood at 38.7 PERCENT , up 2.6 points from the last survey. 
Meanwhile, the leading opposition Liberal Democratic Party was at 
17.3 PERCENT , down 6.4 points. As seen from these figures, the gap 
between the two parties has become wider that in the previous 
survey. Among other political parties, the New Komeito was at 3.4 
PERCENT , the Japanese Communist Party at 2.9 PERCENT , the Social 
Democratic Party at 3.0 PERCENT , the Your Party at 2.7 PERCENT , 
the People's New Party at 0.1 PERCENT , and the New Party Nippon at 
0.4 PERCENT . "None" accounted for 30.6 PERCENT . 
 
ROOS