DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 04/21/06

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SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 04/21/06


INDEX:

(1) Flexible remark on Futenma relocation by Okinawa governor:
"Defense is a matter under the sole control of the central
government"

(2) Marine survey around Takeshima: ROK willing to pursue
diplomatic solution, may shelve its planned proposal for
topographical names in Korean language

(3) Vice Foreign Minister Yachi will arrive in Seoul this
afternoon and hold talks with ROK officials

(4) Scope column - Reasons for intensified dispute over Takeshima
(Dokdo): Japan can't overlook South Korea's defacto control,
while ROK regards it as part of history issue

(5) Japan, US, China should hold talks: Campbell

(6) Japan-US beef talks: Inspection of processing facilities
remain up in the air; Standoff continues over inspection
checklist

(7) Koizumi kaleidoscopic in Diet remarks over 34 years: Tokyo
University-Asahi Shimbun joint study

(8) Study of Sadakazu Tanigaki, post-Koizumi contender: Has good
sense of balance and does not make enemies

ARTICLES:

(1) Flexible remark on Futenma relocation by Okinawa governor:
"Defense is a matter under the sole control of the central
government"

ASAHI (Page 1) (Full)
Evening, April 21, 2006

In connection with the issue of relocating the US Marines'
Futenma Air Station, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Keiichi Inamine
at his regular press conference today made this comment about the
proposal to relocate Futenma to Nago City's Henoko point, as
agreed by the central government and Nago City: "Foreign affairs
and defense are matters under the sole control of central
government. Such matters are not for (the prefecture) to approve
or disapprove." The governor also stated: "I have not changed my
way of thinking (that the Henoko Point proposal is
unacceptable)." However, he seems to have suggested he was not
thinking of the prefecture taking a strong negative stance should
the same plan be included in the final report between Japan and
the US on US forces realignment.

The governor last October when the agreement on the Henoko Point
plan was made, came out with a strong negative stance, making
this comment: "It is something that I absolutely cannot accept."

(2) Marine survey around Takeshima: ROK willing to pursue
diplomatic solution, may shelve its planned proposal for
topographical names in Korean language

YOMIURI (Page 1) (Excerpts)
April 21, 2006


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By Shinichi Hirano, Seoul

Japan and South Korea are now in a standoff over Japan's planned
marine survey around Takeshima (Dokdo). On this standoff, South
Korean First Vice Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Yu Myong Hwang this morning indicated his strong willingness to
pursue a diplomatic solution via talks with Japanese Vice Foreign
Minister Shotaro Yachi, who will be arriving in Seoul this
afternoon. Yu said: "I think we need to look for ways to resolve
it, perhaps because the other side, as well, does not hope to see
a physical clash occur." Yu was making these remarks before some
reporters, including those from Yonhap News.

In addition, Yu reiterated, "(Japan's) cancellation of its survey
plan will be the starting point for both sides to pursue a
diplomatic solution." At the same time, Yu stated, "We have never
announced that we will make a proposal (on Korean names of
undersea topographic features) at an international conference
slated for June. Japan appears to have overreacted." He hinted
that South Korea might refrain from proposing Korean names at a
subcommittee on undersea location names that will be held in June
under the sponsorship of the International Hydrographic
Organization (IHO) and other organizations if Japan were to
abandon its planned maritime survey. "(If a clash took place),
South Korea, as well as Japan, would suffer greatly," Yu noted,
stressing that his country was of the opinion that pursuing a
diplomatic solution would benefit both Japan and South Korea.

(3) Vice Foreign Minister Yachi will arrive in Seoul this
afternoon and hold talks with ROK officials

YOMIURI (Page 1) (Excerpts)
April 21, 2006

In dealing with South Korea's opposition to Japan's planned
marine survey around Takeshima, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister
Shotaro Yachi will arrive in South Korea this afternoon and meet
with South Korean officials, including Vice Foreign Minister for
Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myong Hwan. Yachi will again convey
to South Korea Japan's intention to abandon the planned survey if
South Korea shelves its plan to propose changing undersea
location names to Korean names at an international conference on
sea floor topography that will take place in Germany in June.
South Korea is urging Japan to immediately withdraw its marine
survey plan, but at the same time, it has indicated that it is
not fixated on the idea of making a proposal on undersea
topographic names at an international conference slated for June.
Whether two countries can find a point of compromise is drawing
attention.

(4) Scope column - Reasons for intensified dispute over Takeshima
(Dokdo): Japan can't overlook South Korea's defacto control,
while ROK regards it as part of history issue

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full)
April 21, 2006

By Ryuji Watanabe

Last-minute negotiations are continuing between the Japanese and
South Korean governments over Japan's planned marine survey
around the Takeshima (Dokdo) islets. Why has the row between the
two countries intensified this far? We probed into the

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circumstances surrounding both countries.

Japan: Interference in survey would be violation of international
law

By Ryuji Watanabe

The Japanese government has maintained its position of "quietly
continuing preparations" for a marine survey. Japan thinks that
if it gives up on its plan for the survey, it will be seen by the
rest of the world as giving silent approval to South Korea's
defacto control of Takeshima and also be lambasted at home for
its being weak-kneed.

Sensing the move of South Korea to propose Korean names for
undersea features at an international conference on sea floor
topography slated for late June, Japan made a plan for maritime
research. Japan thought that if it did not to present its own
proposal on names of undersea features based on a survey, "Korean
names would be adopted and registered, which the Japanese public
would not accept," said the same senior Foreign Ministry
official.

Takeshima has been under South Korea's defacto control since

1954. If undersea names were all described in Korean, Japan would
find itself in a weaker position internationally in terms of the
territorial dispute with South Korea over Takeshima. The
government therefore cannot back down from its plan.

According to an official at the Prime Minister's Official
Residence, Tokyo's firm attitude comes from an analysis that
"South Korea rather would violate international law."

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea regards
government-owned ships as public ships and grants them the right
not to be captured and not to be searched, wherever they may be
in the sea. If South Korea interferes in Japan's survey, Tokyo
can claim such an act to be a violation of international law.
Even if Japan cannot conduct a survey, Japan can appeal to the
conference and say that South Korea illegally interfered with
Japan's plan. This assertion could help prevent Korean names from
being adopted.

In addition, if the Takeshima issue draws more international
attention, Japan would have more chance to appeal to the rest of
the world on how unjust it is for South Korea to have put
Takeshima under its defacto control. The government has
emphasized that "we will continue dialogue," according to Chief
Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, but there is not much time left
before the international conference begins.

South Korea expresses displeasure, regards survey plan as
justification of past war of aggression

By Kiyoshi Nakamura, Seoul

"Some Japanese claim an area Japan occupied during its past
unjust war of aggression," said South Korean President Roh Moo
Hyun at a meeting yesterday in Seoul, revealing displeasure
toward Japan, which insists on its sovereignty over Takeshima and
the legitimacy of its planned marine survey around it.

Japan put Takeshima in Shimane Prefecture in 1905, which

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coincided with the year the (Second) Japan-Korea Agreement was
concluded between the two countries. The agreement marked the
beginning of the colonization of Korea. Because of this
coincidence, many in South Korea still view the Takeshima issue
as Japan's first step toward invasion.

Given these national sentiments, the Roh administration has
declared that "Japan's planned maritime survey, as well as visits
to Yasukuni Shrine and controversial history school textbooks,
are acts justifying its history of aggression." Seoul has made
crystal clear its hard-line position against Japan, reflecting
its understanding that the marine survey is not merely a
territorial issue but is rather linked to historical perceptions.

Ahead of Japan's planned survey, South Korea's National
Oceanographic Research Institute conducted a detailed survey of
underwater topography around Takeshima from last April through
last November and named five underwater mountains after
historical persons connected with the islands, such as An Yong
Bok, a fisherman who lived in the 17th century during the Joseon
Dynasty (1392-1910) and was respected as a hero who made Japan
recognize Dokdo as Korean territory.

Officials of the research institute unveiled Korean geographical
names last November and stated: "We will do all we can to help
these names become widely used in charts across the world."

The South Korean government has stationed guards on Takeshima on
a regular basis and kept it under its defacto control. In
addition, it aims to gain international recognition of its
sovereignty over Takeshima and the waters surrounding it by
making a proposal to change the current undersea topographical
names to Korean names at an upcoming international conference on
undersea topography, thus getting Korean names registered.

(5) Japan, US, China should hold talks: Campbell

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 3) (Full)
April 21, 2006

Kurt Campbell, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS),a US think-tank, wrote for the
Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the occasion of the US-China summit talks
that took place yesterday. In his essay, Campbell suggested the
need for the United States to initiate trilateral foreign
ministerial talks involving Japan and China to improve their
bilateral relations. His contribution is outlined as follows:

A number of events that have occurred between Japan and China
over the past year have caused their bilateral relations to cool
rapidly. Those events included Japanese political leaders'
repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, Japan's review of its
official development assistance (ODA) to China, anti-Japanese
demonstrations in China, Japanese school textbooks, and military
tensions growing over a disputed archipelago of islets to which
both countries are claiming territorial rights...

Japan and China are now going from bad to worse in their
relations. This situation is also precarious for the US in terms
of its Asia policy. If the two economic powers, Japan and China,
hurt their bilateral trade and investment, economic growth in
Asia would seriously slow down. In addition, its negative impact
would hit the United States like a tsunami.

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From the perspective of security, there is no denying that a
further escalation of tensions between Japan and China could
develop into a skirmish over their territorial claims to the
Senkaku islets. In that event, the United States would be driven
into a very difficult position. Some experts say Japan and China
can avoid a potential crisis, with their deep economic ties in
mind. However, an unintended explosion could well occur should
their political backlashes grow stronger against each other.

The so-called Yasukuni problem has caused serious damage to the
Asia policy that Japan had cultivated over the six postwar
decades. It will be in the interests of the United States to see
Japan face up to its past and settle it in a sincere manner. The
United States must extend a helping hand to its closest ally in
order for that ally to improve its relations with its
neighbors-even though it may risk running against the
sensibilities of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, one of
President Bush's friends, and other Japanese political leaders.

This time around, the United States should go ahead to carry out
a high-level political dialogue of Japan, the United States, and
China for a free exchange of views. It is desirable to hold a
trilateral foreign ministerial meeting this fall under the United
States' initiative. They should hold broad discussions there,
including not only China's military expansion, Yasukuni, and
Taiwan but also Iran's nuclear program.

Japan, the United States, and China share major interests in
terms of energy, counterterrorism, Korean Peninsula
denuclearization, peaceful solutions to territorial rows, and
sustainable economic growth. It's important to shape "Asia's
century," and the three countries must recognize it. Whether the
three countries can pave the way to trilateral talks is
absolutely up to the United States.

Without this, trust and dialogue in Northeast Asia will wane
further. The countries will only hurt each other, and it will be
none other than Japan and the United States that will be most
seriously hurt in that process.

(6) Japan-US beef talks: Inspection of processing facilities
remain up in the air; Standoff continues over inspection
checklist

NIHON NOGYO SHIMBUN (JAPAN AGRICULTURAL NEWS) (Top play) (Full)
April 21, 2006

It was learned yesterday that coordination between Japan and the
US on an inspection checklist in connection with the US
Department of Agriculture's (USDA) re-inspection of processing
facilities for meat exports to Japan, as agreed in the meeting of
experts from Japan and the US in late March, is taking a long
time, and so far, nothing has happened even though three weeks
have passed. The exchanges of opinions with Japanese consumers,
another main element in the agreement, will end next week on
April 24. I appears therefore that the reason for US Ambassador
to Japan Schieffer's strong call for an early resumption of US
beef imports may lie in US unhappiness about the slow pace of the
coordination.

USDA has explained that the case of the company that exported
beef to Japan with vertical columns -- a risk material, thus

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violating the anti-BSE export criteria set up for Japan -- was
"unique." It took the position that the other facilities were
problem free, but in response to Japan's request, the US agreed
at the experts' meeting to re-inspect all of the plants that
export to Japan.

After the meeting at a press conference, Acting Under Secretary
of Agriculture Lambert stated: "We will present the checklist for
inspections of processing plants to the Japanese government on
(April) 3. The re-inspections will be completed in about two
weeks." He revealed his outlook of the possibility of moving to
the next step in resuming imports.

However, it has now been three weeks since the experts meeting,
and it has still not been decided what to re-inspect at the
processing facilities. A senior official at the Agricultural
Ministry said: "Coordination is going on at the working level of
both governments. Although it is not bogged down, it is true that
it is taking more time than expected." "The Japanese side is
asking for additions to the draft inspection checklist the US has
presented, " explained a senior official at the Ministry of
Health and Labor.

Although it is not clear what the specific points of dispute are,
it appears that the American officials are balking at the
Japanese request for a detailed inspection that would go back to
the exports to Japan at the end of last year. The Japanese
government is seeking measures to prevent a reoccurrence that
would thoroughly convince the Diet, Japanese consumers, and
others, but, according to the same official, "The US insists that
'there is no problem with the other facilities,' and will not
budge on the issue of confirming their safety."

However, both Japan and the US want to avoid prolonging the
coordination any longer. A senior Agricultural Ministry official
said: "It is possible for the re-inspections to occur without
agreement on all of the checklist. (The parts lacking) could be
inspected by the Japanese team when they go to do their
inspections." The official thought an agreement on the inspection
checklist possible soon. On April 20th, in response to a question
from this newspaper, US Embassy replied: "We are in the midst of
discussions regarding the reopening of trade. They include the
inspection checklist. The talks could take time."

Based on the experts meeting, the ministries of agriculture and
health until April 24 have been holding meetings in 10 places
across the country with consumers and other groups to exchange
views. Officials have been briefing the assemblies on the cause
of the risk material having been mixed into a beef shipment, as
well as on the contents of the talks with the US. The ministries
aim to boil down the specific conditions for resuming imports,
bearing in mind the requests of the people attending these
forums.

In the meetings, strong consumer distrust of the Japanese and US
governments has emerged in one place after the other, such as,
"This was proof that the reopening was not fully deliberated"
(Osaka),and, "Why didn't Japanese inspectors go to the local
sites when imports were resumed? (Sendai)" In Naha, one person
said, "The violation was not an isolated incident; it revealed a
structural problem," indicating a view that sought a basic
overhaul of the conditions. Other requests called for a
toughening of anti-BSE countermeasures, such as strict age

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confirmation similar to Japan's system, and tighter restrictions
of feed. There are many challenges to overcome before consumer
confidence can be recovered.

(7) Koizumi kaleidoscopic in Diet remarks over 34 years: Tokyo
University-Asahi Shimbun joint study

ASAHI (Page 2) (Full)
April 19, 2006

What has Prime Minister Koizumi-ever since his first election to
the Diet in 1972-talked about in the Diet? The Asahi Shimbun and
the University of Tokyo conducted a joint search and analysis of
his parliamentary statements. The joint study found him
consistent in making much of "self-help efforts" in his wording
of economic agenda. He was also found to have broken away from
his one-time negative stance and turned around to a positive one
toward sending Self-Defense Forces personnel overseas since
becoming prime minister. The survey also portrayed him as an ever-
changing pragmatist when it comes to diplomatic issues and
security affairs or the nation's election system.

Ever-changing: "Japan-US alliance," "Yasukuni" increasingly
mentioned

"The importance of the Japan-US alliance remains unchanged." On
April 10, Prime Minister Koizumi used the phrase "Japan-US
alliance" three times to reporters after the government and the
city of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture reached an agreement on a
remodified plan to relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air
Station to a coastal area of Camp Schwab in the city.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks, the deployment of SDF personnel to
Iraq, and the realignment of US forces in Japan-Koizumi has
looked for opportunities to play up the importance of the "Japan-
US alliance" in his words over the past five years. He has used
the phrase "Japan-US alliance" at least 254 times in his Diet
replies through the end of March this year since coming into
office.

However, Koizumi had never used the phrase "Japan-US alliance" in
his parliamentary remarks before coming into office as prime
minister. He touched on bilateral security arrangements between
Japan and the United States in an October 1985 meeting of the
House of Representatives Budget Committee. At the time, Koizumi
stated before the committee: "There's the Japan-US Security
Treaty as a complementary measure above the SDF. With this, there
is plenty of military power in Japan." He saw the security pact
as something that complements the SDF.

Koizumi referred to "Japan-US friendship" in his inaugural press
remarks after becoming prime minister. In his Diet policy speech
delivered 10 days later, Koizumi used the words "Japan-US
alliance" for the first time. One of his aides noted, "He was
little aware of diplomacy, so he mixed up alliance and
friendship."

Koizumi used to be negative about the SDF's international
contributions. However, his remarks later became positive.

"Some people are pushing ahead (with the overseas dispatch of SDF
members for peacekeeping operations) while saying they should
take this kind of danger for granted. That's too cruel to SDF

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members." Koizumi made this remark in 1993, when he was posts and
telecommunications minister, about the slaying of a Japanese
civilian police officer sent to Cambodia on a PKO mission. He
also stated, "Japan cannot carry out international contributions
like Europe and America. We should be aware that there's a
limit."

Some 10 years later, Koizumi sent SDF members to an Iraq in
turmoil. "We can't say it's absolutely safe," he said. "Japan
will assist with Iraq's nation rebuilding efforts as a
responsible member of the international community," he stated in
a plenary sitting of the House of Representatives in January this
year.

In his Diet remarks, Koizumi used the word "SDF" 28 times before
becoming prime minister and 2,429 times after becoming prime
minister. This shows that there was a rapid increase in the
number of opportunities to address diplomatic and security
issues.

In the meantime, Koizumi did not refer to "Yasukuni Shrine" at
all before coming into office but 279 times after becoming prime
minister. "I don't know why I am to blame in foreign countries
for my paying homage to the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine."

Unwavering: "Self-help efforts," "private-sector vitality"
weighed

"I don't think in particular that it's bad to see a disparity."
This statement came from Koizumi in his parliamentary reply
before the House of Councillors Budget Committee in its meeting
held in February this year. He was replying to a question that
ascribed the widening of regional disparities in the nation to
his restructuring drive.

"The spirit of self-help efforts and self-sustainability." "A
society that rewards efforts." Koizumi reiterated these phrases
in Diet debates over a social divide. He has been a consistent
believer in liberalism since his first election to the Diet.

In April 1973, when Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his cabinet
were in office, Koizumi took the floor to interpellate in a
meeting of the House of Representatives Finance Committee. "I
wonder if the Finance Ministry will not think of ferreting out
the entire tax scheme in the near future for an indirect tax like
a specific consumption tax." With this, Koizumi urged the
government to introduce a general consumption tax.

In those days, there were critical views about the notion of
introducing a general consumption tax, which was said to be
disadvantageous for people in the lower-income brackets and to
smaller businesses. Touching on such criticism, Koizumi asserted:
"There's no need to be concerned about whether it's going to be
regressive."

In a debate over the income tax rates as well, Koizumi proposed
easing the rates of progressive taxation in a June 1990 meeting
of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Taxation. He
argued: "A tax rate in excess of 50% is closer to being a
punishment than a tax. It's not necessarily desirable when we
think about the healthy morale of workers, the spirit of people's
self-help efforts, and economic vitality."


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In his political career, Koizumi once served in the post of
parliamentary vice finance minister at the Ministry of Finance.
He later presided over the LDP's finance division under its
policy board and chaired the House of Representatives Budget
Committee in the Diet. He walked the course of finance, and this
led him to belt-tightening fiscal policy. He also appears to
value corporate vitality over income redistribution.

"Whatever the private sector can do should be left to the private
sector." This is Koizumi's pet phrase, which first came out in
January 1993 shortly after he became posts and telecommunications
minister for the cabinet of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
Koizumi stated before the House of Representatives Communications
Committee: "The government should pull out of what the private
sector can do, which would be better to stimulate the private
sector's vitality."

In those days, the minister of posts and telecommunications was
in charge of overseeing state-run postal services. However,
Koizumi developed his advocacy of privatizing the postal services
in that Diet committee. "If it's possible to privatize postal
services, it's all right in my opinion to consider doing so," he
stated before the committee. He was a dyed-in-the-wool advocate
of postal privatization.

Koizumi once opposed to single-seat constituency system, later
won over unaffiliated voters in single-seat electoral districts

"I wonder if we really don't have to privatize postal services.
I'd like to ask the people about this." In last year's general
election for the House of Representatives, Koizumi led the LDP to
an overwhelming victory, with a campaigning strategy that focused
on his postal privatization initiative in the face of opposition
from the nation's lobbies of postmasters who used to stand behind
the LDP. Koizumi

"When I was a first- and second-term member of the Diet, the LDP
was the favorite party among those who had no party to support.
But the LDP now ranks last among those unaffiliated voters." In
May 2001, shortly after becoming prime minister, Koizumi made
this remark before the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
He went on: "We receive petitions from people representing their
organizations that support our party. We used to think too much
of those people, so our eyes couldn't see an overwhelmingly large
number of people who are not our party's supporters."

"There are various organizations that support me, but I won't act
in their interests alone." This remark is from Koizumi's Diet
reply in a February 1993 meeting of the House of Representatives
Communications Committee. He has kept to that stance.

Koizumi also remarked in a March 1980 meeting of the House of
Representatives Finance Committee: "The LDP wants to get support
from as many people as possible in all brackets. Even though they
support opposition parties, we'll have to make efforts for their
understanding."

Koizumi, meanwhile, wavered over the single-seat constituency
system. He was positive about it in a May 1976 meeting of the
House of Representatives Special Committee on Election Laws,
stating: "There's an argument calling for proportional
representation in addition to the single-seat constituency
system. It's worth considering. It's a very good argument we

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should listen to." In a February 1998 meeting of the House of
Representatives Budget Committee, however, he was negative:
"Those who advocated introducing the single-seat constituency
system said there would be no legacy candidates under this
election system. But I don't think that way, so I opposed such a
system."

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the leading opposition Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto),tried to introduce the single-
seat constituency system when he was LDP secretary general. In
those days, Koizumi was with a non-mainstream faction in the LDP
and was against it. This presumably made him change his mind.

However, the LDP won a landslide victory in last year's general
election under the single-seat constituency system. "I was
against this system, but I'm also a realist who must think of how
to win," Koizumi stated before the House of Representatives
Budget Committee in its September 2005 meeting. This remark
proves him prone to play it by ear.

Study methodology: Prime Minister Koizumi's statements in his
parliamentary interpellations and replies were culled from the
official record of the proceedings of the Diet between December
1972, when he was first elected to the Diet, and March 31, 2006.
His Diet remarks were classified with some keywords for specific
themes, including foreign relations, security affairs, and
domestic politico-economic policies, to follow up changes in his
philosophy and wording.

(8) Study of Sadakazu Tanigaki, post-Koizumi contender: Has good
sense of balance and does not make enemies

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged)
April 20, 2006

Sadakazu Tanigaki has built a network of contacts in political
circles based on his experience of having served in the Diet
Affairs Committee of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the
House of Representatives Steering Committee. In looking back on
his career, he said: "In politics, obligations to others and
human relationships are key. Serving in the Lower House Steering
Committee was exciting."

Kaoru Yosano, senior to Tanigaki by six years at Azabu High
School, promoted Tanigaki to higher positions in the LDP's Diet
Affairs Committee and the Lower House Steering Committee. Yosano,
as chief director of the Steering Committee in 1991, highly
appreciated the efforts by Tanigaki, who was a committee
director. When he became committee chairman in 1993, he named
Tanigaki as chief director. Then, having difficulties in handling
a no-confidence motion against the cabinet of Prime Minister
Kiichi Miyazawa in 1993, Yosano ordered Tanigaki, who was in his
office, "I want you to go to the executive room to ask whether
the committee can take a vote."

Tanigaki later conveyed to Yosano the party leadership's final
decision that a vote on the motion should be taken. Yosano at
that point decided to put it to the vote. As a result, the LDP
broke up and fell into the opposition camp.

In a LDP board meeting on the housing loan issue in 1996, LDP
Public Relations Headquarters Chairman Shizuka Kamei shouted at
Steering Committee Chairman Tanigaki, "Quit your post!" At the

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time, the Diet was thrown into chaos because Shinshinto (New
Frontier Party) formed a picket at the Diet in opposition to the
ruling party's handling of a housing-loan issue. Although the
dominant view in the LDP was that the party should call on Lower
House Speaker Takako Doi to forcibly have the picket removed,
Tanigaki did not take action. He was able to gain credibility for
his fair Diet management, but at the same time, some LDP members
expressed their unhappiness with his efforts.

Even so, Yosano has continued to highly appreciate Tanigaki.
Since he became the minister in charge of economic and fiscal
policy last October, their cooperation is noticeable in such
areas as reform of the revenue and expenditure systems.

Outside the political world, Tanigaki has a personal network
called "Maryuu kai" composed of graduates from Azabu Junior High
School and Azabu High School. He meets regularly with Takeo
Hiranuma, his senior, Yuya Niwa, a classmate, and Shoichi
Nakagawa, his junior.

Tanigaki is not a person who is eager to build new personal
connections. He holds in principle no more than one meeting at
night. He returns home early. He is one of a few politicians who
do not attend many meetings of politicians and supporters. He
prefers having discussions while drinking wine rather than
holding secret meetings at exclusive Japanese restaurants.

Many of his acquaintances in economic circles are former
classmates. Tanigaki and NTT Do Co Mo President Masao Nakamura
have been friends since they belonged to Tokyo University's ski
and climbing club. He has regularly exchanged views with Kansai
Economic Federation Chairman Yoshihisa Akiyama and other business
leaders in the Kansai area to make their views to his fiscal
management.

Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Junichi Murata
commented on Tanigaki: "He is modest and gentle. I know that he
always wants to work for the people."

One veteran lawmaker pointed out: "He has a good sense of
balance, but he has few strong supporters from political and
economic circles."

Main personal connections

(Political circles)

Cabinet members:
Kaoru Yosano, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy
Jiro Kawasaki, minister of health, labor and welfare

Azabu Junior High, Azabu High:
Takeo Hiranuma, former minister for economic, trade and industry
Yuya Niwa, former minister for health, labor and welfare
Shunichi Suzuki, former environment minister

Cuisine and wine:
Bunmei Ibuki, chairman of the Ibuki faction

(Business circles)

Masao Nakamura, NTT Do Co Mo president
Yoshihisa Akiyama, Kansai Economic Federation chairman

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Junichi Tamura, Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman

(Cultural figures)

So Kuramoto, writer
Saburo Kawamoto, commentator
Hiroko Kokubu, jazz pianist

DONOVAN