JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 04/18/07

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 TOKYO 001689

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SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 04/18/07


1) Top headlines
2) Editorials
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule

4) Prime Minister Abe extends condolences for Virginia shootings in
letter to President Bush

5) Prime Minister Abe's schedule for Golden Week overseas trip is
set

China relations:
6) China criticizes LDP's policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa for recent
remark
7) LDP foreign affairs committees critical of recent visit by
Chinese Premier Wen as "words only"

8) Japan, Russia confirm cooperation on resolving North Korea
nuclear issue

Nagasaki shooting:
9) Nagasaki mayor shot and seriously wounded by rightist
10) Politicians fear Nagasaki election-campaign shooting may be a
threat to democracy
11) Ruling and opposition camps angry about shooting of Nagasaki
mayor
12) Defense Minister Kyuma wants substitute candidate system in case
main candidate suddenly indisposed

Political agenda:
13) Election for local mayors and assemblies proclaimed
14) Farm ministry's quarantine inspectors wined and dined abroad by
local agricultural associations
15) Ruling and opposition camps clash in Diet over three education
reform bills

16) Seamen involved in Aegis information leak lied about not having
personal computers at home

Environment:
17) Japan, US to increase cooperation on global warming
countermeasures
18) METI, Environment Ministry at odds over introducing an
environment tax

19) In final speech, IBM executive who is stepping down as head of
Keizai Doyukai promotes continued regulatory reform

Articles:

1) TOP HEADLINES

Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, Sankei, Tokyo Shimbun & Akahata:
Nagasaki mayor shot twice by mobster in front of his office and in
grave condition; Mobster arrested

Nihon Keizai:
Major companies to make good use of workers age 60 or above with
Fanuc raising the retirement age to 65 and Toyota beginning a
less-than-five-day work week system

2) EDITORIALS


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Asahi:
(1) Nagasaki mayor shot: Deplorable terrorism
(2) Gun rampage in US: Stricter gun control needed

Mainichi:
(1) Nagasaki mayor shot: Violence unforgivable
(2) Random shooting at US university: Fresh approach needed for gun
control

Yomiuri:
(1) Shooting of Nagasaki mayor: Terrorism during election campaign
(2) Slush fund scandal involving Senshu University's Kitakami Senior
High School: Japan Senior High School Baseball Federation
responsible

Nihon Keizai:
(1) Full-fledged debate needed for realization of comprehensive
exchange
(2) Reform the IMF and World Bank

Sankei:
(1) Shooting of Nagasaki mayor: Terrorism unforgivable
(2) Slush fund scandal involving Senshu University's Kitakami Senior
High School: Need to review the Student Baseball Charter

Tokyo Shimbun:
(1) Job-placement office: Who is responsible for safety net?
(2) High school baseball: Don't turn away from the scandals

Akahata:
Nagasaki mayor shot: We denounce terrorism that occurred amid policy
debates

3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei)

Prime Minister's schedule, April 17

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
April 18, 2007

08:20
Met Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura at Kantei.

09:02
Attended a cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Aso stayed on. Met
afterward Finance Minister Omi.

10:04
Met at Kantei with Ambassador to the US Kato, followed by Deputy
Foreign Minister Kono.

11:04
Met Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki, followed by Education Minister
Ibuki and others.

12:01
Met Shimomura.

13:15
Attended a Lower House plenary session.

16:58

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Gave an interview at Kantei to Newsweek, followed by The Wall Street
Journal.

17:57
Attended a Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting. Japan
Business Federation Chairman Mitarai stayed on.

19:37
Returned to his official residence.

4) Prime Minister Abe sends a letter of sympathy to US President
Bush over gun rampage

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full)
April 18, 2007

Prime Minister Abe yesterday sent a letter of sympathy to President
Bush over the gun rampage at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Abe
told reporters: "I offered my sincere prayer for the many innocent
young victims. I feel strong indignation when I consider the sorrow
of the relatives of the victims."

5) Prime minister to make tour of US, Middle East during Golden Week
holidays, including visit to air base in Kuwait to encourage ASDF
troops

SANKEI (Page 5) (Full)
April 18, 2007

The government announced yesterday the itinerary for Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's planned trip to the United States and the Middle East.

The prime minister will leave Haneda Airport by a government plane
on the morning of April 26. On the night of the 27th, Japan time, he
will meet with President Bush at Camp David outside Washington. The
two leaders are expected to confirm the importance of strengthening
the Japan-US alliance and to discuss North Korea's nuclear and
abduction issues, the situation in the Middle East, and other
issues.

The prime minister will leave the US on the morning of April 28,
Japan time, for five Middle Eastern countries. He will discuss the
Middle East peace process and engage in summit diplomacy focusing on
oil resources.

Prime Minister Abe will meet King Abdullah early on April 29 in
Riyad, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and President Khalifa that night
in Abud Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. On the
afternoon of the 30th, he will meet with Prime Minister Muhammad in
Dubai. That night, he will meet Prime Minister Nasir and others in
Kuwait.

On the afternoon of May 1, the prime minister will visit the air
base in which about 200 Air Self-Defense Force troops have been
stationed on an Iraq reconstruction mission to encourage them.
Later, he will leave for Doha, the capital of Qatar to meet
President Hamad. On the night of the 2nd, he will meet President
Mubarak in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. He is scheduled to return
home on the afternoon of the 3rd.

6) China rebuts Nakagawa


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NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
April 18, 2007

In reaction to Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council
Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa's description of Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao's visit to Japan as "senseless," Chinese Foreign Ministry
press officer Liu Chienchao said in a press conference yesterday:
"Both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Premier Wen are top leaders of
the two governments. (Wen's visit to Japan) was appropriate in view
of diplomatic protocol."

7) LDP lawmakers criticize China's words as lip service

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
April 18, 2007

The Liberal Democratic Party held foreign affairs joint conference
yesterday in which the agreement reached earlier between Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was criticized,
many raising questions about substance behind those words.


For instance, Katsuei Hirasawa said: "Premier Wen said China will
cooperate on the abduction issue, but how would they do so
specifically? That might be just his lip service." Yoshiaki Harada
criticized China's moves regarding the development of gas fields in
the East China Sea, saying: "Can we really afford to feel happy that
the ice has melted?" Another attendant noted: "We must also push
ahead with our test drilling to counter China."

8) Japanese and Russian chief negotiators on six-party talks confirm
cooperation

SANKEI (Page 5) (Full)
April 18, 2007

Foreign Ministry Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director General
Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's chief envoy to the six-party talks on North
Korea's nuclear programs, met yesterday with visiting Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Losyukov. In the meeting, they agreed that to urge
North Korea to implement the first steps to abandon its nuclear
weapons as early as possible. After the meeting, Losyukov told
reporters: "What is important is not a timetable for future talks,
but how we push forward with the situation. Setting a new target
date for the implementation is not constructive."

9) Nagasaki mayor shot twice in front of election campaign office,
now in critical condition; Gangster held

ASAHI (Top play) (Excerpts)
April 18, 2007

Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito, 61, was shot twice at around 7:50 p.m.
yesterday from the back by an ambushed gunman in front of his
election campaign office in Daikokucho in the city near JR Nagasaki
Station. Immediately after being shot, Ito was taken to the Nagasaki
University Hospital of Medicine and Dentistry to be placed intensive
care. But he was in cardiorespiratory arrest and in a critical
condition, according to hospital sources.

Commentary


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Ito was attacked in front of his office in the midst of election
campaigning. He was deprived of his freedom of speech, a basic
democratic right, by physical violence before the voters made their
decision. The incident is a threat to Japanese politics.

Although many politicians have been attacked in the postwar period,
an attack on a candidate in election campaigning has been extremely
rare. In 1960, Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the then Japan Socialist
Party, was stabbed to death while delivering a speech before
election campaigning kicked off. The attack on Ito is as shocking as
the Asanuma incident.

That is because Ito was attacked during his election campaigning, a
period any candidate's political activities to publicize his or her
policies and political beliefs must be guaranteed to the maximum. In
1990, then Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was also shot due to his
political standpoint. Although this time, the gunman did not mean to
attack Ito's political standpoint per se, what he did is undoubtedly
regarded as a threat to political campaigning that must be
guaranteed under any circumstances.

This is the second time the Nagasaki mayor has been attacked. The
rise of a trend to give in to violence, such as people's reluctance
to run in mayoral races, would be a failure of democracy. In order
to prevent such a trend from arising, lawmakers and the public must
take resolute stances.

The attack on Ito is not a mere attempted murder. How are the
political parties and lawmakers going to behave by taking this
incident as a threat to democracy? We, voters, must keep a close
watch on them.

10) Nagasaki mayor shot: Gangland syndicates hunting for local
stakes

YOMIURI (Page 3) (Abridged)
April 18, 2007

Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Itoh, 61, was shot by a gangster. The incident
has rocked the government. The hitman was a high-ranking gangster,
so the National Police Agency, which has been focusing on measures
against organized crimes, directed the Nagasaki Prefectural Police
Headquarters to investigate the shooting in a thoroughgoing way.
However, experts are calling for new legislation against the
underworld.

Democracy undermined

The attack seriously shocked government officials and lawmakers in
the ruling and opposition parties. "It's an act that undermines
democracy," one of them said. In the past, there have been terrorist
incidents that targeted politicians. In the incident this time,
however, a candidate campaigning for a mayoral election was
attacked. All the more because of how unusual it was, politicians
were also greatly shocked.

Prime Minister Abe received a report from his secretary last evening
on the shooting and said he wanted investigative authorities to
conduct a strict investigation. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shiozaki
also said violence against public officials was absolutely
impermissible.


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In the past, there have been terrorist incidents that targeted
politicians. In 1960, Inejiro Asanuma, the then chairman of the
Japan Socialist Party, was stabbed to death. In 1990, Hitoshi
Motojima, the then mayor of Nagasaki City, was shot. In 1992, a
right-wing group member fired a gun at Shin Kanemaru, the then vice
president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Among recent cases, the home of former LDP Secretary General Koichi
Kato's parents was burned down by a member of a right-wing group.
Prosecutors stated that the rightist committed the crime after
reading Kato's remarks about Japan-China relations and Yasukuni
Shrine. "The mayor was shot in the midst of political activities,"
Kato said yesterday, adding: "This kind of incident must not happen
ever again. We must not have a world in which we abstain from
engaging in political activities or refraining from saying things."

The mayor was shot when he was campaigning for the mayoral election.
LDP Secretary General Nakagawa commented: "There must not be any
attempts to assassinate someone who holds different political
position. We will resolutely defend the freedom of political thought
and oppose such violence."

Defense Minister Kyuma, who is elected from Nagasaki, told
reporters: "It's totally unfathomable that a terrorist incident
would occur in the midst of election campaigning. It's really
tragic."

11) "Challenge to democracy," senior members of ruling and
opposition parties say with anger

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Excerpts)
April 18, 2007

Former Secretary General Koichi Kato of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP),whose office in his hometown was torched by
a right-wing group member last August, yesterday spoke to reporters
in the Diet about the shooting of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito: "It is a
dark incident. We must not allow any cases of politicians in the
midst of campaigning being unable to express their views due to such
violence." Based on his experience, Kato expressed concern: "This
case must not lead to people refraining from speaking in the wake of
this incident. The people need to share the perception that the
threat of violence should not stop them from speaking out; otherwise
this kind of incident will continue."

"We defend our political credo"

The shooting incident involving the Nagasaki mayor greatly shocked
political circles. Leaders of the ruling and opposition parties
expressed anger, taking the incident as a crisis in a democratic
society with a politician being shot in the midst of campaigning.

Late yesterday at 8:03 p.m., Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was informed
by his secretary of the incident. Afterwards, he issued this
statement: "I hope authorities will rigorously investigate this
case, and that the truth will be made clear." Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki made this comment: "Whatever reasons

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there may be, it's a cowardly act to use violence toward a person in
public office. We simply can't tolerate it."

LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa denounced the shooting: "I
was shocked. An act of gunning down the person with a different

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political stance must not occur. We must defend freedom of political
belief and oppose this kind of violence.

The junior coalition New Komeito's Policy Research Council Chairman
Tetsuo Saito said in a press interview: "I was shocked. We don't
know what the shooter was trying to say by using violence, but his
act was no more than a challenge to democracy. It was an
impermissible act of violence."

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ or Minshuto)
Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama said: "I have no words to express

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my feelings about it. We simply can't allow any act of violence,
particularly using a gun. We must not allow Japan to become a
country where people casually carry guns. It's politicians'
responsibility to take every possible measure in order to eliminate
this kind of incident."

The opposition Japanese Communist Party's (JCP) Chairman Kazuo Shii
stressed the need to take preventive measures, noting: "I'm in a
furious rage at the person who took such a violent act. This
cowardly act of terror is taken as a most ferocious attack against
our country's freedom and democracy. We simply can't allow it."

12) Defense Minister Kyuma refers to fielding new candidate in
Nagasaki mayoral election, saying, "We must be prepared for the
worst"

ASAHI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
April 18, 2007

Hearing the news that Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot last night,
Defense Minister Kyuma (Lower House member elected in Nagasaki No. 2
constituency),who is on good terms with Ito, told reporters, "I am
very worried about his condition." He added:

"We must be prepared for the worst, but there seem to be defects in
the relevant law. If a candidate should die three days before the
voting date, fielding a new candidate is possible, but after that,
we cannot do that. In such a case, since the election will be a
one-on-one fight between the candidate endorsed by the Japanese
Communist Party (JCP) and other two independent candidates, the
JCP-backed candidate will undoubtedly be elected. The government
must prepare thorough legal measures."

Though Kyuma pointed out legal problems, his remark is likely to be
criticized as imprudent.

In the Nagasaki mayoral election on April 22, three other candidates
- two independents and one from the JCP, apart from Ito - are
running.

According to the election department of the Internal Affairs and
Communications Ministry, under the Public Office Election Law, if
one of more than two candidates in a mayoral election shall die
within three days before the election date, the political party
concerned is allowed to field a new candidate, with no limit on the
number of candidates. In a case where one of only two candidates
shall die, the voting date is deferred by five days and the party
concerned is allowed to field new candidates up to three days before
the reset voting date.

13) Campaigning starts for 156 mayoral elections, as well as for

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assembly elections in 448 towns and villages

YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full)
April 18, 2007

The official campaigning for mayoral elections in 156 towns and
villages and assembly elections in 448 towns and villages kicked off
yesterday. A total of 270 persons filed their candidacies for the
mayoral elections. In the 156 towns and villages, 60 new
unchallenged mayors were elected without going through voting. The
percentage of the uncontested elections was 38%, a drop of 13 points
from the 2003 unified regional elections. Only four women filed
candidacies in the 156 mayoral races. The elections will take place
on April 22 along with city mayoral and assembly elections. In some
wards and cities, the counting of votes will be conducted on April

23.

The number of mayoral elections is about 30% of that of the previous
unified local elections and the number of assembly elections is
about 40% of the 2003 unified regional races. The reason for the
drops in the numbers of elections is the reduction in the number of
posts through municipal mergers.

It is now definite that the mayoral election in Toyo Town, Kochi
Prefecture, which applied for the first time across the nation to be
the candidate site for the construction of a high-level radioactive
waste disposal facility, is going to be a fierce fight between the
former town mayor, who made the decision to apply, and a new-face
candidate, who opposes it.

A total of 6,544 candidates are running for the 5,627 seats in the
448 assemblies. Of the 6,544, 732 candidates were elected
unopposed.

14) MAFF plant protection officers received excessive entertainment
from Australian farm group

TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 1) (Excerpts)
April 18, 2007

It was found yesterday that the plant protection officers dispatched
by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) to
check to see if proper measures have been taken to exterminate
insects received excessive entertainment from a local farm group.
The revelation may undermine the confidence of Japan's plant
quarantine.

According to MAFF, Mediterranean fruit flies and other harmful
insects are prevalent in Australia. To prevent such insects from
being brought into Japan, the government has banned the import of
oranges, kiwis, apples, and other fruits from Australia in
principle. But it has made exceptions and permitted imports if it
finds measures to kill insects at a low temperature have been
properly taken. The ministry has sent several plant protection
officials to Queensland during the season of shipment time for
fruits every year.

According to accounting data of a local agricultural group and
informed sources, two officials who were dispatched for six months
starting last June were flooded with invitations, including tours of
Ayers Rock and Tasmania, as well as wining and dining at Japanese
restaurants in Melbourne on weekends. The local farm group

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reportedly spent about 580,000 for wining and dining and about
580,000 yen for trips for the two officials.

15) Full-scale debate begins on three education-related bills

MAINICHI (Page 2) (Excerpts)
April 18, 2007

With the attendance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a
question-and-answer session took place yesterday in a plenary
session of the House of Representatives on three government-proposed
bills related to education reform, which Abe regards as key pieces
of legislation, and a debate on the bills began. Meanwhile, the
largest opposition party, Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan),
yesterday submitted its own legislation to the Diet. The
government-drafted bills are aimed at a review of the school
management system in response to bullying, while the
Minshuto-proposed bill calls for decentralization and budget
expansion. With an eye on the summer's House of Councillors
election, the ruling and opposition camps will engage in an
education debate.

In the question-and-answer session, Abe expressed his enthusiasm for
education reform based on the revised Basic Education Law. He
stated: "We will make clear in law standard awareness, public
mindedness, and love of one's hometown and country so that specific
measures will be come up with after revising the curriculum
guidelines."

One of the contentious points is the establishment of a system for
renewal of teaching licenses, which the bills presented by the
government and Minshuto include. The government's legislation calls
for 10-year-validity of teaching licenses, as well as for teachers
to attend 30 hours of lectures. In order to "strictly deal with
inappropriate teachers" as Abe said, the bill also stipulates
implementation of special training and punishments, including
dismissal in cases where no improvement is seen.

Minshuto's bill calls for teachers to attend 100 hours of lectures
and to obtain a master's degree that includes practice teaching for
one year. The purpose of the stricter requirements for a teaching
license is to avoid criticism that the party is favoring the
teachers' union. Takeshi Nishioka, former education minister, said,
"Improvement in the development of teachers is more important than
renewing teaching licenses."

16) Aegis info leak: 2 seamen lied to in-house inquiry about their
own PCs

YOMIURI (Page 34) (Full)
April 18, 2007

In the recently exposed case of Aegis vessel data leakage, two
senior officers of the Maritime Self-Defense Force have made a false
statement of personal computers in their possession when the MSDF
conducted an in-house inquiry in the spring of last year, sources
have revealed. In this information leakage case, a 33-year-old petty
officer second class assigned to the MSDF's Escort Flotilla 1,
headquartered in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is alleged to have
taken out Aegis vessel data given by a 30-year-old petty officer
third class. The two petty officers said to the inquiry that they
did not have any personal computers. At that time, the MSDF checked

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personal computers privately owned by all its members to see what
was contained in their hardware. However, the two MSDF seamen made a
false statement to get around the PC check. Kanagawa prefectural
police and the MSDF's shore police command is looking closely into
the case, surmising that the two might have falsified the facts
about their own PCs so that their concealing of classified
information would not be brought to light.

In February last year, confidential information about an MSDF
destroyer based at Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture was found to have
leaked on the Internet from a crewman's privately owned computer.
The Defense Ministry thereafter issued a notification to its
personnel in the name of its vice minister in order to sweep away
their PCs from workplaces and delete official data saved in their
PCs.

In addition, the MSDF took further information security steps
inquiring of all its members whether they had a PC for their private
use. Those who owned a PC were subject to PC inspections. Their
respective officers in charge directly went over to their homes or
elsewhere to check saved data with their consent. In that check, the
MSDF had them delete all official data.

In the recent Aegis data leakage case, however, a hard disk drive
seized from the petty officer second class' home was discovered to
have contained files, including data about Aegis vessels. The police
and MSDF authorities therefore looked into the case. As a result,
the two petty officers were found to have falsified their
statements, saying they did not have any PCs. The investigative
authorities are looking closely into the case as they suspect that
the two petty officers made such false statements because they were
aware of having Aegis data files and other confidential information
that should not be in their hands.

17) Japan, US to confirm cooperation on global warming preventive
measures during summit later in the month

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 3) (Full)
April 18, 2007

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is to visit the US on Apr. 26-27, and
President Bush will likely confirm cooperation on energy security
and measures to prevent global warming during a bilateral summit
meeting, a senior US government official revealed. Both countries
are expected to urge China and India, major greenhouse gas emitters,
to fulfill their roles in the creation of an international framework
for global warming preventive measures replacing the Kyoto
Protocol.

The two leaders will also likely reach a common perception on the
efficacy of the role of nuclear power generation in fighting global
warming. The same official stressed that it is extremely important
for the leaders of Japan and the US to agree on their determination
to bring a successful end to the multilateral trade talks (Doha
Round) under the World Trade Organization. The US plans to bring up
liberalization of Japan's financial capital market in pursuit of
fair treatment of US companies following postal privatization.
Expansion of US beef trade has also surfaced as a matter of concern
for the US.

18) METI, Environment Ministry at odds over environment tax at
meeting of joint deliberation council to discuss global warming

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measures

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 5) (Full)
April 18, 2007

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the
Environment Ministry yesterday held joint deliberations to discuss
how to address Japan's target of cutting global warming gas
emissions set under the Kyoto Protocol. Additional measures were
released during the meeting. Additional proposals included
strengthening measures targeting the household sector and the
services sector, whose carbon emissions are on the increase. Council
members who took part in the deliberations supported the proposals.
However, the views of the two ministries remained apart on each
measure, including the ideas of asking the services sector to
independently set a reduction target and introducing an environment
tax.

The government will invite public opinions on those proposals to
reflect them in an outline of a set of global warming preventive
measures.

The coordination of views will mostly likely encounter difficulties
on independent action programs, under which each industry sector,
including the manufacturing sector, independently sets its own
carbon emissions target. The proposal calls for expanding the types
of industry subject to this system. However, participants were
skeptical about the efficacy of such a system, with one noting,
"Since the system has no legal binding power, the proposal will have
no effect" and another saying, "There is no alternative plan in the
event of such a program fails."

Council members are also at odds over the environment tax issue. A
participant from the industrial sector insisted, "The idea is out of
the question, because it is against the trend of moving services
from government to the private sector." Another participant
rebutted, "It is necessary to look into the possibility of
introducing an environment tax as a motivation for energy
conservation as European countries do." A participant from the
Environment Ministry called for establishing a deliberation forum
for each ministry instead of holding joint deliberations.

19) Keizai Doyukai representative director Kitashiro holds his last
regular press conference: "I have consistently supported structural
reforms"

NIHON KEIZAI (Page 5) (Full)
April 18, 2007

Recalling his four-year tenure, Japan Association of Corporate
Executives (Keizai Doyukai) Representative Director Kakutaro
Kitashiro, chairman of IBM Japan, during his last regular conference
yesterday noted, "It was good that I have consistently expressed my
support for structural reforms and that the economy has recovered as
a result of efforts by private companies and the government."

As the most impressive event, he cited that when the government was
discussing postal privatization, he contained the argument calling
for putting off privatization, saying, "The building of a temporary
computer system following the spin-off of Japan Post into four
entities can be completed well in time." He said he has regrets
about the slow progress in a revision of the "angel tax system,"

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aimed at nurturing venture capital firms, a leader of technical
innovation.

Kitashiro took office as representative director in April 2003. He
has actively supported the structural reform policy of former Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who called for moving services from
government to the private sector. He said he wants to focus on the
education issue and the nurturing of venture capital firms, his
lifework, after retirement.

Keizai Doyukai will select Masamitsu Sakurai, chairman of Rikoh as a
new representative director.

SCHIEFFER