JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 03/29/06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 001620

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 03/29/06


Index:

1) Top headlines
2) Editorials

3) If Tokyo is hit with a major M 7.3 earthquake, officials
predict 5,600 deaths, 54,000 injured

Defense issues:
4) Bog downed coordination between Tokyo, local government on
USFJ realignment process creates deep US distrust, postpones
final report
5) Prime Minister Koizumi meets JDA chief, others, orders
"minor revisions" of Futenma relocation plan, consideration of
economic package for Okinawa
6) Koizumi hangs tough on refusing large revisions in Futenma
relocation plan; US-Japan realignment talks may resume April 4
7) Five cabinet ministers meet and agree that 50% would be the
limit for Japan's share of relocating Marines to Guam
8) LDP rewriting law to allow strategic use of space by SDF

9) Despite ODA pledge, Japan's plan to shift priority in Iraq
to economic assistance complicated by delay in GSDF troop
withdrawal from Samawah

10) New Cabinet Intelligence Director Mitani chosen for
expertise: Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe

11) Taiwan's Lee Teng Hui postpones trip to Japan

Beef issue:
12) US, Japanese experts meet on ending ban on US beef imports
13) Farm minister Nakagawa: Need to listen to US explanation
first before can decide on resumption of US beef imports

14) Former prime minister Mori tells press that Prime Minister
Koizumi's views must be taken into account in electing the next
party president

Articles:

1) TOP HEADLINES

Asahi:
Supervisor of NTT Data's computer systems stole bank customer's
loan card information

Mainichi & Sankei:
Tokyo District Court clears doctor of professional negligence for
failing to remove part of cotton-candy stick from brain of boy
who died later

Yomiuri:
Government mulls designating Japanese breed of cow as
intellectual property

Nihon Keizai:
Government considers allowing private broadcasting firms to set
up holding companies

Tokyo Shimbun:
Tokyo Metropolitan panel's simulation: 5,600 people would die in

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M7.3 earthquake, 54,000 would be injured

2) EDITORIALS

Asahi:
(1) We want to know whether Aum Shinrikyo founder is critically
ill or faking illness
(2) Tougher anti-monopoly law making progress toward elimination
of bid-rigging

Mainichi:
(1) It is regrettable the trial of Aum cult's Matsumoto will end
without his attendance in court
(2) Integrated command of SDF: Need to dispel sense of
sectionalism

Yomiuri:
(1) Primary school English: Teach English at the expense of
Japanese?
(2) Dismissal of trial of Aum founder Matsumoto: Defense team's
attitude questionable

Nihon Keizai:
(1) Diet should put end to e-mail issue and deal with bills to
full extent
(2) Need for guidelines for Hospice care and specialists

Sankei:
(1) Primary school English: Teaching Japanese is fundamental
(2) Fiscal reconstruction: Cuts in expenditures alone do not
work

Tokyo Shimbun:
(1) Asahara trial: We want to hear his voice
(2) Unemployment strike in France: Young people's concern should
be removed

3) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Disaster Prevention Council
releases report estimating that magnitude 7.3 quake in Tokyo
would leave 5,600 dead, 54,000 injured from falling furniture

Tokyo Shimbun (Top Play) (Slightly abridged)
March 29, 2006

The earthquake taskforce (chaired by Tokyo University Professor
Emeritus Megumi Jizoue) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Disaster Prevention Council yesterday finalized and released a
report on the estimated damage in the event of an earthquake in
Tokyo. The report estimated that the death toll from a magnitude
7.3 quake in Tokyo would reach approximately 5,600 and
approximately 159,000 would be injured. The report calculated
that of the 159,000 injured, about 54,000 of would be trapped
under fallen furniture, the first time such an estimate had been
made. The report also noted that approximately 4.48 million
workers would be unable to return home from work. By station, the
largest number, approximately 140,000 commuters, would be left
stranded at Tokyo Station.

The panel last month released an interim report. The final report
released yesterday included damage caused by fallen furniture,
with the number of casualties added.


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The report is based on the assumption of an earthquake occurring
at 6:00 p.m. in the winter, a time when fires are more likely to
occur, causing greater damage than would be the case at different
times or seasons. Wind speed of 6 meters per second, the average
during in this season, was hypothesized.

Provided that such an earthquake occurs in the northern part of
Tokyo Bay, a total of approximately 4.48 million people,
including approximately 550,000 commuters and tourists from
outside the metropolitan area and about 8,000 foreigners, would
be stranded. About 600,000 people would be stranded at major
stations, including about 100,000 at Shibuya Station and about
90,000 at Shinjuku Station.

Looking at the number of stranded people according to area of
resident, there would be about 730,000 people unable to return
home in Tokyo's 23 wards, 660,000 unable to return to Tama,
850,000 for Kanagawa Prefecture, 890,000 for Saitama Prefecture,
and a total of 790,000 people for Chiba Prefecture and southern
Ibaraki Prefecture.

The report also estimated that the number of evacuees would be
greatest the day after the quake, as 3.85 million people would
have to flee due to fires. Approximately 2.5 million people would
stay in shelters, while another 1.35 million people would
evacuate to areas unaffected by the disaster.

4) Realignment talks postponed; US distrustful of Japan

MAINICHI (Page 2) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Japan and the United States were scheduled to hold another round
of intergovernmental consultations in Washington on March 30-31
on the realignment of US forces in Japan with senior foreign
affairs and defense officials attending. However, the scheduled
talks will now be postponed at the US government's request. The
proposal to defer the talks has bewildered Tokyo. In the
meantime, Tokyo has been in coordination with the city of Nago,
Okinawa Prefecture, over the planned relocation of the US Marine
Corps' Futenma Air Station to a coastal area of Camp Schwab in
the city. However, their coordination will also be delayed into
April. Behind the scenes of the US government's postponement,
Washington is apparently distrustful of the Defense Agency, which
has promised to carry out the Futenma relocation. The Japanese
and US governments have been also facing rough going in their
talks about their respective shares of the cost of relocating US
Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The two governments had originally
planned to wind up the talks and release a final report in late
March.

Last October, the Japanese and US governments released an interim
report on their talks over the US military's realignment in
Japan, incorporating an agreement to work out specific plans by
March 2006. The United States, however, has now called off this
deadline. One senior official of the Defense Agency was
apparently upset at the US government's notification, saying,
"It's unilateral and discourteous." The US side cited the
schedule in Congress schedule for its move to put off the
scheduled talks. This also is "too unnatural to suddenly postpone
the talks," according to another senior official of the Defense
Agency.

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Meanwhile, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga and
Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro were scheduled to meet in Tokyo
to talk about the Futenma relocation issue. However, their
meeting will be carried over to next week or afterward due to the
death of former Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto. In their March 25-26
meetings, Nukaga presented minor changes that would alter the
runway's location and direction. However, Shimabukuro called for
substantial changes to the government's plan to place a Futenma
alternative in a coastal area, insisting on reclaiming land from
the sea to build a sea-based heliport. Nago is not expected to
concur on the coastal plan. With its postponement of the
realignment talks, Washington will presumably keep tabs on the
future course of local coordination in Japan. At the same time,
the US government is also believed to have shown its distrust of
the Defense Agency for taking so long to obtain local consent to
the relocation plan.

The Japanese government would like to hold a two-plus-two foreign
and defense ministerial meeting of the Japan-US Security
Consultative Committee by mid-April to work out a final report.
If that is delayed into April or afterward, it will be difficult
to get relevant legislative measures through the Diet in the
current session, including a cost-sharing agreement on the Guam
relocation and an economic stimulus package intended to expedite
US military base relocation.

5) USFJ realignment: Koizumi orders settlement with minor changes
to gov't plan

YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Japan and the United States have now decided to postpone their
talks over the realignment of US forces in Japan. The Japanese
and US governments will accordingly delay their release of a
final report into April. The two governments were scheduled to
hold another round of consultations from tomorrow with senior
officials for foreign and defense affairs attending. Meanwhile,
Prime Minister Koizumi met with Defense Agency Director General
Nukaga and former ruling Liberal Democratic Party Vice President
Taku Yamasaki in Tokyo yesterday evening. In the meeting, Koizumi
told Nukaga and Yamasaki to retouch the government's plan to
relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa
Prefecture to the island prefecture's northern coastal city of
Nago. Koizumi also told them expedite local consent to the
relocation plan with minor changes. In addition, the premier
asked them to study specific measures with due consideration for
economic packages including remedies for local unemployment after
the US Marines move Okinawa-based troops to Guam.

Nago City will hold a funeral service on April 2 for the late
Tateo Kishimoto, the predecessor of the city's newly elected
mayor, Yoshikazu Shimabukuro. Nukaga will meet again with
Shimabukuro next week for an early settlement of the relocation
issue.

According to government officials, the Japanese and US
governments concurred on putting off the talks scheduled for
March 30-31 because US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Lawless
on the US side has been asked by the US Congress to account for
the US military's global transformation around that time and the

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US government therefore proposed rescheduling the talks for later
dates. Tokyo and Washington are coordinating to reset the talks
for April 4-5.

It was only yesterday that the Japanese government announced the
schedule for another round of talks. But the government had to
reschedule the talks in only one day. In the meantime, Tokyo is
now in coordination with Nago over the planned relocation of
Futenma airfield to a coastal area on the premises of Camp Schwab
in Nago. However, their coordination has been protracted. As it
stands, some government officials are voicing their doubts about
the US proposal. "It might be a tactic of the US government
having lost its patience," a Defense Agency source said.

6) Prime minister will not respond to large revisions in Futenma
relocation plan, orders minor revisions, with resolution next
month; Resumption of Japan-US senior working level talks on USFJ
realignment proposed for April 4

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
March 29, 2006

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last evening met in Tokyo with
Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) Security Research Council Chairman Taku
Yamasaki and others to discuss issues regarding the realignment
of US forces in Japan. On the pending issue of an alternate
facility for Futenma Air Station (Ginowan City, Okinawa
Prefecture),he affirmed a stance of not responding to major
revisions in the original plan. The Prime Minister ordered a
settlement to be reached with Nago City during April with such
minor revisions in the plan as changing the angle of the runway
to be built on the coastal portion of Camp Schwab by 10 degrees
counterclockwise.

Yamasaki said: "Although I am not saying that it would be better
to move the spot 200 meters toward the ocean, can't we say in
consideration of the local government that if it's a meter, we'll
move it." Prime Minister Koizumi: "No, that's wrong. Though it
would be OK to say I am not against budging it even a centimeter.
There's not much time left. I want things speeded up."

At the start, the Prime Minister expressed a negative view about
Yamasaki's advice, stressing the need for a rapid conclusion to
the local coordination. Vice Defense Minister Moriya also
attended the meeting.

At the meeting yesterday, it was learned that the two days of
senior working-level talks between Japan and US foreign and
security affairs officers starting on the 24th had broken down.
The Prime Minister that day contacted Nukaga and Yamasaki through
Moriya. He apparently wanted to unify views because various
statements were coming out one by one from within the ruling camp
on the USFJ realignment problem.

The Prime Minister, taking into consideration that coordination
between JDA chief Nukaga and Nago City were not making any
progress, stressed repeatedly, "Do something within the scope of
the government's plan." Nukuga agreed to comply and they agreed
that in the next meeting with Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, if he
would not accept the plan with a change in the angle of the
runway and other minor revisions, talks would be broken off.

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Although senior working level talks of foreign and security
affairs officials from Japan and the US had been scheduled for
Washington on March 30-31, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
Lawless, the responsible US official, informed the Japanese side
on March 28 that he would not be able to attend the
consultations. Although Lawless explained that the reason was
due to Congress' schedule, the Japanese government took it that
"the US is angry," and decided to postpone the talks, It proposed
resumption on April 4-5.

7) Five cabinet ministers reach agreement on bearing up to 50% of
Guam relocation cost

ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts)
March 29, 2006

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, Foreign Minister Taro Aso,
Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, Finance
Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, and Okinawa Affairs Minister Yuriko
Koike held talks at a Tokyo hotel yesterday to discuss Japan's
share in the cost of relocating US Marines from Okinawa to Guam
as part of the realignment of US forces in Japan. As a result,
they reached an agreement that Japan can bear only up to 50% of
Washington's request for a total of 10 billion dollars for the
planned relocation. The US has asked Japan to bear about 7.5
billion dollars for the relocation. Japan has indicated that it
would be able to shoulder 3 billion dollars, including 2.5
billion dollars in loan for building housing. The five ministers
seem to have approved the possibility of additional funding.

8) Space strategy: LDP panel calls for reviewing "limitation on
non-military use" of space to allow SDF use, plans to draft new
law

MAINICHI (Page 1) (Excerpts)
Evening, March 28, 2006

A subcommittee chaired by Takeo Kawamura under the Liberal
Democratic Party's Special Committee on Space Development decided
earlier today to draft lawmaker-initiated legislation, a "basic
space law", which would clarify the use of space from the
viewpoint of national security. The bill would reverse the
country's previous policy of limiting the use of space to
peaceful, nonmilitary purposes.

The panel plans to draft the legislation to allow the country to
use space under the purview of the right of self-defense. Based
on that policy line, the legislation would enable the Self-
Defense Forces to actively use space in accordance with
international standards allowing space use for non-aggression
purposes. Specifically, the SDF will aim at collecting
intelligence on the unstable post-9/11 world and dealing flexibly
with extensive disasters by using state-of-the-art satellites in
the areas of national defense and disaster prevention.

The committee also would like to have a minister for space and a
strategic council for space installed in order to eliminate the
harmful effects of bureaucratic sectionalism by adding the
viewpoints of security and industrialization to Japan's space
development, which has been centered until now on research and
development.

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Based on the United Nations Space Treaty prohibiting the
establishment of weapons of mass destruction in space, the Diet
adopted in 1969 a resolution on Japan's space development and its
basic use of space, limiting the country's use of space to non-
military purposes.

In 1985, Japan also unveiled a unified government view confining
the SDF's use of space to commercial-off-the-shelf technologies
only. For this reason, the use of cutting-edge satellites has not
been allowed. Following North Korea's firing of a Taepodong
missile in 1998, Japan launched in 2003 a spy satellite capable
of identifying objects measuring 4 meters across, which is
inferior to spy satellites of other countries.

9) Government releases 76.5 billion yen in yen loans for Iraq
reconstruction: Remains unable to shift its assistance policy to
economic cooperation; Timeline for pulling out GSDF personnel
unclear

SANKEI (Page 5) (Slightly abridged)
March 29, 2006

The Foreign Ministry yesterday released a plan to extend yen
loans totaling 76.5 billion yen in support of the reconstruction
of Iraq. The government plans to continue to support the
reconstruction of Iraq even after the pullout of Ground Self-
Defense Force (GSDF),by shifting emphasis to economic
cooperation through official development assistance (ODA).
However, with conflicts rooted in ethnic and religious causes
intensifying in the nation, there are no prospects at all for the
launching of a new government even though about three and a half
months have passed since the National Assembly election last
December. There seems to be no timetable in sight for pulling out
GSDF troops.

The planned yen loans, the first of its kind to be extended to
Iraq in over 20 years, will finance the building of port
facilities at Umm Qasr, southern Iraq, the construction of
irrigation facilities aimed to improve agricultural productivity
at various locations across the country, and the refurbishment of
a thermal electric power plant in a suburb of Baghdad.

The government has focused on the dispatch of GSDF troops and ODA
in Iraq reconstruction assistance. With the decision to extend
yen loans to the nation, it wants to clearly indicate to the
international community its stance of continuing Iraq assistance
despite studying a possible withdrawal of GSDF personnel.

At present, approximately 160,000 military personnel from 28
countries, including Japan, the US and Britain remain deployed in
Iraq. About 600 GSDF personnel have been engaging in assistance
activities in Samawah in southern Iraq since January 2004. The
number of GSDF members dispatched to Samawah has totaled
approximately 5,000.

Japan had envisaged starting to withdraw GSDF personnel from late
March and completing the operation by the end of May, on the
assumption of the launching of the new Iraqi government. However,
due to the chaotic situation in Iraq, it had to drastically alter
this scenario. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also had to
state, "The situation in Iraq is not yet conductive to allow me

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to indicate a timeline for the withdrawal of GSDF troops."

10) Hideshi Mitani named cabinet intelligence director; Abe
thinks great deal of his intelligence-gathering capability

SANKEI (Page 5) (Excerpts)
March 29, 2006

The government decided yesterday to appoint Hideshi Mitani of the
National Police Agency to serve as the successor to Cabinet
Intelligence Director Toshinori Kanemoto, effective as of April

1.

Mitani joined the NPA in 1974. His appointment to a vice minister-
level post is a triple-jump appointment, according to a high
government official. Lurking in the background is Chief Cabinet
Secretary Shinzo Abe's intention to strengthen the intelligence-

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gathering capability of the Prime Minister's Official Residence
(Kantei) with an eye on the forthcoming prime ministerial race.

Abe stated in a press conference yesterday:

"Strengthening intelligence-gathering capability is extremely
important to effectively implement Japan's security and foreign
policies. To reach that end, I thought a certain length of period
would be necessary."

He indicated in his remarks that the government would move ahead
with a review of its intelligence-collection system from a long-
term standpoint by taking advantage of the appointment of Mitani.

The selection of Kanemoto's replacement has been a pending issue
for the government since last year. Kanemoto assumed the post in
July 2001. It is now time for him to step down from his job. Some
Kantei officials have been unhappy with Kanemoto, claiming, "He
has not reported to Kantei important information on North Korea
and China."

However, the selection hit rocky ground since there were mixed
motives among officials of not only the NPA but also the Foreign
Ministry and the Defense Agency. The government looked into the
possibility of appointing an official of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry for the reason that it was not good to give
the NPA both the deputy chief cabinet secretary for crisis
management post and the intelligence director post. The NPA,
however, strongly reacted against that plan.

Mitani was detailed to the Foreign Ministry and then to the
Defense Agency. He served as a secretary to former Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori. He has many connections in political and
bureaucratic circles.

11) Taiwan Central News Agency: Lee Teng-hui postpones Japan trip

ASAHI (Page 4) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui has decided to postpone
his visit to Japan, scheduled to start May 10, until after the
fall or later for health reasons, Taiwan's Central News Agency
reported March 28. Citing a source familiar with Japan-Taiwan
relations, the agency reported that Lee had changed his schedule

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in accordance with a doctor's advice to rest for the next three
months. The former president was hospitalized for six days from
March 19 due to a cold. Also suffering from fatigue, he
reportedly even showed signs of light pneumonia.

12) Japan, US start experts' talks on beef trade

SANKEI (Page 2) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Japan and the United States started two days of expert-level
talks on beef trade in Tokyo yesterday.

The two governments until now had exchanged views mainly in
writing over the cause for vertebral columns - a specified risk
material that could transmit BSE - found in a US veal shipment to
Japan, as well as US measures to prevent a similar incident. In
the experts' talks, both sides will try to find common ground,
but with wide discrepancies remaining in their views about the
safety of beef, difficult negotiations are expected.

Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General Masato Kitera said in
the meeting yesterday:

"The Japanese people now have questions not only about the
problem of the meat-processing plant in question but also about
the US government's checking function at such plants. I hope
these talks will become an arena for the US to reply to Japanese
consumers' questions."

Meanwhile, Charles Lambert, acting undersecretary for marketing
at the US Agriculture Department, expressed hopes for Japan's
early resumption of US beef imports, saying: "We are ready to
reply to any questions. We have implemented safety measures in
hopes of resuming beef trade with Japan."

Participating in the talks from the Japanese side are responsible
officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Health, Labor and
Welfare Ministry, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Ministry. The US side explained in detail why banned vertebral
columns were included in a shipment and what preventive measures
the US has taken.

Japan suspended US beef imports this January, just one month
after it partially lifted a ban on US beef, when banned vertebral
columns were discovered in a shipment to Japan.

Within the US, pressure is intensifying for an early resumption
of beef trade, given calls from the cattle industry and other
parties concerned.

In its report submitted in February, the US concluded that the
ineligible shipment was "a unique case." Japan, though, seeing
the meat-processing system in the US as a problem, presented a
list of questions, including one asking if the US government
properly authorized plants for exporting beef to Japan. On these
questions, the US has agreed to give replies directly to Japan in
the ongoing meeting.

13) Agriculture Minister Nakagawa: US explanations necessary for
Japan to decide to resume US beef imports


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YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Nakagawa said
yesterday that in the ongoing expert-level talks on the beef
trade issue, "If the US gives proper replies to our questions, we
will be able to move on to the next stage." He indicated that in
order to move ahead with discussion on Japan's resumption of US
beef imports, convincing explanations on the part of the United
States are imperative.

In the expert meeting yesterday, Japan asked if the US government
properly certified plants for exporting beef to Japan, but the US
side reportedly repeated the explanations it has made so far.

Japan is poised to ask the US in the meeting today to clarify
various questionable points, including why bones were included in
a shipment to Hong Kong.

14) Mori: "All-party approach is necessary" in selecting Koizumi
successor; Indicates need to take prime minister's view into
account

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
March 29, 2006

Shunsuke Oba, Moscow

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, currently visiting Russia,
met Japanese reporters on March 28 and emphasized the need for
the party to be united in selecting the next Liberal Democratic
Party president in the election in September. He said: "It is
important to create an atmosphere for all members to support one
candidate. An all-party approach is essential." On the final
judgment, though, Mori said: "It is necessary to listen to Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's views."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and former Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yasuo Fukuda have been viewed as major candidates in

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the presidential race. Both belong to the Mori faction. Asked for
his view on this point, Mori indicated that his faction would
make a judgment in a cautious manner while taking their
intentions into consideration, saying:

"Both have yet to declare their candidacy. Once they decide to
run in the election, we will need to start coordination. We have
yet to reach that stage."

Mori further commented: "The blows and wounds suffered from the
Koizumi reforms are serious. We must try to heal the wounds,
otherwise we will not be able to put up a good fight in
elections." Touching on the fact that Mori himself and Koizumi,
both of who belong to the Mori faction, assumed the post of prime
minister, Mori said: "I wonder if it would be acceptable for the
next prime minister to be picked from the Mori faction again." He
stressed the importance of building a unified party.

In reference to the Koizumi administration's reform line, Mori
said:

"Persons who are not interested in politics might be finding the
current situation interesting, but those who know much about

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politics might be harboring doubts about the current state."

SCHIEFFER