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P 222339Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 7710
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TOKYO 002444
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 10/23/09
INDEX:
1) Top headlines
2) Editorials
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei)
Special Diet session:
4) DPJ committee chairperson: Ship inspection bill unlikely to gain
approval in special Diet session (Nikkei)
5) Hatoyama administration eliminates SDF reference from
ship-inspection bill (Asahi)
6) Bill granting voting rights to foreigners postponed (Nikkei)
Futenma drama:
7) Prime Minister opines no need to rush decision on Futenma; Obama
visit is not a deadline (Yomiuri)
8) Tanigaki worried about review of Futenma agreement (Nikkei)
Politics:
9) DPJ announces four independent lawmakers joined party (Nikkei)
Foreign relations:
10) Japan International Forum submits policy recommendations on
Japan-U.S. alliance to Hatoyama administration (Yomiuri)
Space:
11) U.S. to use in new unmanned space vehicle approach system
developed in Japan (Yomiuri)
Articles:
1) TOP HEADLINES
Asahi:
Wasteful public work projects sneaked into estimated budget
requests
Mainichi:
Government Revitalization Unit to publicly sort through projects to
cut wasteful spending from 95 trillion yen in budget requests
Yomiuri:
Government Revitalization Unit to review priorities for special
account budget requests
Nikkei:
Central government to transfer control of six administrative
services, including standards for childcare center users, to
municipalities
Sankei:
Futenma Air Station relocation issue: New candidate for relocation
site to be picked before year's end
Tokyo Shimbun:
Education Ministry to make request for free private high school
tuition fees
Akahata:
Toyota Motors resumes recruiting contract workers, but only for six
months at most
TOKYO 00002444 002 OF 005
2) EDITORIALS
Asahi:
(1) Reopening of Ashikaga case: The court should sit in judgment on
its own mistake
(2) Government Revitalization Unit: We pin hopes on panel members
tasked with identifying wasteful spending
Mainichi:
(1) Government Revitalization Unit should serve as mechanism to
enhance quality of budget
(2) Futenma Air Station relocation: The will of the administration
not in sight
Yomiuri:
(1) How will the Government Revitalization Unit cut wasteful use of
tax revenues by screening budget requests?
(2) Reopening of Ashikaga case should lead to prevention of
recurrence of false charges
Nikkei:
(1) The Hatoyama administration should debate issues in Diet
(2) Chinese economy only midway to recovery
Sankei:
(1) Extraordinary Diet session to be convened on Oct. 26: Continue
efforts to submit key legislation
(2) Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Maehara's statement:
He should continue to dig in heels over illegal occupation of
Northern Territories by Russia
Tokyo Shimbun:
(1) Appointment of former bureaucrat to Japan Post Holdings Co.
president: We doubt the government is serious about moving away from
bureaucracy-oriented politics
(2) Reelection in Afghanistan: Priority should be given to rooting
out irregularities and corruption
Akahata:
(1) National Association of Social Rehabilitation Centers for
Mentally Handicapped Persons' case: Correct the collusive ties that
allow it to swindle subsidies
3) Prime Minister's schedule, October 22, 2009
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full)
October 23, 2009
07:58 Met Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano at the Prime Minister's
Official Residence (Kantei). Joined by National Strategy Bureau
Minister Kan.
08:53 Attended a meeting of the Government Revitalization Unit.
10:05 Held a briefing on the Government Revitalization Unit to
senior vice ministers and others.
10:57 Attended a memorial service at the Grand Arc Hotel to
commemorate police officers and people that cooperated with them who
died in the call of duty.
11:43 Attended a special cabinet meeting at the Kantei to examine
policy speech.
12:33 Met Foreign Minister Okada and Defense Minister Kitazawa.
13:45 Attended the Autumn Garden Party at the Akasaka Imperial
TOKYO 00002444 003 OF 005
Gardens.
15:18 Met METI Vice Minister Mochizuki and Trade Policy Bureau
Director General Okada at the Kantei.
16:03 Attended a meeting of government and DPJ leaders.
17:20 Met Kan and Cabinet Office Vice Minister Furukawa. Kan stayed
behind. Vice Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hosokawa joined
later.
18:41 Recorded a video to introduce Japan to the APEC member
countries.
19:37 Attended a gathering to remember the late Ryuichiro Hosokawa,
a political commentator, at a restaurant in Kita-Aoyama.
23:23 Arrived at his private residence.
4) DPJ Diet affairs chief: "Enacting ship inspection legislation is
difficult"
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full)
October 23, 2009
Democratic Party of Japan Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kenji
Yamaoka indicated to the press corps at the Prime Minister's
Official Residence (Kantei) yesterday that during the extraordinary
Diet session (to be convened on Oct. 26) it would be difficult to
enact special measures legislation to facilitate inspection of cargo
on ships traveling to and from North Korea. The government is
leaning toward submission of a bill to the Diet. Yamaoka did not
deny the possibility of the government submitting the bill, saying,
"Depending on circumstances, the government may submit (the bill)."
5) Government deletes reference to SDF involvement from cargo
inspection bill
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts)
October 24, 2009
The government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama compiled a bill
yesterday to enable Japan to inspect ships heading to and from North
Korea. It is planning to submit the bill to the upcoming
extraordinary Diet session. The previous government led by the
Liberal Democratic Party had the involvement of the Self-Defense
Force (SDF) in mind, but the Hatoyama government deleted any
reference to the SDF from the bill, out of consideration for the
Social Democratic Party, which is opposed to the dispatch of SDF
personnel overseas. The bill stipulates that the primary
responsibility for the task be given to the Japan Coast Guard.
6) Bill granting right to vote for permanent foreign residents put
on hold
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full)
October 23, 2009
Referring to a bill that would grant local election voting rights to
permanent foreign residents, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Oct.
22 said, "Preparations might not have been completed yet. It might
be difficult to have it ready for submission to the next Diet
session." He thus noted that the bill will not be submitted before
the regular Diet session to be convened next January. He made this
statement in reply to a question asked by reporters at the Prime
Minister's Official Residence (the Kantei). While visiting South
Korea on the Oct. 9, the prime minister said that he wanted to reach
a positive conclusion on the issue.
TOKYO 00002444 004 OF 005
7) Prime minister will not rush decision on Futenma relocation
issue: "The U.S. President's visit to Japan is not a deadline"
YOMIURI (Page 1) (Excerpt)
October 23, 2009
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the evening of Oct. 22 said, "I do
not think the planned Futenma Air Station relocation is an issue
that must be settled by the time U.S. President Obama visits Japan."
He thus indicated that the time of the U.S. President's visit to
Japan, which will take place on November 12-13, will not be a target
for a decision on the matter. He thus clarified his stance of not
complying with the U.S. request. He made this remark at the Prime
Minister's Official Residence (the Kantei).
8) LDP's Tanigaki "concerned" about Futenma pact review
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full)
October 23, 2009
Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki held a press
conference yesterday, during which he strongly criticized the
Hatoyama cabinet's response to the issue of relocating the U.S.
Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture. "Just
because they've taken the reins of government, they're going to
casually overturn the agreement reached between Japan and the United
States," Tanigaki said. "I'm very concerned," he added. Tanigaki
also stressed: "The Futenma issue is part of a package including
plans to move the U.S. Marines (from Okinawa) to Guam and to
mitigate Okinawa's base-hosting burden. So if they're going to
change the agreement, they must come up with an alternative plan."
9) Four independent Upper House members join DPJ
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full)
October 23, 2009
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced yesterday that four
independent House of Councillors members - Yoetsu Suzuki, Toshiro
Tomochika, Hajime Hirota, and Ikitsu Toyama - have joined the party.
Because the four already belonged to the DPJ-led parliamentary group
in the Upper House, there is no change to the 118 parliamentary
group members (excluding Upper House President Satsuki Eda).
10) Tokyo think tank makes proposal for Prime Minister Hatoyama on
Japan-U.S. alliance
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full)
October 23, 2009
The Japan Forum on International Relations (chaired by Takashi Imai)
submitted to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama a policy proposal titled
"Proactive pacifism and the Japan-U.S. alliance." The proposal
points out that the Hatoyama administration "should make its best
effort to implement" the agreement reached between Japan and the
United States on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station
Futenma. The forum also calls for lifting the ban on the use of the
right of collective self-defense, as well as for creating a general
law for international peace cooperation.
11) U.S. chooses Japanese PLS components for new unmanned
TOKYO 00002444 005 OF 005
spacecraft
YOMIURI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
October 23, 2009
Technology installed on the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) - an
unmanned spacecraft developed in Japan - has been chosen for a key
component in an unmanned spacecraft under development in the United
States, according to an announcement yesterday by Mitsubishi
Electric Corporation, developer of the technology. This is the first
time Japanese technology was chosen for a core component in a U.S.
space vehicle. Its selection proves, in a sense, that Japanese space
technology is becoming more competitive in international satellite
and other space-related markets. Japanese companies are expected to
step up efforts to sell their products on international markets.
Mitsubishi Electric received an order to supply Proximity Link
System (PLS) components that will guide a space vehicle safely to
the International Space Station (ISS). In the middle of last month,
the HTV successfully docked with the ISS, giving the company a high
reputation for its space technologies.
Mitsubishi Electric received the order from Orbital Sciences
Corporation (based in Virginia), a private firm that is developing
the new unmanned space vehicle Cygnus Spacecraft under contract with
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Mitsubishi
Electric will deliver the components for nine vehicles to Orbital
between 2010 and 2014 in a deal valued at approximately 6 billion
yen.
ROOS