THE NEW IWAKUNI MAYOR MUST NOW WALK A TIGHTROPE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 FUKUOKA 000008 SIPDIS SIPDIS OSD/APSA FOR SHINN/SEDNEY/HILL/BASALLA USFJ FOR J00/J01/J3/J4/J5 E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/28/2018 TAGS: MARR PGOV PINR PREL JA SUBJECT: THE NEW IWAKUNI MAYOR MUST NOW WALK A TIGHTROPE REF: 07 TOKYO 5680; TOKYO 00326 CLASSIFIED BY: MARGOT CARRINGTON, PRINCIPAL OFFICER, CONSULATE FUKUOKA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Former ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) House of Representatives member Yoshihiko Fukuda, who defeated incumbent mayor Katsusuke Ihara by less than 2,000 votes in a February 10 election (reftel),is a pragmatist and shrewd politician, whose election was cheered by many involved in the DPRI process. In a February 26 press conference, he announced his acceptance of the move of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) to Iwakuni, but must now walk a tightrope between allaying local concerns over the relocation and meeting the Japanese Government's expectations for a smooth transfer in this key piece of the DPRI puzzle. Moreover, in the short term, he will be expected to deliver on campaign promises of economic revitalization for this depressed city, despite having few tools at his disposal to accomplish that. End Summary. -------------- New Mayor Hits the Ground Running -------------- ¶2. (C) Mayor Fukuda hit the ground running and made getting a reinstatement of Japanese government subsidies a priority for his administration. The subsidies had initially been held back by the central government due to the previous mayor's intransigence on accepting the move of CVW-5 to Iwakuni. Within days of his inauguration, Fukuda had already gone to Tokyo to meet with Foreign Minister Komura and Defense Minister Ishiba. Ishiba made sure Fukuda did not go home empty handed by promising him that the "frozen" subsidies would soon be released. -------------- Prides Himself on Being a "Player" in Tokyo -------------- ¶3. (C) In a February 21 meeting with PO Carrington, Fukuda was quick to display his knowledge of security issues and credentials as a player in Tokyo, by stressing that he was well acquainted with officers of Embassy Tokyo's Political Military Affairs section. He also mentioned his close relationship with former Foreign Minister Taro Aso. He talked about serving on the security committee in the Diet and noted that he has visited Atsugi and Sasebo bases. He added that he still hoped to visit the US as part of a Diet delegation in the future. Finally, it 
was with no small amount of pride that he mentioned being another kind of player as well - - of softball that is. In the first Diet vs. U.S. Embassy team softball game in 2006, Fukuda won the Ambassador's Most Valuable Player cup, which to him was clearly one of the highlights of his career thus far. -------------- -------------- A (Rare) "Koizumi Kid" with a Political Future Beyond Iwakuni? -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) Fukuda began his foray into politics by working as a staff aide to former LDP lower house member Akira Fukida from Yamaguchi's 1st district. He then served as an LDP assembly member in the Iwakuni Municipal Assembly and later in the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. He was nominated by the LDP's Yamaguchi chapter to run for the 2005 Lower House election, and defeated the DPJ's Hideo Hiraoka as one of the many young Koizumi Children riding on Prime Minister Koizumi's coattails that year. ¶5. (C) Fukuda is slated to serve the remainder of Ihara's term until April 2010. Although there is nothing unusual about a Japanese male professional making an unaccompanied tour of duty, it is telling that Fukuda's family (which includes 3 children under age 6) will remain in Tokyo during his tour, with Fukuda returning on weekends as his schedule allows. He appears to have seen an opportunity to buy himself goodwill with the LDP for taking on this challenge and will no doubt try to collect on that debt and move back into national politics in the not too FUKUOKA 00000008 002 OF 003 distant future. -------------- -------------- Astute Politician Who Understands All Politics Are Local -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Fukuda is clearly mindful that the same electorate which handed him a slim victory remains opposed to the relocation. A Yomiuri poll taken during the campaign revealed that 47% of Iwakuni citizens polled remained opposed to the relocation (an Asahi exit poll on Feb. 10 revealed the same result). These numbers represent a significant drop, however, from the 87% of voters who had voted against the relocation in a March 2006 referendum, and the 69% who elected Mayor Ihara on a vehemently anti-relocation platform a month later. Reportedly, concerns about Iwakuni's economic future edged out opposition to relocation. The city's economic debt is approximately $1 billion. ¶7. (C) Fukuda reacted proactively when the recent arrest of an Okinawa-based U.S. marine suspected of rape was made public. (The incident, had it come a day or so earlier, might well have cost Fukuda the election.) Once in office, Fukuda promptly spoke out against the incident and asked to see Col. O'Halloran, the Commander of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni. The Deputy Commander, who received Fukuda in Col. O'Halloran's absence, reported being favorably impressed with Fukuda, who predictably was looking for assurances about public safety and tightening of discipline in light of the incident. Fukuda surprised the Deputy Commander during the meeting, however, by also requesting that MCAS Iwakuni service members be instructed to obey traffic rules when driving about town. Apparently, the numerous (by the Deputy Commander's own admission after he looked into it) traffic accidents and fender benders involving service members are a major irritant that base officials had not previously been aware of. -------------- Pledge that Noise Issue will be Addressed -------------- ¶8. (U) Fukuda made some very public pledges during the election campaign that he would deal with the noise issue and negotiate with the Japanese government so that the burden on local citizens is not increased significantly as a result of the CVW-5 move. The ongoing runway relocation project, which will move the runway 1000 meters seaward, will significantly reduce those problems. Fukuda has also argued, though, that the GOJ needs to more thoroughly brief the local community and ensure that there is adequate local understanding regarding the changes the relocation will bring. Although not as well organized or litigious as Atsugi citizen groups, there has been increasing activism on this issue in Iwakuni, including the January inauguration of a residential group established to "protect the quiet surroundings of the inland sea." On Feb. 26, the group submitted a petition to the mayor asking for a formal response by March 12 outlining the measures being taken to address the noise problem. This type of activism is only likely to grow as relocation draws nearer. ¶9. (C) In the February 21 meeting, Fukuda mentioned his understanding that it is customary for USFJ bases in Japan to try to refrain from flight operations after 10:00 pm, whereas Iwakuni allows them up until 11:00 pm. Moreover, because of the lack of reported progress on identifying a permanent field carrier landing practice (FCLP) site, there also appears to be local rumors concerning the fact that MCAS Iwakuni is actually the planned site for these exercises, rather than the alternate site now being sought. The head of the Iwakuni Chamber of Commerce relayed a similar message to principal officer, basing his comments on a February 21 Chugoku Shinbun report of a "secret agreement" dating back to 1992, which reportedly FUKUOKA 00000008 003 OF 003 identified Iwakuni as a future FCLP site. Defense Bureau officials in Iwakuni seemed to be aware of this misinformation, but did not seem particularly anxious to set the record straight. -------------- -------------- Fukuda's Pragmatism Does not Reach Up Atago Mountain -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) In the mayoral campaign, Fukuda wisely was reluctant to step into the mire that negotiations over Atago Mountain have become. The site has been identified as the ideal location for the additional base housing the CVW-5 move will require. It also represents a huge financial liability for the prefectural government that owns much of the land and is eager to sell it to the central government for this purpose. However, Fukuda, like Ihara before him, also sees Atago as the ideal site for a new hospital, and would prefer that new base housing be located in areas immediately adjacent to the base that are most directly affected by jet noise. These areas are now completely inhabited by Iwakuni citizens. Fukuda had few answers as to how to bring about this massive "swap" of land and the concomitant relocation of citizens. He did stress that it would be important for new base housing (regardless of where it is eventually located) to use space efficiently and not appear much larger than typical Japanese housing. He mentioned having visited base housing at both Atsugi and Sasebo that he considered a possible model for how this might be done. -------------- --- Realization of New Commercial Airport is Key -------------- --- ¶11. (C) Both the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Fukuda mentioned that one of their top priorities is securing the $100 million needed for the building of a new civilian airport that would share the new MCAS Iwakuni runway. Clearly, Fukuda's "economic revitalization" plan depends on this new airport, which locals hope will handle four domestic flights a day between Iwakuni and Tokyo. The plan under discussion involves the prefecture bearing two thirds of the costs and the city the remaining third. In reality, however, both the city and prefecture are looking to the GOJ to provide these funds and do not seem to have any other plan in place to fund this ambitious project. Nor does there seem to be any concrete plans to bring about economic revitalization through means other than extending the tin cup towards Tokyo. -------------- Comment: -------------- ¶12. (C) The outlook for relocation has brightened considerably with Fukuda's election. The next few months are going to be critical for him as he tries to establish himself and ensure he has credibility with Iwakuni citizens, the prefecture and the central government. If the late evening flight issue is one that MCAS Iwakuni can pledge to look into, it would hand Fukuda a "victory" at a critical time. Moreover, it would be helpful if information on progress towards identification of the FCLP site were made public to counter the misinformation that seems to be contributing to local concerns about noise. In sum, as he walks this tightrope, all efforts should be made to throw him a lifeline. CARRINGTON