DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 06/02/06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 003038

SIPDIS

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: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 06/02/06

INDEX:

(1) 2006 LDP presidential race: Clear clash between Abe and
Fukuda over Asia policy

(2) Fertility rate sinks to record low of 1.25, given late
marriage, maternity

(3) Editorial: Peace cooperation a top priority for dispatched
SDF team

(4) Japan also in need of a "Third Way" - a lesson from Blair
administration

(5) Reporter's eye column - The world will never forget Unit 731:
Let's share responsibility for past atrocities

ARTICLES:

(1) 2006 LDP presidential race: Clear clash between Abe and
Fukuda over Asia policy

ASAHI (Page 4) (Full)
June 1, 2006

Asia diplomacy: Abe favors India over China; Fukuda stresses need
for judging Yasukuni issue from wider standpoint

The differences between Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and
former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda are most clear in
their respective Asia diplomacy, especially Japan's relations
with China, which have deteriorated due to Prime Minister
Koizumi's visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

With an East Asian Community in mind, Fukuda in late April
advocated a new "Fukuda Doctrine." He intends to restructure the
Fukuda Doctrine introduced by his late father, Takeo Fukuda, when
he was prime minister (in the mid-1970s). He emphasized the need
for heart-to-heart communication.

Regarding the suspension of mutual summit visits by top Japanese
and Chinese leaders, Fukuda pointed out the abnormality of the
situation, and he criticized Koizumi's paying homage at Yasukuni
Shrine: "A judgment from a comprehensive standpoint is necessary
(for resolving the matter)." Koizumi has reiterated that business
and politics are two separate things. From his experience of
working at a petroleum company, Fukuda said, "Creating
environments in which Japanese firms can do business overseas
smoothly is a job for diplomacy."

Abe, meanwhile, is optimistic about relations with China and
South Korea, saying, "The number of exchanges with the two
countries is the largest ever." He also advocates strategic
dialogues with democratic Asian countries. He stresses
cooperation with countries that share the values of "freedom and
democracy, basic human rights and the rule of law." He thinks
that Japan would be able to seek to check China by promoting
exchanges with India, whose economic growth is striking.

He supports Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine. He has
repeatedly said that Japan should not build a national war
memorial because just because it was asked to do so by another
country. However, refrained from stating whether he will visit

TOKYO 00003038 002 OF 008


Yasukuni Shrine if he becomes prime minister.

Financial reconstruction: Abe prioritizes cuts in wasted tax
money; Fukuda calls for both consumption tax hike and other
efforts

With the huge fiscal deficit and a possible expansion of social
security expenditures in mind, both Abe and Fukuda predict that
increasing the consumption tax rate will be absolutely necessary
in the future. However, they have different ideas.

Abe said that he would prioritize selling government assets and
ending the waste of tax money and that he would raise the
economic growth rate by increasing automatically tax revenues. He
also said that he would discuss with the public the need for tax
reform, including the consumption tax, as well as tax hikes. He
has not clearly mentioned an increase in the consumption tax
rate. Abe's view is that every effort should be made before
raising the consumption tax rate, which is similar to the
thinking of LDP policy affairs chief Hidenao Nakagawa, who
supports Abe, and Internal Affairs and Communications Minister
Heizo Takenaka.

Asked about which was needed first, such efforts or a consumption
tax hike, Fukuda responded: "The question is not that which
should be conducted first. If possible, both should be
implemented." He also said:

"If the economy recovers, the interest rate will rise, the tax
revenue will increase and the interest payments will expand. As a
result, the balance will come out even. It's right to sell
national properties, but I don't expect much for it. Another
thing we can do is to increase the consumption tax rate. It is
necessary to pay off the national debt by doing such things."

Fukuda's view is close to that of Finance Minister Sadakazu
Tanigaki.

Social divide issue: Abe calls for creating society that would
give another chance; Fukuda emphasizes Japanese style stability

There are gaps between Abe and Fukuda in their ideas for
resolving the widening social divide.

Abe favors an American style society, which gives people who fail
another chance to try again. He heads a council to promote the
cause of giving people another chance to try again.

Abe's perception on the present situation is that many Japanese
people support the view that it is only natural that there are
income disparities between those who make efforts and those who
do not. He believes that the economy and national power will
strengthen through fair competition. He underscored that he would
create a society in which nobody would be left behind.

Fukuda pointed out: "The gaps between Tokyo and local districts
have widened more and more. There should be regular employment."
He thinks that narrowing the social gap is a key element in
setting economic policy. He aims to create a conventional
Japanese style society that would attach important to "a stable
life."

(2) Fertility rate sinks to record low of 1.25, given late

TOKYO 00003038 003 OF 008


marriage, maternity

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 3) (Excerpts)
June 2, 2006

Birthrate drops in 45 prefectures

The nation's total fertility rate in 2005 sank to a record low of
1.25, with fewer women marrying young and giving birth soon after
marriage. The number of babies born to those in their early 30s
also dropped significantly, marking the first decrease in six
years.

According to the Population Survey Report for 2005, the average
age at which women get married for the first time rose to 28.0,
up 0.2 from the previous year and 1.7 over a decade ago. This
result shows that an increasing number of women have designed
life plans giving no priority to marriage.

The average age at which men get married also surged by 0.2. A
total of 714,261 couples were married in 2005, marking a yearly
drop for the fourth year in a row.

The average age at which women give birth for the first time rose
to 29.1 in 2005, up 0.2 over the previous year. The figure shot
up 3.4 over the past 30 years.

On a prefectural basis, the birthrate dropped in 46 prefectures,
excluding Fukui and Kochi, although the corresponding figure was
30 in 2004. This trend has begun to be observed even in rural
areas, but the situation in urban areas is quite serious. The
fertility rate in Tokyo was as low as 0.98. The environment for
child-rearing, such as a shortage of day nurseries, has been
deteriorating.

How to raise funds left as thorny issue for measures to halt
birthrate decrease

The government and the ruling parties are greatly alarmed about
the steady decline in the birthrate. The government plans to come
up this month with a package of measures aimed at reversing the
downward trend, including increased financial assistance for
families with young children; a deduction on taxable income in
accordance with the number of children; and a reduced burden of
expenses for maternal health checks. It is not easy, though, for
the government to expand outlays, given the ongoing fiscal
reform.

For instance, if child-support allowances are raised uniformly by
10,000 yen, approximately 400 billion yen would be needed to
finance this measure. The government might be pressed to take
drastic measures, such as a plan to cut social security payments
to the elderly and use the money to finance measures to combat
the falling birthrate. In addition to public assistance, the
government also intends to take measures to improve the work
environment to enable women to juggle a job and motherhood by
involving corporations.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: "We must take the latest
finding seriously." Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe expressed
his concern, saying: "Our future economic society will be
unavoidably affected in a negative way." Minister of Health,
Labor and Welfare Jiro Kawasaki commented: "Young people who

TOKYO 00003038 004 OF 008


failed to get jobs during the past decade contributed to lowering
the birthrate." State Minister in Charge of Measures for
Declining Birthrate Kuniko Inoguchi emphatically said: "We will
do everything that we can."

Figure 1.25 as warning for the nation

The government took up the issue of declining birthrate for the
first time in the annual lifestyle white paper for fiscal 1992.
The birthrate at that time was at the 1.5% level. Though using
modest expressions, the white paper sounded a warning about the
effect of the declining birthrate on the economy and society.

Since then, 14 years have passed. In 2004, the government
introduced a new pension system designed to reduce even pension
payments for elderly subscribers to meet the needs of the aging
society with fewer children. But the birthrate rate has declined
at a far faster path than expected.

In anticipation of the problem of birthrate decrease becoming
even more serious, the government must overhaul the nation's
social insurance systems, including nursing insurance, from their
foundation. Unless such efforts are made, future generations will
be required to pay higher taxes and insurance premiums, and the
nation's economic vitality will eventually be undermined. In
discussions on reforming revenues and expenditures, as well, the
government and the ruling parties must thoroughly discuss
measures to reduce pension and medical fee payments.

The government failed to come up with effective policy measures
to halt the declining birth rate over the past 14 years despite
the warning in the white paper. Taking the latest finding as a
wake-up call for Japan, the government should take every possible
measure. The ratio of financial disbursements for child-support
allowances to gross domestic product (GDP) is 0.6% in the case of
Japan, but the rates in Sweden and France, whose birthrates are
improving, are slightly less than 3%. The central and local
governments, both under the weight of heavy debts, must utilize
wisdom and innovative ideas to that end.

(3) Editorial: Peace cooperation a top priority for dispatched
SDF team

SANKEI (Page 2) (Full)
June 2, 2006

A disaster relief team composed of some 50 Self-Defense Force
personnel has left the Komaki base in Aichi Prefecture for
earthquake-hit Java, Indonesia, to engage in medical support.
They left aboard Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport planes.
Once arriving in Java on June 2, the members will engage in
medical activities to prevent epidemics and other efforts in
cooperation with some 20 advance-team members.

The SDF's humanitarian assistance has won local trust at various
parts of the world. We would like to see the SDF members give
full play to their ability in Java, as well.

The devastated areas are suffering from rapidly deteriorating
sanitary conditions and a delay in relief efforts arriving. The
government must beef up the SDF team as necessary to give maximum
support.


TOKYO 00003038 005 OF 008


Japan decided on May 28, the day after the earthquake had hit
Indonesia, to extend 10 million dollars (1.1 billion yen) in
grant aid and send a 25-member disaster relief medical team. On
the night of May 29, Japan decided to send an SDF team in
accordance with the Japan Disaster Relief Team Law in compliance
with a request from the Indonesian government. The SDF team left
Japan in just three days after the government decision.

In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in December
2004, Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels on the fuel supply
mission in the area rushed to a devastated area to recover
bodies. But it took over 10 days for the first Air Self-Defense
team to depart from Japan. Moreover, a total of 1,000 troops from
the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces were not able
to provide support for about a month after the tsunami disaster,
exposing poor readiness.

The dispatch this time was generally free from problems in stark
contrast to the tsunami mission, which was far larger in size,
however. It was probably not completely unconnected with the
shift in March to the integrated operational system under the
Joint Staff chief. All three forces must combine their innovative
ideas so that they can provide assistance more speedily and
effectively.

In Indonesia, teams from such countries as China, Thailand, and
Malaysia are providing assistance, in addition to the US
military's full-fledged medical services. The US military has
reportedly set up simple hospital facilities on devastated soccer
grounds where surgery can be performed. How a country responds to
an emergency situation in another country can determine the
international community's view of its dependabilty. It could
dictate the country's security environment as well.

Japan must extend visible and massive support to meet the needs.
But international peace cooperation is not one of the SDF's
primary duties. The SDF is allowed to engage in international
peace cooperation to the extent that it does not hamper the main
SDF duties, according to a provision. This makes it difficult for
Japan to make all-out efforts. Lawmakers are to blame for
ignoring the need to make necessary changes to the legislation.

(4) Japan also in need of a "Third Way" - a lesson from Blair
administration

MAINICHI (Page 4) (Abridged)
Evening, May 31, 2006

By Jiro Yamaguchi, professor of public administration, Hokkaido
University

The United Kingdom's Labor Party led by Tony Blair took over the
reins of government in 1999, achieving a historic victory in the
general election after serving as the major opposition party for
18 years. Blair's slogan was the "Third Way." It was preceded by
the post-WWII "First Way" to turn the UK into a cradle-to-grave
welfare state and Margaret Thatcher's "Second Way" to pursue a
small government. Blair came up with the "Third Way" to correct
the social mess after the small-government policy course that
followed the welfare-oriented big-government policy line, which
also brought about harmful effects.

The "Third Way" was intended to build a sustainable welfare state

TOKYO 00003038 006 OF 008


amid fierce global economic competition. Experiencing reforms for
a small government 20 years earlier than Japan, the UK had many
social problems, such as a growing number of poor people and
jobless youths. Blair tried to find the government's role in
setting the stage for ensuring reemployment for people facing
adversity to give them some hope. The Blair administration came
up with specific policies, such as cutting taxes for low-income
earners, extending job assistance to young people, raising the
level of elementary and secondary education, and giving child
support to working mothers. For instance, the administration has
introduced a system called the Child Trust Fund enabling each
newborn child to receive up to 500 pounds from the government and
parents to save up to 1,200 pounds a year tax-free until the
child reaches 18.

Concrete steps, not rhetoric, characterize British policy.

The administration has also achieved significant results in
advancing decentralization and fostering civic groups, such as
nonprofit organizations, making Britain's stagnant and tumultuous
image a thing of the past.

But Blair also made fatal mistakes. Because of his approach of
directly talking to the public through the media to garner
support, Blair ended up telling a lie about Iraq's possession of
weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq war. His
administration has also turned the UK into a surveillance society
by obligating each citizen to carry an ID card in the name of
security. Those steps resulted in popular discontent with bloated
state power, pushing the Blair administration to the end of its
rope.

But there is no doubt that Blair's successor will continue with
his domestic policies. The fast-rising Conservative Party is also
calling for environmental preservation and improved medical and
educational systems, departing from Thatcherism. Welfare state
reform, accomplished by the Blair administration, is now a common
theme.

Japanese politics after the Koizumi era can learn a lot from the
Blair administration. In Japan, the "First Way" signified the
monopoly of vested interests by bureaucrats and LDP policy
cliques and the "Second Way" the Koizumi reform period. As a
result, Japan is now faced with such problems as growing poverty
and social disparity. The question is not the size of the
government. The government must now seriously discuss what must
be done specifically to help support the independence of
individuals. Japan is in need of a new leader who can pursue the
"Third Way" after Koizumi is out of office.

(5) Reporter's eye column - The world will never forget Unit 731:
Let's share responsibility for past atrocities

MAINICHI (Page 6) (Almost full)
May 26, 2006

By Daisuke Yamada

I interviewed persons associated with Unit 731, a biological
warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army, as part of news
gathering crew for the Mainichi Shimbun's project entitled, "A
Starting Point of the Post-war 60 years." After the interview, I
realized that former unit members and other former soldiers are

TOKYO 00003038 007 OF 008


even now wrestling with the issue of war responsibility they
harbor. But the Japanese society has avoided facing up to that
issue.

Let me make a comparison in this regard between Japan and
Germany. The Nuremberg Trials handed down death penalty to seven
of the 23 defendants, such as doctors having had a role in human
experimentation and other experiments, and sentenced another five
of them to prison for life. The trials were done by the victor
nations, but the ruling did not end up merely a judgment by the
victors. It led to creating the so-called Nuremberg Code, a set
of ethical principles for human experimentation. This Code has
affected the post-war generations across the world. In 1988, the
Berlin Medical Association renewed a self-searching statement
that called into question the responsibility of doctors involved
in Nazism.

In contrast, the Tokyo War Crimes Trials did not punish doctors
and others having a hand in similar experiments because of a
secret deal between Japan and the United States, which wanted to

SIPDIS
monopolize all data related to Japan's biological experiments in
order to counter the Soviet Union.

"Unit 731 was an execution group. More responsible were
professors at imperial universities who sent their students to
the unit and prompted them to carry out human experimentation
with test vaccines," confided Keiichi Tsuneishi, professor of
science history at Kanagawa University. But the Tokyo War Crimes
Trials did not deal with such actions by Japanese physicians. The
Japan Medical Association has never issued a statement similar to
that of Germany's.

Unit 731 has rarely cropped up as a subject of discussion at home
in recent years, but it is remembered well abroad. Professor
Franzbrau (TN: phonetic),an expert on dermatology at the
University of California, has been studying the damage caused by
biological warfare in China. He noted: "Japanese doctors can only
shame themselves if they avoid looking at the issue of Unit 731."
The professor intends to seek an explanation from Japanese
medical circles during a meeting of the World Medical Association
slated for October. The International Association of Bioethics
also plans to deal with Unit 731 as a special subject for
discussion in its conference set for August in Beijing.

"Since I was ordered, I couldn't refuse, but the person before me
would have stayed alive if I had not experimented on him," said
Yoshio Shinozuka, 82, a former member of Unit 731 responsible for
cultivating highly toxic germs and present at the scene of
vivisection. Shinozuka spoke of his experience that covered more
than 20 years. The most difficult thing for him, he said, was to
admit, "The person responsible for the experimentation was me."
Even a fellow peace activist told him: "I don't need to hear the
perpetrator's story."

A former military doctor, Ken Yuasa, 89, who likewise talked
about his experience, has been often threatened: "You shouldn't
speak of it." Yuasa was not a member of Unit 731, but he carried
out vivisection on Chinese as part of surgery training at an army
hospital in Shanxi Province in China. Looking back on those days,
Yuasa said: "We were told that the Emperor's military should not
be cowered by seeing people who were not anesthetized faint in
agony during an operation. So we conducted experimentation to get
a sense of accomplishment that we had done our job."

TOKYO 00003038 008 OF 008



This story may appear eerie, but Yuasa said: "Many people
involved in vivisection have really forgotten what they did in
the past. No way, you may so say, but such a thing was a daily
event in those days; so they simply can't remember." Cruel acts
were not limited to Unit 731. Similar acts were committed widely
at other facilities, such as army hospitals. There must have been
a great deal of Japanese concerned with such acts, but there are
few who speak about their experiences of this kind.

Perhaps, people who can speak about their experience, without
being overwhelmed by guilty conscience and without fear of giving
rise to misconception and antipathy, are scarce. There was one
who told me this way: "My friend, after reflecting on his past
conduct, killed himself. 'Simply saying, please forgive me' is
not a solution at all to what we are suffering from. We need to
find our raison d'etre; or we may end up following his path."

Ordinary people easily turned into murderers in a straitjacketed
situation where neither opposition nor discussion was allowed, as
is often the case in wartime. Someone I interviewed confessed
honestly: "I shudder at the thought of what would have happened
if one of my subordinates had turned against me." Given that
there is no guarantee that postwar Japanese society will never
face a similar situation, the responsibility of the society today
should be to support them, learn in detail what they did, and
share their war responsibility, albeit slightly.

With the end of the war, some 1,100 former Japanese soldiers,
including Mr. Shinozuka, were sent to war criminal control
centers in Fushun or Taiyuan, China. (Chinese) officials at the
centers were polite to them, and there were no officials who spat
on them. Instead, officials repeatedly urged soldiers to have a
strong awareness of their guilt by reading diaries written by the
relatives of those who had been dissected.

Later, most of those soldiers were dismissed and returned home by

1964. Some of returned soldiers organized a liaison council of
returned soldiers from China and launched a movement to speak
about their wartime experience. But every time they speak about
their experience, they are criticized as "having been brainwashed
by the Chinese Communist Party." (The council was dissolved in
2002 due to the aging of the organization.) China's polite
treatment toward those soldiers might have been the results of
political implications. But which of the two countries treated
their "enemy" warmly, Japan or China?

Sixty years have passed after the end of the war. The memory of
the war is fading away. But shutting our eyes to history is
simply to add to our shame.

SCHIEFFER