DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 05/15/07

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 002187 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 05/15/07 INDEX: (1) Referendum bill passes Diet: Advocates of protecting Constitution to launch offensive to protect Article 9 (2) Editorial: Passage of groundbreaking national referendum legislation (3) Futenma not dangerous: Maher (4) Seiron (Opinion) column by Hisahiko Okazaki: Prime Minister Abe's recent visit to US and the state of play of the comfort-women issue (5) "Peace prize" awarded to Women's Active Museum on "comfort women" (6) American liberals support Japan's possible constitutional revision (7) Japan's space exploration strategy: Japan should explore ways for growth with miniaturization ARTICLES: (1) Referendum bill passes Diet: Advocates of protecting Constitution to launch offensive to protect Article 9 TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 29) (Excerpts) May 215, 2007 The national referendum bill, which sets legal procedures for revision of the Constitution, passed the Diet yesterday. The Constitution has supported the national foundation of Japan over the past 60 years. It is now highly likely that the Japanese people will be asked in the near future for their views about what the Constitution of Japan should be. The law will go into effect in 2011, at the earliest. All the people now have to seriously consider a new constitution to determine the shape of this nation. Advocates of protection of the Constitution have opposed the enactment of the national referendum bill itself. But Hajime Imai, chief of secretariat of the information office of the civic group on national and local referendums, lashes out at their approach: "The people cannot follow their strategy that will result in depriving them of the opportunity to use their right." Imai's criticism of pro-Constitution group's approach reflects his concern that the Constitution could lose substance as a result of the government moving ahead with the process of reinterpreting the Constitution, with debate on Article 9 reaching a gridlock. Imai said: "It should be desirable for pro-Constitution types to win a victory in a national referendum and prevent progress in constitutional reform. They must take an approach to win a majority in a vote in carrying out a campaign." In an effort to break the impasse in conventional campaigns against constitutional revision, writer Oe Kenzaburo and others called out and launched in June 2004 a group to protect Article 9. The group, taking a referendum into consideration from the beginning, set the goal of rallying a majority to protect the Constitution. The number of groups calling for protecting the Constitution now has boosted to more than 6,000 in only less than three years of period. The TOKYO 00002187 002 OF 009 conservative groups, too, have been expanding. Former Ishikawa prefectural assembly member Masanori Kamiguchi, 75, joined the Ishikawa branch of the Article 9 group last year. Kamiguchi, former Liberal Democratic Party Ishikawa prefectural branch secretary general, said: "Seven of my relatives were killed in air raids. For me, Article 9 is a world heritage. Unless members of the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party pull free from party interests, the circle of protecting the Constitution will never spread any wider." There are more than 100 million voters eligible for a national referendum. Article 9 group managing director Yoichi Komori, professor at the University of Tokyo, said: "To achieve the goal of securing a majority, it is necessary to make an approach to win at lease 80% of them over to us." Group members plan to make a door-to-door visit. Komori said: "It is important to stage a campaign based on personal ties. For instance, giving consideration to young persons who are unable to climb up from the bottom of th heap in society where wide wealth inequality exists, we should refer to problems linked o our livelihood, instead of just calling for protecting Article 9." (2) Editorial: Passage of groundbreaking national referendum legislation NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full) May 15, 2007 The national referendum bill stipulating procedures for amending the Constitution was enacted yesterday at a plenary session of the Upper House. It is groundbreaking that a right to amend the Constitution by popular sovereignty, a practice that has been neglected, has at last taken on a concrete form. The move has a significant bearing. We want the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) and the New Komeito to pursue serious discussion on a constitution befitting the 21st century, based on trends in public opinion. It is in principle desirable for the national referendum bill, as a neutral and objective set of rules, to be enacted with approval gained also from the DPJ, the largest opposition party. It is regrettable that the DPJ opposed the bill, emphasizing its stance of confronting the ruling camp with an eye on the July Upper House election just ahead. However, since the views of the DPJ were reflected in the bill to a considerable extent through talks between the ruling and opposition camps until the roll call in the Lower House, it seems proper to regard the law as the de facto collaboration of the LDP, the New Komeito and the DPJ. Opposition parties during Upper House deliberations proposed adopting a minimum voter turnout rate system. However, the views of even those who are in favor of adopting such a system differed when it came to the question of what percentage would be appropriate. The proposal cannot be regarded as serious unless it is attached with appropriate percentage and grounds for that. Basically any mature democratic country does not need such a system as a voter turnout system. It is only natural that the DPJ did not incorporate a minimum voter turnout system in its counterproposal submitted to the Upper House. TOKYO 00002187 003 OF 009 A constitutional research council will be established both in the Upper and Lower Houses starting from the next Diet session, based on the National Referendum Law. Deliberations on draft proposals for amending the Constitution will be put on hold for three years, but deliberations on general outline or gist of such proposals before drafting amendment proposals will be possible. The LDP has already prepared a new draft constitution year before last. The DPJ and the New Komeito should immediately draft their own proposals on constitutional revision in specific terms and submit them to the Diet's constitutional research councils in the form of general outline or gist of proposals. Though the LDP and the New Komeito did not in the end arrive at an agreement with the DPJ over the national referendum bill, the political situation will change once the Upper House election in July is over. A certain mild consensus was reached among the three parties on the way the Constitution should be through five-year discussions by the Constitutional Research Councils of both Diet chambers from 2000 through 2005. If the three parties accumulate serious discussions through such a process, it will be possible for the three parties to reach a consensus. The meaning of the passage of the national referendum legislation is not just it will become possible to amend the Constitution three years hence. Proposing amending the Constitution to the people requires approval from two-thirds of the members of both the Upper and Lower Houses. In order to form a two-thirds majority, a move to search for the realignment of political circles, such as major coalition between the LDP and the DPJ will probably appear. Creating fresh tension in political circles is another significant effect of the National Referendum Law. (3) Futenma not dangerous: Maher OKINAWA TIMES (Page 3) (Full) May 15, 2007 Kevin Maher, US consul general in Okinawa, addressed the Okinawa Association of Corporate Executives (Okinawa Keizai Doyukai) yesterday in its regular meeting for the month on a future outlook for the realignment of US forces in Japan. In his speech, Maher revealed that the Japanese government, in its talks with the US government over the planned realignment of US forces in Japan, had made it a precondition for the US Marine Corps to continue its contribution to the defense of Japan even after moving its Okinawa-based troops (to Guam) in the process of scaling back on its presence on Okinawa. "We judged that there's no place but Guam when we thought of a place where we can contribute to the defense of Japan after their transfer," Maher explained. With this, the consul general implied that the Japanese government's proposal of a precondition regarding where to move Marine troops was a behind-the-scenes factor of the Japanese government's decision to share the cost of transferring Marine troops from Okinawa to Guam. Referring to the planned transfer of 8,000 Marine troops from Okinawa to Guam, Maher underscored the purpose of the realignment of US forces. "This is not the beginning of the withdrawal of the Marines from Okinawa," Maher said. "Instead," he added, "the Japanese and US governments are going to underpin the US military presence through steps to mitigate the burden of local communities in the vicinity of bases across the nation." In addition, Maher explained that the transfer of some of the TOKYO 00002187 004 OF 009 Kadena-based F-15 fighters' flight training missions to other bases in mainland prefectures is aimed primarily at improving the interoperability of US Forces Japan and the Self-Defense Forces. "One of its major purposes is to heighten interoperability (between Japan and the United States)," Maher said. "I think it will help resolve the noise problem of Kadena somewhat in the end," he added. Touching on the danger of Futenma airfield, Maher clarified his view: "In my eyes, Futenma is not dangerous, in particular when compared with the density of the population around the Atsugi base and Fukuoka Airport. Fukuoka Airport has more planes arriving than Futenma." On the issue of relocating Futenma airfield, Okinawa Prefecture and Nago City have been calling for the Japanese government to build an offshore facility. "Our bilateral roadmap, which was released in May last year (as a report finalized on the US military's realignment), is not an abstract agreement. We have also reached an agreement on the location of runways in consideration of noise and environmental problems, feasibility, and various other factors. It's meaningless to change the location again from now, if there's no reason to do so." (4) Seiron (Opinion) column by Hisahiko Okazaki: Prime Minister Abe's recent visit to US and the state of play of the comfort-women issue SANKEI (Page 11) (Full) May 14, 2007 Hisahiro Okazaki, former ambassador to Thailand Adverse effect on Japan-US relations sidestepped Although it is still unclear how deliberations in the US Congress on the "comfort women" issue will unfold in the days ahead, it is safe to say that Prime Minister ABE in his recent visit to the United States managed to just barely avoid having the issue adversely effect Japan-US relations. Let us recollect the course of this issue until recently. Initially, Japanese and US policy specialists agreed that the House resolution on the comfort women should be given minimum attention. Even if it were adopted, the resolution would have no binding power. A resolution is merely a tool for lawmakers to demonstrate their performance to their electorates. Making a fuss over this one would only help exaggerate the issue even further. This strategy was foiled almost at once, however, when foreign news companies reported to Americans across the country the prime minister's answers to questions about comfort women raised by opposition party members in the Diet. The entire American media picked up on the story. In the meantime, Prime Minister ABE continued to make two assertions: that he stood by the apology (to comfort women) contained in the Kono Statement and that there is no evidence to show coercion (of women into sexual servitude) in the narrow sense. Indeed, ABE did everything he could do without sacrificing his intellectual integrity. But the tone in the US toward his remarks was severe beyond anyone's expectations. Even news companies usually favorable to Japan quoted the absurd story that Japan had forced 200,000 Asian women into TOKYO 00002187 005 OF 009 sexual servitude or claimed that what Prime Minister ABE was saying was tantamount to portraying the women forced into prostitution as liars. As a result, debate on the issue appears to have been rejected at present. Human rights issues always draw public attention Initially, this situation was incomprehensible in Japan. Some even speculated that the powerful propaganda hand of China was somehow at work here. But gradually the real situation has become clear. This was for Americans a human rights issue, as seen through the absolute eyes of Evangelicals, who make up a third of voters in the US. For them, whether coercion existed or not is immaterial. They see the comfort-women system per se as evil. No American, including newspaper reporters, can raise objections once the matter is seen as human-rights related. Whether it is the past or present, human rights issues have always drawn public attention in the US. Moreover, times have changed. If soldiers carrying out peacekeeping operations (PKO for the United Nations buy sex, they are punished now. It is of useless for a PKO soldier to insist that the sex that he bought was not from a woman coerced to work as a prostitute or that other troops also did the same. Such would be taken as an excuse and only add to the bad impression. Although ABE said he has inherited the Kono Statement, Americans have no idea what he is talking about. Americans may take such as a tactical move to avoid criticism. It would be a good idea, I think, for ABE to apologize in his own words. The prime minister cannot tell a lie if he is questioned about "coercion in the narrow sense," but such a factor is not the core of the issue in the first place. If he (admitted to coercion in the narrow sense),what he should do next is to apologize about Japan having adopted the comfort women system as an act of hurting women's dignity and ignoring human rights. Common sense needed instead of calling a spade a spade The best part of the prime minister's remarks went like this: "The 20th century was a time when human rights were violated. Japan, too, was also responsible for that. I expressed my sympathy and apologies." Abe's remarks are in a way reminiscent of Weizsacker's remarks, in which Weizsacker dealt with the dark side of the war while admitting to Germany's war responsibility and insisting that the Germans, too, were victims. Americans who heard of (Abe's remarks) reportedly soberly recalled cases of violations of black people's human rights in the 1960s before the civil-rights movement. The US government and Congress have accepted Japan's explanation. Regardless of the results of the debate on the resolution in the US Congress, the (comfort women) issue is unlikely to remain as a bilateral issue in the future. In this sense, the prime minister's visit to the US produced a significant result, noteworthy in a year in which upcoming developments are unpredictable such as the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Nanking Incident. Some are unhappy with Japan making an apology, arguing that such only hurts the honor of the former Imperial Japanese Army and the national status of Japan. They take issue with the argument about whether "coercion" existed or not, and they insist that the issue TOKYO 00002187 006 OF 009 must be settled once and for all by thoroughly investigating the facts to call a spade a spade. My own view, however, is different, for I do not think such is necessary. It is more important for us to use our common sense. Everything depends on the principle of supply and demand. If supply grows larger than demand, coercion becomes unnecessary. Supply is a function of reward, and so with sufficient reward, supply can be secured. It would be good if we only had proper documentation concerning this matter. There might have been some who lost all they had earned with Japan's defeat in the war, but others might have returned home safely with assets enough for them to open their own shops. There might have been some exceptional cases, given the nature of battlefields, but those cases should have been regarded as acts subject to be punished under the Japanese military's criminal code. Nonetheless, under the moral standards today, the correct act is to apologize for the comfort women system as a human rights violations that damaged women's dignity. (5) "Peace prize" awarded to Women's Active Museum on "comfort women" ASAHI ON-LINE NEWS (Full) May 15, 2007, at 14:33 p.m. The Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM headed by Rumiko Nishino),a museum displaying voices of victims of the former Imperial Japanese Army's comfort women system, received the 2007 peace award from the non-government Catholic peace movement body, Pax Christi International (based in Brussels). WAM is the first Japanese organization to receive such recognition. The award ceremony is to take place this evening at WAM in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. Pax Christi International has a membership of 60,000 organizations spread out over 50 countries. It has awarded former European Union President Delors and the late Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General De Melo its peace prize. The organization has since 1988 awarded peace prizes to activists working in such conflict-affected regions as Croatia, the Philippines, and Rwanda. WAM, which was established in 2005, has now been chosen as a winner for the peace prize because it "established, for peaceful purposes, a place to record sexual violence committed toward women in wartime." (6) American liberals support Japan's possible constitutional revision SANKEI (Page 7 (Full) May 12, 2007 By Yoshihisa Komori When Prime Minister SHINZO ABE visited the United States in late April, Tom Lantos, chairman of the US House Foreign Relations Committee, told ABE that he supports the prime minister's effort to revise the Constitution. This was a significant matter, but the fact was hardly reported in Japan. I have looked into how the attitude of the US toward Japan's TOKYO 00002187 007 OF 009 constitution has changed over the past 20 years. Lantos' remarks reminded me of history gradually changing in this way. His words are expected to take on much meaning in future debate on constitutional revision in Japan and in gauging Americans' responses to it. Prime Minister ABE met a dozen or so members from both houses of Congress in Washington on April 26. The prime minister stressed the importance of strengthening the Japan-US alliance and then said, "I feel sorry" for the so-called comfort women. Lantos leads the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where the comfort-women resolution is currently under debate. Without referring to the comfort-women issue, Lantos said as follows: "I recognize that Japan has played a wonderful role in economic and development aid in the international community. In addition, I strongly support Prime Minister Abe's efforts to revise the Constitution in order also for Japan to fulfill its role as a major power in the security area." Lantos is famous for his liberal stance in the Democratic Party. He is a Jew who came from Hungary and has had the experience of having been detained in a Nazi concentration camp. It is quite unusual for such a liberal political leader to openly express support for Japan's constitutional reform. Lantos has had little to do in relations between Japan and the US. Even if he had made the statement above carelessly without fully understanding the circumstances, his strong remark gave the clear impression of his clear-cut support for Japan's constitutional revision. I was impressed by the fact that the propriety of Japan revising the Constitution has been recognized and supported to this extent in the US. That is because Democratic Party liberals in the US tend to express disapproval of Japan's constitutional reform. A country should decide whether to revise its own constitution on its own judgment, but the US drew up the Constitution of Japan, and the ban on Japan from keeping military forces under Article 9 is closely linked to the framework of the Japan-US security alliance, in which Japan depends on the US for its defense. In the 1980s, when I asked then Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer about Japan possibly amending the Constitution, he replied: "Japan's pendulum might swing excessively sharply." He meant that since Japan has radically changed from militarism to democracy and from isolationism to the principle of cooperation, it would be undesirable for Japan to amend its constitution. Reischauer, an expert on Japan, was of course a Democrat. I asked the same question of John Galbraith, regarded as the typical US intellectual. He is a liberal economist, but just after the end of WWII, he had visited Tokyo and questioned Japanese leaders as the head of the US government's strategic bombing fact-finding team. Galbraith's reply was that "Japan should absolutely maintain its current constitution without any changes. Should Japan move to amend the Constitution, major commotion or instability would be brought about in East Asia." During the Democratic Clinton administration that came into office in 1993, Defense Secretary William Perry, Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye, Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale, and other senior US government officials all emphasized: "We want Japan to offer cooperation without altering the framework of its TOKYO 00002187 008 OF 009 constitution" in the event of joint defense during an emergency in Asia. They sent a clear signal that the constitution should not be changed. Such a kind of view among liberals can be found in editorials of the New York Times, such as: "Moves to change the Constitution of Japan are a dangerous militarist trend." As I introduced in this column before, Alexis Dudden, an associate professor for Japanese studies at Connecticut College, came up with a conspiracy theory that linked Prime Minister Abe's call for constitutional revision to the issue of comfort women. In the early 1990s, an increasing number of Republican Party members and conservatives began to take this view: "In order to make Japan a real alliance partner for the US and a responsible member in the international community, we should urge Japan to amend its constitution, which bans the use of force even for a just cause or for deterrence," (Heritage Foundation in 1992). Paul Nitze, a prominent conservative scholar on strategic issues, said: "The assertion that Japan's amending its Constitution would lead to the revival of militarism is a sign of distrust of Japan, in a sense, so if you trust Japan is a true democracy, there is no need to worry about it amending its constitution." In the long history of Democratic Party liberalism, Lantos probably is the first senior party member who has expressed support for Japan's constitutional reform. Does this mean that the sense of alarm and distrust in the US toward Japan has waned? (7) Japan's space exploration strategy: Japan should explore ways for growth with miniaturization YOMIURI (Page 15) (Full) May 11, 2007 Tomonao Hayashi, professor at the Chiba Institute of Technology The government will shortly work out Japan's launching-vehicle strategy. Its draft report is noteworthy as it suggests the need for Japan to acquire not only large-size rockets but also mid- and small-size ones. Japan has so far pushed ahead with space development projects for large-size launching vehicles and produced large-size rockets that are called the H-2A and the M-5. The M-5 will now be decommissioned, and Japan is looking into the feasibility of developing a new small-size rocket to replace the M-5. However, the government, according to its current plan, will still keep up its development of large-size rockets. Basing Japan's space exploration only on large-size rockets is like organizing a fleet with only gigantic battleships like Musashi- and Yamato-class vessels with no task force escorting or otherwise like networking railroads with only Shinkansen bullet trains. This scheme will end up precluding the needs of satellite users and lacking flexibility. Japan will have to resolve this problem in order to develop its space activities. To do so, Japan should also eye developing small-size rockets and satellites unlike before. Japan has technical know-how to make it possible. With the integration of electronic technologies for miniaturization, TOKYO 00002187 009 OF 009 there are now components that are small, lightweight, low-powered, smart, and inexpensive. Today, there is even a palm-size computer that excels a one-time electronic calculator that used to occupy several rooms. If such componentry can be utilized, launching vehicles and their payloads can be miniaturized for flexible space activities. However, the question is whether they will exactly function in outer space even though they work with high reliability on the ground. We will have to check data in actual space flights, or we will not know if they will function in outer space. Japan should probably create a system to launch multiple small-size satellites loaded with such components to check their functionality for feedback to designs. In fact, Japan has actually launched satellites for that purpose. Their flight data is expected to be used for future satellite designs. However, they were comparatively large satellites. It therefore took a long time to design those large satellites before returning them to flight. When a satellite actually got data in outer space on its devices, their manufacturers had already stopped producing them. To eliminate such a problem, it is desirable to develop and launch small satellites in a short period of time. Japan should accumulate data on satellite parts to design and develop small satellites. By doing so, Japan will have a basis that will make it possible in time to develop small rockets and satellites. Small satellites will also help young researchers. It will take 10 years and will cost multibillion yen to develop a large-size satellite, so universities and their graduate schools cannot afford to do so for their young students. When it comes to small satellites, however, things are different. My university, the Chiba Institute of Technology, also developed a minisatellite, which is 50 kilograms, to observe the ecology of whales. The minisatellite was launched on an H-2A rocket in 2002. The development cost of our minisatellite was 80 million yen. It is important for students to study in a classroom. However, it is also significant for them to experience the actual making and launching of a satellite. There is a limit to what a single small satellite can do. However, if several small satellites are synchronized into one system, their functions can be substantially improved. One example is earth observing. In this case, combined small satellites can be more precise than a large satellite in global observation. The United States, which used to lead large satellites, has now embarked on small ones. Europe and China have also set about developing small satellites. With such a trend in mind, Japan should also explore ways for growth. DONOVAN