AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES PRESIDENT'S VISIT WITH

S E C R E T TOKYO 002618 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/J E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR JA SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES PRESIDENT'S VISIT WITH JAPANESE AMBASSADOR FUJISAKI Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission James P. Zumwalt. Reasons 1.4(b/ d). ¶1. (S) The Ambassador met briefly one-on-one November 12 with Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki to discuss the upcoming visit of President Obama to Japan. Ambassador Fujisaki made two personal suggestions to the Ambassador regarding the President's meeting with Prime Minister Hatoyama: (1) the President should invite Prime Minister Hatoyama to visit the United States prior to next year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting and (2) in his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Hatoyama (with Ambassador Roos and Ambassador Fujisaki also in attendance) the President should tactfully make the point that an expeditious resolution of the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF) issue is a problem for Prime Minister Hatoyama and Japan to resolve (not the United States). ¶2. (S) Ambassador Fujisaki also said that Prime Minister Hatoyama will have more flexibility next summer regarding FRF if the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) picks up enough seats in the next Upper House election to shed itself of its coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He noted it is a mistake for the Government of Japan (GOJ) to include Host Nation Support with other domestic budget cost-cutting targets in the newly-formed Administrative Revitalization Unit, and underscored his belief that HNS should be addressed separately within the established Host Nation Support Comprehensive Review mechanism. (Note: The Administrative Revitalization Unit is a new organization created by the GOJ to cut back costly public works projects and wasteful public spending. On November 9, the Unit formally decided to include salaries of workers at U.S. bases, a component of HNS, as an area for possible cuts from the JY2010 state budget. End Note.) ROOS