ABE CABINET, LDP EXECUTIVE LINE-UP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 09 TOKYO 003970

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DEPT. PLEASE PASS TO USTR/MBEEMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2017/08/26
TAGS: PGOV PREL JA
SUBJECT: ABE CABINET, LDP EXECUTIVE LINE-UP

REF: TOKYO 3968

Classified By: CDA Joseph R. Donovan for reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (SBU) Summary. (This is a corrected copy amending
paragraph 16.) This cable outlines the backgrounds of
Japan's new cabinet and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
leadership line-up announced on August 27, 2007. New
appointees and posts are:

LDP Secretary-General -- Taro ASO
LDP General Affairs Council Chairman -- Toshihiro NIKAI
LDP Policy Research Council Chairman -- Nobuteru ISHIHARA

Minister of Justice -- Kunio HATOYAMA
Minister of Foreign Affairs -- Nobutaka MACHIMURA
Minister of Finance -- Fukushiro NUKAGA
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, S&T -- Bunmei IBUKI
Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare -- Yoichi MASUZOE
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Takehiko
ENDO
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry -- Akira AMARI
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport -- Tetsuzo
FUYUSHIBA
Minister of Environment -- Dr. Ichiro KAMOSHITA
Minister of Defense -- Masahiko KOMURA
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications -- Hiroya
MASUDA
Chief Cabinet Secretary -- Kaoru YOSANO
Minister of State for Financial Services, Administrative
Reform, and Regulatory Reform -- Yoshimi WATANABE
Minister of State for Financial Services, Minister of State
for Second Chance -- Yuji YAMAMOTO
Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy -- Hiroko
OTA

The biographies on these three will follow:
Minister of State for Okinawa, N. Territories, and Food
Safety -- Fumio KISHIDA
Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Measures for
Declining Birthrate, Gender Equality -- Yoko KAMIKAWA
National Public Safety Commission Chairman -- Shinya IZUMI


2. (SBU) Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP)
Secretary-General -- Taro ASO, 66, is a ninth-term member of

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the House of Representatives, first elected in 1979. He was
appointed Foreign Minister in October 2005 and reappointed in
September 2006. Aso has broad government experience, having
served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication
(2003-2005),State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy
(2001),and State Minister for Economic Planning (1996-1997).
He also has a wealth of experience in party politics. He
served as LDP Policy Affairs Research Council Chair for two
years after losing the LDP presidential race to Prime
Minister Koizumi in 2001. He has an impressive family
history; he is the grandson of late Prime Minister Shigeru
Yoshida, the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Zenko
Suzuki, and has connections to the royal family by marriage.
Aso has a reputation as an elitist, and while he is known to
be friendly and engaging in person, he is somewhat less
comfortable with large groups. He is sometimes criticized for
his connection to the family mining and cement business,
which has been accused of using forced labor during World War
II. He received his undergraduate degree from Gakushuin
University, studied at Stanford University and the University
of London, and speaks good albeit occasionally fractured
English. Aso was a member of Japan's skeet shooting team in
the 1976 Montreal Olympics and is an accomplished golfer.


3. (SBU) LDP General Affairs Council (GAC) Chairman --
Toshihiro NIKAI, 68, is an eighth-term member of the Lower

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House representing Wakayama third district, first elected in

1983. Nikai's appointment as GAC chairman, considered the
ultimate coordinator of party decisions, was expected given
Abe's need for a united LDP front after his crushing defeat
in the July upper house election. Nikai has his own faction
of 15 members and previously served as LDP Diet Affairs
Committee Chairman. In the Diet, Nikai has specialized in
land, infrastructure, transportation, and tourism promotion,
having served as Hokkaido Development Agency
Director-General, Minister of Transportation, Minister in
charge of International Exhibitions, and Minister of Economy,
Trade, and Industry. Nikai is known for his pro-China stance
and is a member of the parliamentary league to support the
Beijing Olympics. Nikai once left the LDP in 1993 and formed
the Shin-shin Party with current Democratic Party of Japan
(DPJ) President Ichiro Ozawa. Nikai, together with Ozawa,
then joined the New Frontier Party headed by former Prime
Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. After the collapse of the
Hosokawa Cabinet, Nikai joined the Liberal Party (LP),which
was created by Ozawa. Upon the break-up of the LDP-LP-Komei
Party coalition, Nikai, who was Ozawa's right-hand man, and
12 other LP members decided to leave the party and formed the
Conservative Party in 2000, which was renamed the New
Conservative Party (NCP) in 2002, in conjunction with 5 LDP
members. He returned to the LDP in 2003. Due to his
experience in both ruling and opposition parties, he is known
as one of the most deft behind-the-scenes political
negotiators, with well-developed connections to both
coalition and ruling parties. He is said to be one of the key
players for the LDP's landslide victory in 2005. Nikai is a
graduate of Chuo University, and before entering national
politics served as secretary to then Construction Minister
Saburo Endo. He then served as a Wakayama prefectural
assembly member for two terms. Nikai is married with
children. He does not speak English.


4. (SBU) LDP Policy Research Council (PARC) Chairman --
Nobuteru ISHIHARA, 50, is a sixth-term member of the Lower
House representing Tokyo district eight, first elected in

1990. He previously served as LDP Acting Secretary and does
not belong to a faction. He is the eldest son of Tokyo
Governor Shintaro Ishihara. In the Diet Ishihara has
specialized in economic and financial issues along with
administrative reform. He previously served as State
Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulator Reform and
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport under the
Koizumi Cabinet. In the Cabinet he focused on public road
administrative reform. At that time, Ishihara was criticized
for his lack of leadership and capability as a minister.
Ishihara became known as "seisaku shinjinrui" (policy new
breed) in the midst of the 1998 financial revitalization law.
He was one of the driving forces behind the passage of the
law. Ishihara, along with Special Advisor to the Prime
Minister Takumi Nemoto, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and former
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, make up the "NAIS"
policy group, named from each member's family name first
initial. A graduate of Keio University, Ishihara was a
Nippon TV political reporter for ten years before joining
national politics. He also studied for three years at Elmira
University in New York and speaks good English. He married
Risa Tanaka and has a son and a daughter. His hobbies
include shorinji kempo (level-three),a form of Kung-fu.


5. (SBU) Minister of Justice -- Kunio HATOYAMA, 59, is a
tenth-term member of the Lower House representing Fukuoka
sixth district, first elected in 1976. He belongs to the
Tsushima faction led by former Health and Welfare Minister

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Yuji Tsushima. Former PM and first LDP president Ichiro
Hatoyama is his grandfather and former Foreign Minister
Ichiro Hatoyama is his father. His elder brother Yukio
Hatoyama currently is Secretary General of the opposition

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DPJ. His first political job was as secretary to former PM
Kakuei Tanaka. Although a graduate of the University of
Tokyo's Faculty of Law Public Law Department, Hatoyama has
never served in any justice-related posts in the Diet or the
Cabinet. After leaving the LDP in 1993 to become an
independent, Hatoyama served as the Labor Minister in the
short-lived Hata Cabinet. He was a key player in the
formation of the New Frontier Party and then the early DPJ in

1996. In 1999 Hatoyama left the DPJ and ran unsuccessfully
for Tokyo governor . He returned to the LDP in the 2000
lower house election. Hatoyama attempted to run in the LDP
presidential election in 2006 but could not gather the
required number of endorsers and ended up supporting Taro
Aso. Since Hatoyama's return to the LDP, he has been
advocating "coexistence with nature," and has been engaged in
animal protection for which he established a 40-member LDP
parliamentary group. Hatoyama is married to Emily Takami,
who was a well-known TV entertainer. He has two sons and a
daughter. His hobbies include the study of butterflies,
cooking and gardening.


6. (C) Foreign Minister -- Nobutaka MACHIMURA returns as
Foreign Minister, having served in the post in the second and
third Koizumi Cabinets. Machimura wields considerable
political clout and his ties to former PM Koizumi and senior
members of the Prime Minister's former faction (Mori now
Tsushima faction) have played a key role in his career

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development. He has held a number of appointed positions
since his election to the lower house in 1983, including
Deputy LDP Secretary General (2002),Minister of Education
(2000-01),Special Advisor to former Prime Minister Mori
(2000),and Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs
(1998-99). He also has served as the LDP's Research
Commission on Foreign Affairs Chairman. As Foreign Minister,
Machimura earned the admiration and respect of U.S. officials
in Tokyo and Washington, DC. Described as intelligent and
personable, Machimura is an excellent public speaker. During
his tenure (2004-05),he underscored the need to improve
relations with Japan,s neighbors but was unable to break the
impasse over history and territorial disputes. Machimura is
a longtime supporter of the bilateral alliance and in 2001 he
strongly supported Japanese assistance to the U.S. fight
against terrorism. He has led efforts within the LDP to
strengthen the protection of intelligence. He can be
expected to play a leadership role in bilateral information
security efforts. Machimura was also personally involved
during critical stages of the Alliance Transformation
negotiations, representing MOFA at the February 19 and
October 29, 2006 Security Consultative Committee (2 2)
meetings. Nevertheless, Machimura has made a number of
public statements suggesting a need to reduce Japan's outlays
of Host Nation Support (HNS). As such, he may not be a
natural ally in upcoming discussions on renewal of the
Special Measures Agreement (SMA). Machimura's late father
was a prominent upper house president and three-time governor
of Hokkaido. After graduating from University of Tokyo's
Economic Faculty, Machimura pursued a career at the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry from 1969 to 1982. He
spent his sophomore year in college as an exchange student at
Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Machimura jogs regularly
and plays tennis and golf. He and his wife Junko have two
daughters. He speaks excellent English.


7. (C) Minister of Finance -- Fukushiro NUKAGA, 63, is a
member of the LDP's Tsushima faction. Representing Ibaraki's
second district in the Lower House, he was first elected in
1983 and is a graduate of Waseda University's Faculty of
Political Science and Economics. Nukaga has served in
several past Cabinets, twice as head of the Japan Defense
Agency and as Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal
Policy. He was once considered a contender for Prime

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Minister but resigned from his first appointment as Defense
Minister in 1998 to take responsibility for a procurement
scandal not directly connected to him, and from his
appointment as Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy in
2001 following a "money for influence" scandal. He was
reappointed as Defense Minister in 2005, and is known as an
expert in security affairs. He is not known to have any
expertise in financial issues, though he was a Vice Chairman
of the LDP Research Commission on Tax in 1998. Nukaga's
appointment could be potentially significant to upcoming
discussions on renewal of the SMA for HNS. During final
stages of realignment negotiations, then-Defense Minister
Nukaga pledged to personally press for a 3-year rollover of
the current agreement. At subsequent ministerial meetings,
the Japanese government had disavowed this "gentleman's
agreement" on SMA. Ministry of Defense (MOD) Deputy Director
General Daikichi Momma, who was present at the meeting with
Nukaga and then-Secretary Rumsfeld, commented recently that
only Nukaga's appointment as MOD or MOF Minister would change
the Japanese government's position a rollover. Nukaga, one
of the leading members of the LDP's defense caucus, is likely
to be sympathetic to MOD efforts to expand defense spending
beyond the traditional one percent of GDP cap.


8. (SBU) Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, S&T --
Bunmei IBUKI, 68, is a member of the Lower House representing
Kyoto first district since 1983; this is his seventh term and
he won by a large margin in the September 2005 election.
Since his initial appointment in 2006, Ibuki has successfully
dispelled criticism stemming from a campaign financing
scandal, and has focused on enacting PM Abe's top education
reform initiatives, including a law that makes patriotism a
goal of the public education curriculum. Along with several
other ministers, Ibuki signed the U.S.-Japan Joint Nuclear
Energy Action Plan in April 2007. Unlike his predecessors,
Ibuki has not been actively engaged on space policy issues,
referring the visiting NASA Administrator to his Vice
Minister for a meeting in March 2007. Other than a meeting
in Tokyo with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in
November 2006, Ibuki has had no contact with U.S. officials.
Ibuki is the head of the Ibuki faction in the LDP and a
strong backer of the Abe administration. Born into a
traditional textile wholesaler family dating back to the Edo
Period, Ibuki is a true-bred son of Kyoto. He is well-liked
by his colleagues for his humble attitude and for taking good
care of people around him. Ibuki seems to be an open and
outgoing politician as his website features several pictures
from his birth to his days in the Diet, and he claims to
maintain a wide variety of friends, including scholars,
businessmen, diplomats, and political pundits. One of his
most recent high-profile responsibilities included acting as
Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission. A graduate
of Kyoto University, Ibuki entered the Ministry of Finance
(MOF) and served at the Budget Bureau and the International
Finance Bureau before quitting the Ministry to try his hand
at national politics. He served as Labor Minister under the
late Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Previous government
and LDP jobs include Parliamentary Vice Health Minister and
chairman of the Lower House Committee on Education. Ibuki
speaks fluent English, having served at the Japanese Embassy
in London for four years in the 1960s. He is married with a
son and daughter. He is an avid tennis player, enjoys the
Japanese game of "Go," appreciates the Japanese traditional
comic storytelling called "rakugo," and likes cooking and
participating in study circles. Ibuki is also the author of
several books focused on politics in Japan, particularly
concerning Japan's vision for the future.


9. (SBU) Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare -- Yoichi
MASUZOE, 58, is a second-term member of the Upper House
proportional representation block, first elected in 2001, and

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is not affiliated with any LDP faction. He has a reputation
as an Abe critic and recently spoke out against PM Abe's
refusal to resign after the LDP's loss of July's Upper House
elections. While in the Diet, Masuzoe has specialized in
reform of the pension, civil servant, and education systems,
in addition to espousing child-rearing support and amendment
of the constitution. Masuzoe has also been vocal about
issues related to Japan's aging population, with the aim of
improving health care services and infrastructure for
Japanese seniors. Previously, Masuzoe has served as chairman
of the LDP Policy Board in the Upper House, as well as
director of the Committee on Financial Affairs and the
Committee on Discipline of the Upper House. A graduate of
University of Tokyo, Masuzoe worked as an Associate Professor
of International Relations at Tokyo University, specializing
in French politics and diplomacy as well as international
relations. His book on welfare issues, his political
commentary, and frequent television appearances have given
him popularity and wide name recognition. Masuzoe is married
without children. His second wife, Satsuki Katayama, is a
first-term member of the LDP Lower House representing
Shizuoka seventh district. Masuzoe's hobbies include
horseback riding, golf and skiing; he has a black belt in
judo. He speaks excellent English and French, having been a
visiting fellow at the University of Paris and the Graduate
Institute of International Studies in Geneva.


10. (C) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries --
Takehiko ENDO, 70, is a six-term member of the Lower House
representing Yamagata second district, first elected in 1986.
He belongs to the Yamazaki faction led by Taku Yamazaki, one
of Koizumi's close associates within the LDP. He was Prime
Minister Abe's mentor when Abe was first elected to the Diet
and served as chair for a House of Representatives
subcommittee on North Korean Abduction Issues and Nuclear
Development last year. While in the Diet, Endo has mainly
specialized in agricultural issues, having served previously
as Senior Vice Minister for Agriculture, and was responsible
for BSE issues under Minister Tsutomu Takebe during the
domestic outbreak in 2001-2002. Before serving as Senior
Vice Minister, Endo was Parliamentary Secretary for
Agriculture and the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry. He was Director for the
LDP's International Bureau in 2003. His subordinates at that
time told Embassy Tokyo that he had a mild temperament and
good personality. Endo supports Prime Minister Abe's reform
agenda in general. His mantra has been for the preservation
and revitalization of rural communities. Prime Minster Abe's
failure to address this issue adequately has often been cited
as one of the reasons why the LDP lost in the recent Upper
House election. Embassy sources say that MAFF officials
consider Endo to be an old school agriculture caucus Diet
member, although he does not always listen to and follow the
script prepared by MAFF bureaucrats. Endo led Japan's
delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Bali, Indonesia in June 2002 and met with then Deputy
Secretary for Agriculture Mosely.

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11. (C) Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry -- Akira
AMARI, 58, who remains as head of METI, is an eight-term
member of the Lower House, representing Kanagawa District
thirteen, the site of a number of US bases. The son of a
former Lower House Diet member, he belongs to the Yamazaki
Faction of the LDP and served as Labor Minister (1998) in the
cabinet of the late Prime Minister Obuchi. Prior to his
appointment as METI minister in September 2006, he played the
role of Acting Chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council.
In the Diet, Amari specialized in issues related to commerce
and industry, having served for a long time on the Party's
Committee on Organizations Involved with Commerce, Industry,
and Medium and Small Enterprises, including as chairman.

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Amari is a graduate of Keio University and worked for two and
a half years at Sony Corporation. He then became his
father's personal secretary for nine years before being
elected to the Diet himself in 1983. During his tenure in
the first Abe Cabinet, Amari did little to change the general
impression that he is an "old-fashioned" Diet member likely
to follow the lead of the bureaucrats in the Ministry.
Although Amari has publicly expressed support for
resuscitating the Doha Round negotiations in the WTO, he has
done little to offer new proposals or otherwise assert
Japanese leadership in the process. Amari prefers to use an
interpreter in meetings with U.S. officials.


12. (C) Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport --
Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, age 71, who kept his Cabinet position, is
an eight-term member of the Lower House representing the
Hyogo eighth district and was first elected to the Diet in

1986. The Secretary General for the LDP's junior partner New
Komeito, he retained his position as Minister and is the only
member of New Komeito to receive a post in Abe's cabinet.
Fuyushiba graduated from the Faculty of Law at Kansai
University and has focused his career on advocating for
society's disadvantaged, mentally and physically challenged
members. Fuyushiba has previously served as Parliamentary
Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs (under then Prime

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Minister Morihiro Hosokawa). He is viewed as a pragmatist
and is one of several lawmakers calling for the construction
of a secular war memorial to relieve tensions over visits to
Yasukuni. He publicly supported the SDF mission in Iraq. He
is well known to the Consulate in Osaka-Kobe and one of the
few Komeito politicians who has attended Self Defense Force
(SDF) events. Fuyushiba is more conservative on aviation and
port issues, faithfully advocating the Ministry's positions
against aviation reformers seeking to loosen government
control over Japan's major international airports. He has
been quoted in the press as opposing a US-style open skies
aviation policy. On port issues, shippers would like to see
reforms in the rigid stevedore contract system which inhibits
competition and maintains high costs. However, Fuyushiba's
previous performance suggests that it is highly unlikely he
would advocate port reform. Fuyushiba is married, has three
sons and one daughter, and he enjoys fine arts and ceramics.


13. (SBU) Minister of Environment -- Dr. Ichiro KAMOSHITA,
58, is a fifth-term member of the House of Representatives,
representing Tokyo's thirteenth electoral district -- his
native Adachi-ku and one of Tokyo's poorest areas. He was
first elected to the House in 1993 and belongs to the LDP's
Tsushima faction. He was previously a member of Ichiro

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Ozawa's New Frontier Party, leaving it for the LDP in 1997
along with other young lawmakers who had vocally criticized
Ozawa's leadership. He served as Senior Vice Minister of
Health, Labor and Welfare in the Koizumi administration in

2002. In 1994 he served as Parliamentary Vice Minister of
Environment in the Hata administration, having taken
advantage of his experience as a medical doctor and his
connection with the powerful, LDP-supporting Japan Medical
Association. His political career has focused on health
issues, but his environmental background is at least as
strong as that of previous MOE Minister Wakabayashi, if not
stronger. Dr. Kamoshita graduated from the Nihon University
School of Medicine in 1975 and has practiced internal
medicine since 1981. He has also published more than 60
books on health and psychology. His hobbies include golf,
driving and table tennis. He is married, with two sons and a
daughter. His English is only at the greeting level.


14. (C) Minister of Defense -- Masahiko KOMURA, 65, is a
ninth term member of the Lower House representing Yamaguchi
first district, first elected in 1980. Komura heads his own
16-person faction and is considered a heavyweight within the

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party. Komura served as Foreign Minister in the Obuchi and
the (first) Mori cabinets, where he was instrumental in
securing Diet support for the revised U.S.-Japan Defense
Guidelines and Special Action Committee for Okinawa (SACO)
agreement. Komura also played host to the 2000 G-8 Foreign
Ministerial in Miyazaki. In 2003, Komura was Chairman of the
Lower House Special Committee on Anti-Terrorism, overseeing
the extension of Japan's maritime mission in support of OEF.
Although considered a hardliner on North Korea, Komura has a
relatively dovish reputation. He currently serves as
President of the Japan-China Diet Members League. In his
first week on the job, Komura will receive a visit by his PRC
counterpart to Tokyo. Overall, Komura has a reputation as a
clean and capable, if somewhat colorless, politician. Komura
practices Shorinjo Kempo, a type of Kung-fu. He speaks
little English.


15. (SBU) Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications --
Hiroya MASUDA, 55, comes from outside the Diet. He is the
former governor of Iwate Prefecture, where he was known as
reformer and an advocate of bringing corporate management
practices to the prefecture's administration. Masuda has
also promoted the decentralization of power from the central
government and the creation of a regional administrative
system. Masuda was elected governor at the age of 43 -- the
youngest on record at that time -- and served for three
terms, from 1995 to 2007. As the Abe administration was
heavily criticized on the issue of regional disparities
during the Upper House election, Masuda's appointment will
likely be seen as a sign of determination to address regional
issues. Currently, Masuda is the acting chairman of the
"Decentralization Promotion Council" in the Cabinet Office,
an advisory council for Prime Minister Abe, and is a member
of the Postal Services Privatization Committee, the experts'
group guiding Japan Post's ten-year privatization process. A
graduate of Tokyo University, Masuda is also a 17-year former
Ministry of Construction (now Ministry of Land Infrastructure
and Transportation) official. He is married and includes
skiing and horse riding among his hobbies.


16. (C) Chief Cabinet Secretary -- Kaoru YOSANO, 69, is a
ninth term member of the Lower House representing Tokyo first
district, first elected in 1976. He belongs to no faction.
Yosano is a rare LDP justice-tribe member and also a
well-known specialist on economic and fiscal policy, having
served as Minister of Economy and International Trade, State
Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy and chairman of the
LDP research Commission on the Tax System. Like former
Finance Minister Tanigaki, he is a strong advocate of fiscal
reconstruction through tax increases. AS LDP Policy Research
Council chairman in 2004, Yosano pushed forward former PM
Koizumi's postal privatization initiative. Yosano, together
with PM Abe, belongs to a study group call "shiki-ho-kai"
(Group of Four Seasons),organized by big corporate leaders.
Yosano started his political career as secretary to then Diet
member Yasuhiro Nakasone (Prime Minister -). Known as the
"policy expert" in the Diet, a Kyodo News reporter expected
him to be the "brain" in Prime Minister's Office and to
develop close working relationship with bureaucrats. A
graduate from elite Azabu High School and the University of
Tokyo, Yosano is the grandson of renowned poets Tekkan and
Akiko Yosano and the eldest son of former UN Ambassador
Shigeru Yosano. Prior to entering the political world, he
worked at Japan Atomic Power Corporation. Yosano suffered
from throat cancer in 2006 but was cured and returned to the
Diet in April 2007. He is married to Tomoko Yosano and has
two sons. He speaks fluent English. He is a
professional-level amateur photographer.


17. (C) Minister of State for Financial Services,
Administrative Reform, and Regulatory Reform -- Yoshimi

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WATANABE, 55, is a fourth-term member of the Lower House
representing Tochigi third district. He quit the Eto-Kamei
faction in 2000 in support of the "Kato Rebellion" (an
unsuccessful attempt to oust then PM Mori) and has not
belonged to any faction since. While in the Diet, Watanabe
has placed emphasis on economic policy, especially in the
areas of finance and fiscal policy. He has been a member of
several party committees developing economic and tax
policies, and he published a book in the spring of 2007 on
the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law. U.S. industry
contacts have found him well-versed in financial policy and
describe him as "receptive" in meetings. He was appointed to
Senior Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office in the first Abe
cabinet in September 2006, and then became the Minister of
State for Regulatory Reform when Genichiro Sada resigned in
the face of an office expenditure scandal. A graduate of
Waseda and Chuo universities, Watanabe is the eldest son of
the late Michio Watanabe, a former cabinet minister and LDP
vice president. Watanabe is married, with two sons and a
daughter. He speaks passable English, but prefers to use
Japanese in meetings. His hobbies include reading, swimming,
and golf.

18.(C) Minister of State for Financial Services, Minister of
State for Second Chance -- Yuji YAMAMOTO, 55, is an LDP
member of the Lower House representing Kochi 3rd District,
first elected in 1985, and a member of the Komura faction. A
1977 graduate of Waseda University, Yamamoto is one of the
holdovers from the first Abe Cabinet. Prior to Prime
Minister Abe's election in September 2006, Yamamoto served as
head of the LDP Treasury Bureau, and chairman of the
Abe-supporting Parliamentary League Supporting Society With
Second Chance. Yamamoto started the cross-factional Second
Chance group with 17 other Diet members in May 2006,
declaring their primary purpose to be the development of
policies addressing the growing economic imbalance in
Japanese society. At the time, Yamamoto stated, "In a way,
forming a group across the factions is a new experiment in an
era when the strength of factions has weakened. Had my
faction ordered me not to (form this group),I probably would
have left because I was eager to give Japan a new prime
minister who would create a new political era." Despite that
rhetoric, the Second Chance portfolio has taken a backseat to
the Financial Services portfolio, since Yamamoto took the
double-hatted role. As Minister of State for Financial
Services, Yamamoto has been very public in his desire to see
Tokyo grow in status as an international financial center
though his focus has been on the peripheral issue of the
creation of a "Canary Wharf" type center in Tokyo, and he has
advocated the creation of a sovereign wealth fund for Japan.
In his spare time Yamamoto enjoys jogging, tennis, golf, and
reading.


19. (SBU) Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy --
Hiroko OTA, 52, is another holdover from the first Abe
Cabinet, joining the Cabinet from the private sector, She is
not a parliamentarian, and thus lacks influence in political
circles. As Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy, she has
worked behind the scenes to promote Prime Minister Abe's
growth and reform agenda using a consensus-building,
non-confrontation style, with quite limited success. Prior
to joining the first Abe Cabinet, she worked at the National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in 1997 where
she was a professor since 2001, with a focus is on public
sector economics. From 2002 to 2004, Ota served in the
Cabinet Office as Director General for Policy Planning in
charge of economic and fiscal policy, where she worked
closely supporting her predecessor, Heizo Takenaka. In the
past, she has served as a committee member on the Committee
Considering Competition Policy Approaches for the 21st
Century, and as a member of the Postal Services Privatization

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Committee. Following her graduation from Hitotsubashi
University, Ota joined Mikimoto Corporation in 1976, before
becoming a research associate at the Japan Institution of
Life Insurance in 1981. Ota worked at the Institution until
1993, at which time she became a guest lecturer in the
Economics Department of Osaka University. In 1996, she
became an associate professor at Saitama University Graduate
School of Policy Science, also served as a corporate auditor
for Orix Corporation.
DONOVAN