S.Korea steps up defense of disputed islets

Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:15pm EDT

By Marie-France Han

ABOARD THE SAMBONG COAST GUARD SHIP (Reuters) - On a South Korean coast guard patrol ship chugging towards desolate islands at the centre of a bitter territorial row with Japan, academics and officials vow to repel any Japanese claim to the lonely outcrops.

Over the past few weeks, the South Korean president, politicians, actors and even companies making mobile phones and fizzy beverages have delivered the same patriotic message for Japan to keep its hands off the remote islands.

South Korea and Japan both claim historical rights to the cluster of rocks, which the Koreans call Dokdo ("solitary island") and the Japanese call Takeshima ("bamboo island").

Photo: A general view shows a group of desolate volcanic islets Seoul and Pyongyang call Dokdo and Tokyo calls Takeshima, on a police patrol ship near Dokdo islets in this August 25, 2008 file photo. Picture taken August 25, 2008. The dispute over the islands is deeply emotional for Koreans, who say the islands were the first pieces of their territory seized by Japan when it started its 1910-1945 colonial reign over the peninsula.

"Our mission is to prevent anyone from claiming that Dokdo is not Korean territory," said Kim Hyun-soo, head of the newly created Dokdo Research Institute.

"We are striving to offer scientific, incontrovertible proof that Dokdo is Korean," the international law expert said, while declining to discuss the size of the institute's budget or staff, saying any details could be used by outside interests to track its activities.

The dispute over the islands is deeply emotional for Koreans, who say the islands were the first pieces of their territory seized by Japan when it started its 1910-1945 colonial reign over the peninsula.

Photo: Kim Seong-do, a resident, takes a ride in a motorboat to take part in an interview with foreign media during a press tour to Dokdo, a group of desolate volcanic islets called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, in this August 25, 2008 file photo. The dispute over the islands is deeply emotional for Koreans, who say the islands were the first pieces of their territory seized by Japan when it started its 1910-1945 colonial reign over the peninsula.

Japan has insisted the islands were never a part of Korea to begin with, so they were not returned when Tokyo relinquished its claims to the peninsula following its defeat in World War Two.

The long-simmering dispute erupted again in July after an official school history teaching guide in Japan referred to the islands as Japanese territory, triggering angry demonstrations in Seoul and an official protest from South Korea.

South Korea responded by forming the research institute, sending ships to fortify Dokdo's defenses and saying it would build even more structures on the islands that it controls.

Photo: South Korean tourists board a boat after touring Dokdo islets, known as Takeshima in Japan, in South Korea, Monday, Aug. 25. 2008. The dispute heated up following Japan's announcement it would recommend that a government teaching manual refer to its claim to the area, which is mostly uninhabited but rich in marine life.

Representatives of the Dokdo Research Institute took foreign correspondents to the islands, which are situated about the same distance from the mainlands of South Korea and Japan.

Once on Dokdo, reporters were free to speak with police officers and military conscripts in charge of defending the territory.

"When I look at Dokdo, I am filled with pride at the idea that I am working for the country," said Kim Yang-soo, the police officer in charge of the 30-odd men stationed on the island.

Reporters were also treated to the sight of Kim Sung-do, who along with his wife is the only civilian living permanently on the island with the financial help of the local administration.

The weathered, 68-year-old fisherman and Vietnam War veteran, often featured on national media, smoothly delivered a few choice words against Japan.

"Instead of being apologetic, Japan is becoming more and more brazen," Kim said. "This worries me. It has to stop."

Yet even officer Kim acknowledged that no Japanese ship had come anywhere near the grey, rocky outcrops in recent memory.

Emotions aside, possession of the islands could bring enormous benefits.

The cluster, which comprises of two main rocks and dozens of "insular features," lies in fertile fishing grounds and may sit above potentially enormous deposits of natural gas hydrate.

According to the government-funded Northeast Asian History Foundation, academic studies have shown the gas hydrate reserves could meet South Korea's natural gas needs for 30 years, for a value of almost $15 billion.

Analysts said previous South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun used to fan the flames of anti-Japanese sentiment to build political support. Since the dispute flared up, successor replacement Lee Myung-bak has seen his support rate recover from a nose-dive during his first few months in office.

On a sunny summer afternoon earlier this week, two photographers who had made the journey from the mainland and had received special permission to shoot the largely unspoiled islands were waiting for a ferry out.

"The island is much bigger than we had expected. It's beautiful," said one man, who gave only his surname, Lee.

"It's a strong symbol, but I just wonder if Koreans have to always be shown portraying Dokdo as a fight to the death," Lee said. "This is just a beautiful place."

(Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Megan Goldin)

Ruling coalition to coordinate on refueling bill

2008/08/31 10:26

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will soon begin coordination with its coalition partner, New Komeito, to secure the passage of a bill aimed at continuing Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

A working team made up of ruling coalition members will meet on Wednesday, led by former LDP vice president Taku Yamasaki.

Yamasaki hopes to coordinate views to secure the passage of the bill at an upcoming extraordinary Diet session.

The bill is aimed at extending beyond next January, the refueling mission for US-led vessels in the Indian Ocean.

The New Komeito party believes the mission needs to continue. However, it is cautious about resorting to a second vote in the Lower House to push through the bill, if the opposition-controlled Upper House votes it down as it did in January.

Ma pursues defense plus China's blessing

Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008
By FRANK CHING

PARIS — Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who marked his first 100 days in office last week, has wrought major changes in Taiwan's relations with both China and the United States, mending relations damaged by his predecessor, the pro-independence Chen Shui-bian, who insisted on pushing the envelope at every turn.

Ma's first presidential trip abroad this month illustrates the change in both style and substance. He went to Paraguay and the Dominican Republic to attend the inauguration of the presidents of those countries, which have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Like Chen, he transited the U.S. on his way to and from South and Central America. However, unlike his predecessor, Ma did not attempt to politicize those transit stops in the U.S. and make them more important than the ostensible destinations.

While Chen made every attempt during his "transit" stops to meet the U.S. press, give speeches and attend public events, Ma stayed in his hotel room. True, he met with a few American legislators and received telephone calls from others, but those events took place within the confines of his hotel.

Such behavior no doubt makes the relationship with Washington less fraught since the White House no longer has to worry that the transit visitor was trying to gain political capital back home by provoking Beijing while hiding behind the skirts of the U.S.

A state of confrontation between Taiwan and the mainland caused relations between the island and the U.S. to deteriorate. Chen's behavior turned a strongly supportive Bush administration into one that was highly suspicious of his every action.

Ma also has made it clear that Taiwan will no longer practice "checkbook diplomacy," offering money to other countries to break relations with Beijing and establish ties with Taipei. This, however, may be risky unless China on its part agrees not to try to woo away any of the 23 countries that still recognize Taiwan.

Of course, Beijing doesn't have to do much actively to win over some of the small impoverished countries that now recognize Taiwan. The very possibility of receiving aid or doing business with the major growth engine that is China today may be enough for some countries to want to break with Taiwan. Beijing may well have to take steps to prevent this from happening by, say, making it clear that diplomatic relations are not a prerequisite for trade and, perhaps, even aid.

As for relations with the U.S., they have been so badly damaged that today Washington seems no longer eager to sell Taiwan the weapons that it offered to sell seven years ago. Taiwan is partly to blame for this due to the political gridlock during the Chen years, when the opposition-controlled legislature refused to cooperate on things like approving an arms purchase budget.

That's now in the past, and Ma, whose party is solidly in control of the Parliament, has said his goal is to spend 3 percent of Taiwan's GDP on defense.

This needs the understanding of both the U.S. and China. So far, the Bush administration has not even gone through the procedure of informing Congress of its intent to sell Taiwan the weapons that the Ma administration has agreed to buy. In fact, if things are allowed to drag on, the decision may well not be made until a new U.S. administration is in office, which means another substantial delay.

Ma is sufficiently concerned about this that he has called on the U.S. to speed up the process of approving the $11 billion arms deal by notifying Congress of the package, which includes Patriot missiles, diesel-fueled submarines and anti-submarine helicopters.

China, too, needs to understand that Taiwan has to continue to procure weapons from the U.S. even if Beijing no longer threatens to take over the island by force. After all, the Anti-Secession Law of 2005 authorizes the Chinese government to use "nonpeaceful means" to take over the island, and well over a thousand missiles are pointed at Taiwan.

Beijing should understand that for Taiwan to have the confidence to strengthen economic and other ties with mainland China, the island must be able to defend itself, even if the immediate danger of an attack has subsided.

Beijing should also understand that better Taiwan-U.S. relations help rather than harm cross-strait relations, just as better cross-strait relations should be helpful for both China and Taiwan to improve relations with Washington.

Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator. (Frank.ching@gmail.com)

Lower house dissolution likely in Jan.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The prospects are increasing that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may dissolve the House of Representatives for a general election in January after submitting a bill on a newly adopted flat-sum tax cut to the Diet, according to observers.

The reason behind this speculation is that the lump-sum reduction in income and residence taxes, which the Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, New Komeito, believes will boost the ruling camp's election campaign, was incorporated into a fresh economic stimulus package finalized Friday.

An increasing number of LDP and New Komeito members believe that the prime minister likely will submit the tax cut bill to the Diet at the outset of its next ordinary session in January and then dissolve the lower house.

Fukuda and New Komeito leader Akihiro Ota held talks for about 50 minutes Friday afternoon at the Prime Minister's Office.

After the meeting, Fukuda said, "We agreed to make all possible efforts [for the upcoming extraordinary Diet session]."

Ota said many households were struggling amid difficult economic conditions, adding he asked the prime minister to better understand this fact.

A senior New Komeito member said, "We'll decide the size and method of the tax cut in debates on taxation reforms at year's end and submit the tax cut bill at the beginning of the ordinary Diet session [in January]."

Political observers said the remark indicated an intention to dissolve the lower house for a general election just after submitting the bill, or an alternate scenario whereby if the opposition parties try to prolong Diet deliberations on the bill, the ruling camp would dissolve the lower house without passing the bill and lay blame on the opposition camp.

New Komeito has insisted the lower house should be dissolved just before or soon after the new year due to next summer's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.

"We want the lower house election to be held as far ahead of the Tokyo assembly election as possible," a New Komeito member said.

The LDP has apparently accepted its junior coalition partner's insistence that the lower house dissolution be in January. "Our priority is to maintain election cooperation with New Komeito," a senior LDP member said.

However, the prime minister, who has the right to make the final decision on dissolving the lower house, has told officials and aides close to him that nothing had been decided on the issue.

Some LDP members want the lower house dissolution to come after the passage of the fiscal 2009 budget in spring, to avoid negatively impacting people's lives.

(Aug. 31, 2008)

New Komeito calling shots in coalition

Yuji Anai / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

An 11.7 trillion yen economic stimulus package unveiled by the government Friday that has fixed-sum income and residential tax cuts as its centerpiece shows New Komeito has been successful in pushing for an early election for the House of Representatives.

The lower house now looks like being dissolved for a general election shortly after convocation of the ordinary Diet session in early January.

New Komeito, the junior member of the ruling coalition, wants the lower chamber to be dissolved as early as possible, believing the economic policy that focuses on low-income earners would boost its election prospects.

Coalition partner the Liberal Democratic Party, which initially expressed skepticism about the wisdom of New Komeito's proposed tax breaks, eventually accepted the idea of one-off, fixed-sum tax cuts for fiscal 2008, timing them to coincide with the runup to a lower house election.

Pressure from New Komeito for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to dissolve the lower house is set to intensify, according to analysts.

An increasing number of ruling coalition members are expressing concern they face an uphill battle in the coming lower house contest if Fukuda remains at the helm, unmoved by sluggish Cabinet approval ratings.

The extent to which the economic package shores up the nation's flagging economy, and the pressure on the prime minister to step down, will be the key focuses of attention this autumn.

===

New Komeito in high spirits

Hours after the government announced its economic stimulus package, New Komeito Secretary General Kazuo Kitagawa was in high spirits at a press conference. He stressed his party's role in ensuring "measures for easing the concerns of ordinary citizens hit by rising prices" were incorporated into the package.

Kitagawa said that despite reluctance on the part of the LDP, New Komeito had ensured the government adopted two key measures: fixed-sum tax cuts and a "special benefit payment" for elderly people whose pension payments are low.

Under the fixed-sum tax cut formula, income and residential taxes will be reduced on a uniform basis irrespective of how much tax they pay. The sum will, however, be altered depending on the number of dependents each taxpayer has.

Unlike a fixed-rate cut, in which tax is reduced in accordance with the amount of tax paid, the fixed-sum formula, which gives all taxpayers uniform tax breaks in accordance with the number of dependents, is most beneficial to low-income earners.

The special benefit payment for the elderly will go to those who do not pay tax and are not eligible for the fixed-sum tax cuts.

Details of the size and timing of the tax cuts and special benefit disbursements, however, have not been worked out yet.

They will be discussed in the course of deliberating tax system reforms before the end of the year, according to the government.

LDP-New Komeito talks on the economic policy package were conducted at a Tokyo hotel from shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday through the early hours of Friday, with the secretaries general and policy research council heads of both parties in attendance.

The LDP expressed skepticism about the effect the New Komeito-proposed fixed-sum tax cuts for a single year could have on the faltering economy, according to LDP sources.

New Komeito executives in the meeting insisted the fixed-sum tax reduction should be considered a "vitally important remedy" to help people who had seen their disposable income shrink and prices sharply rise, the sources said.

LDP Secretary General Taro Aso eventually agreed to the tax cuts, on condition that the measure should remain in effect only for fiscal 2008 and financing of the tax reduction should be made in a way that complements reform of the tax system.

The adoption of the tax cut proposal was a significant win for New Komeito, which had long pushed for a tax cut bill and a supplementary budget to fund a tax reduction to be passed soon after the extraordinary Diet sitting begins Sept. 12, so tax cuts can be introduced before the year-end.

New Komeito envisioned the tax cuts would be followed by the dissolution of the lower house during the year-end and New Year's period.

Under the latest agreement between the two parties, the dissolution of the lower house cannot take place before January at the earliest, even if a tax cut bill is legislated at the outset of the next ordinary Diet session.

"The accord is a second-best result in our eyes," a New Komeito executive said Friday night. "It can safely be said to be only fairly satisfactory for us."

New Komeito is poised to seek tax cuts worth about 2 trillion yen.

However, the government and the LDP, which have put a priority on preventing the government's debt from growing, are keen to minimize the cost of the tax cuts.

Tax reform talks between the LDP and New Komeito seem set to hit a rough patch toward the end of the year.

===

Can Fukuda remain in office?

With the emergency economic policy package having been worked out, the government will present a supplementary budget and relevant bills to the Diet at the outset of the extraordinary session.

Fukuda also wants the Diet to approve in the forthcoming sitting a bill for continuing Japan's refueling activities for U.S.-led multilateral antiterrorism forces in the Indian Ocean, and one for creating a new consumer protection agency.

New Komeito, however, is wary of Fukuda's plan to enact the refueling bill, since its legislation will certainly be impossible without a second vote in the lower house that would be employed to override a rejection of the bill in the opposition-controlled House of Councillors, a situation that New Komeito fears could give the impression the ruling coalition had acted high-handedly.

In addition, the reshuffle of the Cabinet on Aug. 1 failed to boost the popularity of the Fukuda administration, causing disappointment with Fukuda to spread even among LDP legislators.

Former LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa has gone so far as to criticize Fukuda in public, saying, "We must say no to a prime minister who can't do anything useful."

Concerning New Komeito's push to have the lower house dissolved as quickly as possible, a senior LDP member said the junior coalition member may prefer the dissolution of the lower chamber to be conducted by a new prime minister.

Within the LDP, there are murmurings that it may be advisable for Fukuda to step down honorably, such as after the enactment of a new Antiterrorism Law with a second vote and compilation of a national budget for fiscal 2009.

===

PM may fight on

However, Fukuda may display a surprising resilience and ensure the fiscal 2009 national budget is approved by the Diet in the ordinary session. Under such circumstances Fukuda would be able to dissolve the lower house in a way fairly advantageous to his administration.

Makoto Koga, chairman of the LDP's Election Strategy Council, said Friday evening, "Our party will find it hard to win the next general election unless the merits of the Fukuda administration are felt across the country through our actions in the ordinary Diet session."

"The prime minister should proceed carefully while he is in office and as the expiration of lower house members' tenure next September grows closer," Koga added.

There is, nonetheless, a high possibility Fukuda will face calls to bow out after the passage of the fiscal 2009 budget, making it the final adornment of his premiership.

New Komeito, for its part, will undoubtedly be dead set against moves to put off the dissolution of the lower house to the coming spring or beyond.

(Aug. 31, 2008)

Desolate Dots in the Sea Stir Deep Emotions as South Korea Resists a Japanese Claim

By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: August 30, 2008

DOKDO, South Korea — Each day, weather permitting, hundreds of South Koreans sail to this cluster of nearly uninhabitable islets and outcroppings, seven seasick hours from the Korean mainland.

The waves are so unpredictable that just over half of the visitors can land. When they do, it is for a 20-minute stay to snap photos from a wharf, the largest flat surface on this 46-acre collection of two main islets and dozens of other specks of land.

The rest of the visitors must content themselves with circling on the ferry, waving South Korean flags and throwing cookie crumbs at the sea gulls flying overhead.

Still, over the past three years, the voyage to these islets, which South Korea administers but Japan claims, has become a popular pilgrimage for Koreans. This year, 80,000 people have set foot here, undeterred by the lack of a souvenir shop, restaurant or public toilet.

“When Japan claims Dokdo as its own territory, we Koreans feel as outraged as if someone pointed at our wife and claimed that she is his own,” said Cho Whan-bok, secretary general of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, a government-affiliated institute established in 2006 to examine territorial and other disputes with neighboring countries.

For outsiders, the dispute over islets that seem to rise vertically from the sea and have little economic value, might seem esoteric. But for those Koreans who have never forgiven Japan for its brutal occupation of their country and who continue to measure success against Japanese competitors, the dispute over what the South Koreans call Dokdo and Japan calls Takeshima is very real, and very emotional.

Both countries trace their claim back over centuries. Japan says it reconfirmed its right to Takeshima in 1905, during its war with Russia. For Koreans, however, that was an annexation that marked the prelude to Japan’s colonial rule, from 1910 to 1945, a period during which they were banned from using their language and many women were lured or forced into sexual slavery in front-line brothels for Japan’s Imperial Army.

The postwar peace treaty between a defeated Japan and the Allied powers did not resolve sovereignty over the islets, and since the 1950s, South Korea has maintained a police garrison here. Japan repeatedly urged South Korea to take the issue to the International Court of Justice, and South Korea repeatedly declined, arguing that there was nothing to discuss.

Then, in 2005, members of the prefectural assembly in Shimane, on Japan’s western coast, declared Feb. 22 — the 100th anniversary of the day the Japanese took over the islets — to be Takeshima Day, to highlight the Japanese claim.

Their resolution set off a firestorm in South Korea.

“If the Japanese try to take this island from us, we will fight to the end,” said Kwak Young-hwan, captain of the 5,000-ton Sambong, the South Korean Coast Guard’s largest patrol boat, which prowls the waters around Dokdo. “If we run out of firepower, we will ram our ship against the intruders! Our national pride is at stake.”

The dispute heated up again this year, with the two countries engaging in a tit-for-tat struggle that, at one point, dragged in the United States — an ally of both nations.

In July, the Japanese Ministry of Education issued a new manual for teachers and textbook publishers urging them to instruct Japanese students that the islets rightfully belong to Japan.

South Korea responded by recalling its ambassador to Tokyo for three weeks. South Korean citizens chimed in, with a small group of protesters decapitating pheasants — Japan’s national bird — in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul. The administrators of the Seoul subway system removed a Japanese company’s condom advertisements.

Even North Korea, still technically at war with the South, criticized Japan. Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s main state-run newspaper, said that Japan’s new educational manual on Dokdo was “a militarist racket for territorial expansion” and that it could “ignite a war around the Korean Peninsula.”

In July, in the midst of the uproar, the United States Board on Geographic Names changed the island’s status from “South Korean” to “undesignated sovereignty,” outraging South Koreans, many of whom saw it as yet another instance of their nation’s fate was being arbitrarily decided by a bigger power.

The board insisted that its decision was just technical. But the Bush administration intervened, ordering the board to restore the old designation. The move was well received in Seoul. When President Bush visited this month, after years of tension between the United States and South Korea over North Korean policy, tens of thousands of residents greeted him waving American flags and placards that read “Welcome President Bush!”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Nobutaka Machimura, later said, “There is no need for us to overreact to a decision made by just one organization in the United States.”

South Korea’s offensive in the battle for world opinion featured a press trip last week that included a reporter for The New York Times. The government sponsored the voyage, aboard a Coast Guard ship, for journalists working for foreign news organizations.

Among the post-World War II generations of Koreans, a desire to surpass Japan — and fear that they could once again be subjugated by a larger neighbor — remains a powerful driving force.

Mr. Cho of the Northeast Asian History Foundation said, “Even in sports, such as Olympic baseball, South Koreans get twice as happy when they beat Japan as when they defeat, say, the United States.”

In this charged atmosphere, Dokdo, which means “solitary island,” is more than a collection of rocks. South Koreans like to personify it as if it were a sibling or a spouse. A popular modern version of “Arirang,” the song Koreans most associate with their national spirit, begins: “Dokdo, did you sleep well last night?”

“I feel lonely and isolated serving here,” said Kim Eun-taek, 24, a police conscript stationed on Dokdo. “But I feel immensely proud. Not every South Korean gets a chance to guard the easternmost territory of our nation.”

“Besides,” he said, a rifle on his shoulder as he gazed across the sea toward Japan, “I never liked the Japanese.”

Dokdo is not an easy posting. Until a South Korean company recently donated desalinization equipment, the islets had no reliable water supply. There are almost no trees, and winter weather cuts off ferry service for weeks at a stretch.

Although regional security experts say South Korea and Japan have too much at stake to use military means to settle their differences here, the South Korean Coast Guard says that the number of Japanese patrol boats sailing around the islets has increased since the sovereignty issue resurfaced in 2005.

Kim Sung-do, 68, an octopus fisherman, and his wife have lived here for 40 years as Dokdo’s only year-round civilian residents. He said he did not expect the Japanese to invade.

But “if they ever do that,” Mr. Kim said, “I will fight them, even if the only weapons I have are my bare fists.”

In front of his concrete home, at the foot of a bluff, seven South Korean flags whipped in the wind.

American man allegedly entered Foster illegally

Stars and Stars
Pacific edition, Sunday, August 31, 2008

Okinawa police Friday arrested a 27-year-old man for alleged illegal entry onto a military base, after he was found intoxicated near a Camp Foster housing area early Thursday morning.

Christopher Hoskins of Kitanakagusuku was detained by military police officers around 3:40 a.m. Thursday, after a resident at Plaza Housing reported a suspicious person, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Judd Wilson.

It was unclear how Hoskins, an unemployed American who does not have SOFA status, gained entrance to Foster.

Hoskins was detained by military police and later turned over to Okinawa authorities, Okinawa police said.

A breath test registered Hoskins’ alcohol level at 0.34 grams, Okinawa police said.

The incident is under investigation by Okinawa police.

Wilson said Foster’s Criminal Investigation Command and the Provost Marshal’s Office are cooperating with Okinawa authorities.

US ends probe of nuclear submarine leak in Japan

The Associated Press
Published: August 30, 2008

TOKYO: Japan has received a final U.S. report concluding that small amounts of radiation escaped from a faulty valve on an American nuclear-powered submarine during Japanese port visits but posed no health or environmental threat, the Foreign Ministry said.

The U.S. Navy disclosed in early August that the USS Houston had leaked water containing radiation during several calls to Sasebo and Okinawa in southern Japan and Yokosuka near Tokyo between July 2006 and April 2008.

U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission James P. Zumwalt submitted the report Friday, saying the Navy investigation concluded that the leakage in the three ports totaled 0.6 micro curies, or less than one-millionth of a curie, which posed no danger to Japan, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement obtained Saturday. The ministry provided a copy of the report.

"The trace levels of radioactivity would have no adverse effect on human health, marine life, or the environment," the U.S. report said. "The radiation exposure dose would be less than that received from a routine chest X-ray."

The report said the U.S. Navy was improving the valve's quality before sending the submarine back into operation.

It said the Navy, after reviewing records dating back to 2004, concluded that "the valve had been steadily leaking" from June 2006 until the submarine entered dry dock in July, when the problem was discovered for the first time. About a gallon of water spilled onto a crew member on July 17 when a fitting came loose. The report also said no similar leakage had occurred in the past 50 years.

U.S. officials were not available for comment Saturday.

The incident has caused a stir in Japan weeks ahead of the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, to be permanently based in Yokosuka, near Tokyo. The George Washington is to arrive in late September after a fire aboard the vessel in May delayed its departure — another incident that irked many Japanese.

The presence of nuclear submarines is particularly sensitive in Japan, the only country to have been attacked by U.S. atomic bombs in the closing days of World War II.

The Navy has said the Houston also released tiny amounts of radiation in Guam, Pearl Harbor, and during port visits in Singapore, Port Kelang, Malaysia and Saipan.

Radioactive substance that leaked from U.S. nuclear-powered sub was cobalt

August 30, 2008

The U.S. government has informed Japan that a radioactive substance contained in coolant water that leaked from the nuclear-powered submarine USS Houston when it called on Japanese ports was cobalt.

The U.S. government presented a final report on an investigation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

However, the report said that the overall amount of radioactivity released was less than the amount received in one chest X-ray, and concluded that the levels of radioactivity would have no adverse effects on human health, marine life or the environment.

Responding to the U.S. explanation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the safety of nuclear submarines had been reconfirmed.

(Mainichi Japan) August 30, 2008

EDITORIAL :: Kono's comments

2008/8/30

Recent positive comments by Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono are attracting attention. The first is a speech he delivered at the government-sponsored memorial ceremony for the war dead on Aug. 15. On the 63rd anniversary of the end of World War II, Kono urged the government to seriously study the establishment of "a facility that is not affiliated with specific religions and where all people can come together to remember the war dead."

It is still fresh in our memories that during the administration of Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister repeatedly visited Yasukuni Shrine, thereby upsetting Japan's relations with neighboring countries, including China. The visits also stirred a controversy at home.

A facility where anyone can honor the war dead without discomfort is needed. The proposal to establish "a nonsectarian memorial facility" that a panel of intellectuals submitted to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who was Koizumi's chief Cabinet secretary at the time, is based on such thinking.

Now that the prime minister is refraining from visiting Yasukuni and Japan's relations with neighboring countries have improved, Kono seemed to be saying that it is time we sit down and talk over the matter.

In the same speech, Kono mentioned territorial disputes: "Instead of just maintaining an inward-looking attitude to claim territorial rights, both sides need to sincerely face each other and seek peaceful settlement through dialogue." He was alluding to the dispute over the Takeshima islets that are claimed by both Japan and South Korea, which calls them Tokto.

The comments must be firmly rooted in Kono's belief as one who has attached importance to relations with China and other Asian countries.

Some critics say it is inappropriate for the speaker, who should be neutral, to express his stance on specific issues, and that he should be careful about where and when he speaks.

We disagree.

In running Diet affairs, it is a matter of course for the speaker to listen to the opinions of both ruling and opposition parties and handle them in a fair way. It is also true that the post requires the speaker to exercise certain constraint on what he does and says.

Still, it is unreasonable to keep the top leader of the legislature from speaking his mind about the basic way the nation ought to be.

Nor do we think that it is inappropriate to stress at a memorial service the importance of maintaining good relations with neighboring countries and to advocate how the war dead should be mourned based on our reflection of the war.

In addressing the memorial ceremony in 2006 held under the Koizumi administration, Kono said, "We must not leave war responsibility vague." It is significant that the leader of one of the three branches of government delivered such a message to audiences both at home and abroad.

Another noteworthy accomplishment attributed to Kono is the hosting of a meeting of lower house speakers from the Group of Eight nations in Hiroshima on Sept. 2. We hear he directly negotiated with Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who readily agreed to attend the gathering on Tuesday.

As far as atomic bombings are concerned, there is a wide gap in perception between Japan and the United States.

The U.S. House speaker is second in the line of presidential succession following the vice president. With Pelosi's upcoming visit, she will be the highest ranking U.S. politician so far to visit Hiroshima. This is very significant given that not a single incumbent U.S. president has ever visited there.

When we think of the chair of a house, we tend to focus only on their roles as fair referees. But that does not mean they should not be afraid to frankly speak their minds in defiance of criticism.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 29(IHT/Asahi: August 30,2008)

Four one short of forming party

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008
By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer

Four Upper House lawmakers Friday declared the formation of Kaikaku Club, a tentative new party, saying they want to change the situation in the currently divided Diet.

But a fifth lawmaker, the Democratic Party of Japan's Yumiko Himei, who had earlier declared she would join the new party, reversed herself. Appearing in a news conference later Friday with DPJ executives Naoto Kan and Yukio Hatoyama, she said she will remain in the fold.

Photo: And then there were four: Upper House members (from left) Shinpei Matsushita, Hiroyuki Arai, Hideo Watanambe and Yasuhiro Oe pose Friday in Tokyo as they declare themselves the new party Kaikaku Club, which is now in numeric limbo after Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yumiko Himei got cold feet and opted to stay in the DPJ fold.

The four include Hideo Watanabe and Yasuhiro Oe, who resigned Thursday from the DPJ, and independents Hiroyuki Arai and Shinpei Matsushita. They said they submitted a request to form the five-member party Thursday and it was accepted. But since five members are required to form a party, the four must find another recruit.

The public has been frustrated with the stalled discussions and hamstrung decision-making in the Diet, where the opposition camp controls the Upper House and the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc controls the lower chamber, the four said.

"The Upper House is now being used as a tool of the Lower House's power balance," party leader Watanabe said. "There has been a lot of speculation, but our basic foundation for forming the party is to pursue the genuine purpose of the Upper House and enhance the value of the two-chamber system."

The four said they plan to facilitate discussions with other parties, whether the ruling bloc, based on policies.

The DPJ currently holds 110 of the 242 Upper House seats. The opposition parties hold 137 in total, so even if the four members of the new party were to side with the ruling bloc, it will still not hold a majority.

When Himei did not appear with the four Kaikaku Club members at a briefing, Watanabe said there had been pressure on her not to join the party, and added, "I am a little concerned."

Himei told reporters she decided against joining the new party because she came to realize its founding is the result of the LDP's efforts to divide the DPJ.

"I have been working based on a belief that rather than dealing with political power games, dealing with policies is the point of the House of Councilors," she said. "But in the divided Diet, power games have often been prioritized."

Ota discloses office expenditure

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer

Farm minister tries to clear his name after allegations of irregular support group spending

Farm minister Seiichi Ota disclosed details of his political support group's expenditures Friday in an attempt to clear his name after allegations of irregularities and once again expressed his intention to remain in his post.

"I am confident the expenditures were appropriately used for my political activities," Ota said in a news conference Friday morning. "I think that many people will be satisfied" by the disclosed information.

Photo: Nothing to hide: Farm minister Seiichi Ota shows his political group's receipts for office and miscellaneous expenses at a news conference Friday in Tokyo.

Ota has been under fire since early this week for over ¥23 million in expenditures his support group declared for office fees in just two years.

Despite the huge amount, Ota has claimed the outlays do not include rent money because the support group was registered at the home of his secretary in Meguro Ward, Tokyo.

Ota revealed the breakdown of the support group's spending for 2005 and 2006, which totaled over ¥23.4 million, and said he had receipts for about 90 percent of the total outlays to back up his claims.

"There could possibly be a mistake (in the report) due to human error, but I don't think there is any substantial act of disloyalty toward the public," Ota said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said in a news conference later Friday that he thought Ota acquitted himself thoroughly.

"There was prior speculation that the bills were fake or that rent money was being paid even though (the residence) was not being used as an office — but I don't believe that was the case," Machimura said.

According to a breakdown of the costs distributed to the press during Friday's news conference, the support group spent ¥3.04 million on office fees, including phone bills, postal service and transportation fees in 2005.

During the same year, the organization also spent ¥4.09 million on office supplies, such as printing and stationery.

In 2006, the office fees amounted to ¥2.47 million and about ¥3.78 million was spent on office supplies.

Meanwhile, Ota explained that the group paid ¥3.31 million in 2005 and ¥6.74 million in 2006 to part-time staff.

"No party subsidy whatsoever has been given to this support group. It is managed solely through donations based on goodwill," Ota said.

He admitted that the money was not spent at the group's registered address, but at his office in his electoral district in Fukuoka Prefecture and his office in the Lower House Diet members' office building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

He said he would discuss with his staff whether to move the registered address.

"I am sorry that recent reports confused many citizens and important supporters," Ota said. "I believe it was my fault and I would like to make an apology."

The outspoken Ota is known for his slips of the tongue, but he was carefully guided by his close aides Friday. Whenever he stumbled on a question, someone slipped him a note from which he read aloud.

Ota was only as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Aug. 1.

Himei decides not to quit DPJ

The Yomiuri Shimbun

In an abrupt U-turn that has stunned political observers, House of Councillors member Yumiko Himei on Friday withdrew her decision to bolt from the Democratic Party of Japan to join the newly established Kaikaku Kurabu (reform club).

"At one point, I decided to join the new party and acted on this decision, but [some people] pointed out [my departure] was tantamount to a betrayal of voters," Himei said at a hastily called press conference. "I decided not to join the new group and will do my best to work as a DPJ upper house member, as I did before."

The press conference also was attended by DPJ Acting President Naoto Kan and Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama.

(Aug. 30, 2008)

DPJ rebels to side with ruling bloc

Hiroshi Oyama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The new political grouping launched Thursday by four House of Councillors members, including two defectors from the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, likely will take a stance friendly to the ruling coalition camp.

The launch of the new group, Kaikaku Kurabu (reform club), with one of the two DPJ defectors, Hideo Watanabe, as its leader, has come as a blow to the DPJ strategy that seeks to drive the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda into dissolving the House of the Representatives and forcing a general election soon after the extraordinary Diet session that begins on Sept. 12.

Photo: Shimpei Matsushita

In its bid to take the reins of government by winning the next lower house election, the DPJ is poised to intensify a showdown with the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito in the Diet sitting.

Hours after Yasuhiro Oe, 54, and Watanabe, 74, who formerly served as posts and telecommunications minister, as well as another, Yumiko Himei, 49, declared their intention to bolt from the party Thursday afternoon, one DPJ executive said to reporters: "Their quitting of our party was widely expected. It's definitely better for us to see them leaving us instead of staying with us and feeling unsettled."

Himei retracted her intention to leave the party Friday evening, saying she had changed her mind since she was invited to join the new group, "which [she] was told the DPJ had approved."

Photo: Hiroyuki Arai

"Since it was later known that the new group is not designed to work together with the DPJ, I thought I should refrain from quitting the party," Himei said in a press conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo with Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and Acting President Naoto Kan.

Because of the retraction of Himei's bid to bolt from the DPJ, the number of Kaikaku Kurabu members stands at four, which falls short of the five members necessary to be defined as a political party under the Political Party Subsidy Law.

On Thursday, DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa met with other DPJ leaders, including Hatoyama and Kan and DPJ upper house caucus head Azuma Koshiishi, at the party headquarters to discuss how to deal with the situation.

In the hourlong meeting, Ozawa was quoted as saying, "I'd like to let you know my intention to go through the procedures Monday for running in our party's coming presidential election."

Photo: Hideo Watanabe

He also was cited as asking Hatoyama, Kan and Koshiishi to publicly endorse Ozawa's candidacy for the top party post for a third term.

Ozawa had earlier been scheduled to announce Friday his intention to run in the party election scheduled to take place Sept. 21.

Ozawa took it upon himself to move the announcement of his candidacy ahead by one day, prompted by the defection of Oe and Watanabe, apparently to demonstrate his ability to remain calm and unaffected by the rebels, and to prevent the episode from upsetting rank-and-file DPJ party members.

The establishment of Kaikaku Kurabu by the two DPJ defectors and two independents, Hiroyuki Arai and Shimpei Matsushita, will almost certainly adversely affect DPJ plans for taking power, political analysts said.

Photo: Yasuhiro Oe

Former DPJ President Seiji Maehara, known for taking policy positions closer to the LDP than to Ozawa, especially on national security issues, said to reporters Thursday, "I'm determined to pursue a change of power by ensuring a DPJ victory in the next lower house election."

Maehara thus flatly denied any intention to quit the DPJ.

However, he added, "On the basis of the principle of right and wrong, from now on I'd like to team with Mr. Watanabe and his Kaikaku Kurabu members at least on topics for which we both can share views."

"I also want to play my role as a bridge between Watanabe's group and the DPJ," he added.

As the analysts put it, if moves gain momentum within the DPJ in favor of working together with the new group, the possibility would arise of a deepening schism within the DPJ over its basic policies.

===

Diet in flux

New Komeito Secretary General Kazuo Kitagawa warned against overstating the significance of Kaikaku Kurabu on Diet affairs.

Given the upper house will remain controlled by the opposition as a result of last summer's upper chamber election, Kitagawa said, "The [new group's] launch does not automatically mean it will join us in the ruling coalition bloc, so there can be no immediate transformation in the upper house."

However, there can be no doubt the creation of the new group could lead to a sea change in the upper house political landscape.

A DPJ leader, for his part, played down the negative impact that the new group's launch would have on the DPJ, noting, "We can maintain an upper house majority as long as we continue collaborating with the Social Democratic Party in running the chamber."

In the wake of the bolting of Oe and Watanabe from the DPJ, the membership of the DPJ-led parliamentary alliance, which includes members of the New People's Party, stands at 118, down two from before Kaikaku Kurabu's launch.

If all five SDP upper house lawmakers are added, the total is 123, only two more than the half of the 242-seat upper chamber.

This means the opposition, excluding the Japanese Communist Party, would fall short of a majority in the upper house should two of the opposition bloc members be absent from Diet deliberations due to sickness or other reasons.

Under the circumstances, the ruling camp likely will employ whatever tactics it can to throw the opposition bloc off-balance, including, for instance, trying to induce some DPJ members to act against the party line or quit the party, in order to obstruct the DPJ from playing a leading role in the upper house.

Oe, one of the two DPJ defectors, said to the press Thursday, "Depending on how the LDP deals with key policies, we're ready to have consultations with the party."

Oe indicated the new group is positively inclined to have talks with the ruling parties concerning such key bills that Fukuda is eager to see pass the legislature, such as for extending Japan's antiterrorism refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

Lawmakers opposed to the confrontational stance Ozawa has taken against the ruling bloc have been voicing their objections in the DPJ.

Expectations have been rising that the formation of Kaikaku Kurabu may serve as a catalyst leading the DPJ to reconsider its reluctance to sit down at the negotiating table with the ruling parties.

There is a considerably high possibility the DPJ will find it inevitable to conclude that it must change its showdown tactics in response to the "numerical change" in the upper house seats, the analysts said.

One midcareer LDP legislator has said, "Under the circumstances, the DPJ can't help but pay more attention to the views of the SDP and JCP than before, so that the DPJ might be obliged to adopt policies closer to leftist forces, a development that would incur public criticism."

The DPJ, therefore, could be driven into a corner, he predicted.

Mitsuru Sakurai, a DPJ upper house member, grumbled in his e-mail newsletter Thursday, "We now have to work together more closely with the SDP and JCP to ensure the opposition's majority in the lower house."

"This is truly a knotty problem we must face" in the runup to the next lower house election, he said.

(Aug. 30, 2008)

Defense Ministry gets test model of anti-sub plane

2008/08/30 00:28

Japan's Defense Ministry has taken delivery of the first test model for its next generation anti-submarine patrol plane.

The ministry commissioned the aircraft, the XP-1, as the successor for the P-3C patrol plane currently used by the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The domestically developed aircraft has 4 jet engines. The prototype was officially handed over to the Defense Ministry on Friday at a ceremony at the manufacturer's factory.

Trial tests will begin next month. The Defense Ministry plans to deploy the new anti-submarine plane from fiscal 2011.

Army spouse pleads guilty to drug charge

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, August 30, 2008

NAHA — A Naha District prosecutor Wednesday asked for an eight-month prison sentence for an Army spouse who pleaded guilty to having marijuana shipped to her from the United States in a jar of peanut butter.

Christa L. Leavell, 30, is charged with having her former husband mail marijuana from Colorado to her Torii Station post box in February.

Japanese customs officials detected the substance Feb. 1 at the military consolidated post office on Camp Kinser. They delivered it to Leavell’s post office box under a controlled operation, according to prosecutor Yukio Nakajima.

Defense attorney Satoshi Kawamitsu asked for a suspended sentence, saying his client — a mother of three and pregnant — is deeply remorseful.

"I feel awful and embarrassed," Leavell said, tears falling as she spoke in court.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 10.

U.S. sought Japanese defense commitment over Okinawa reversion talks

Date: August 29, 2007

The United States sought an increased defense commitment in the Far East by Japan in exchange for negotiating the reversion of Okinawa Prefecture during a bilateral summit in November 1967 in Washington, according to Japanese diplomatic documents declassified Thursday.

In the talks, Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato urged U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to indicate the timing of Okinawa's reversion, but Johnson instead made a plea for Japan to share the burden of ensuring security in the region as a condition for discussing the matter, the documents show.

Okinawa, which was under U.S. occupation after World War II, was eventually returned to Japan in May 1972 after the two countries agreed in November 1969 on the reversion at a meeting between Sato and then U.S. President Richard Nixon.

The declassified documents do not shed light on confidential negotiations involving Sato's covert emissary and others that are said to have begun prior to the 1967 summit or on a secret pact signed by Sato and Nixon in 1969 allowing the United States to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa in times of emergency.

References to the confidential negotiations and the secret nuclear agreement have been observed in declassified U.S. documents and remarks by informed individuals.

A full Japanese record of the 1967 summit between Sato and Johnson obtained in 2002 by Kyodo News was 48 pages in all, but the Foreign Ministry declassified only parts of the record this time, amounting to 22 pages.

During the talks, Sato told Johnson that the return of Okinawa to Japan was a ''national wish'' and that mishandling the matter could lead to major problems between their countries, according to the declassified documents.

The Japanese leader said he can understand that the United States cannot say specifically when the territory would be returned, but pressed the U.S. president to eye the reversion ''within two to three years.''

Sato, while mentioning China's nuclear armament, effectively expressed approval for U.S. military bases to remain in Okinawa on a long-term basis, saying it is ''a matter of course that removing the bases in Okinawa is unthinkable.''

He said Japan is considering ''educating its people'' on what can be done concerning the U.S. bases and other issues involving the reversion while making clear that Japan's safety is secured under the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Johnson refrained from touching on the specific timing of the reversion, and said the United States would welcome an ''offer'' by Japan to increase its defense responsibility ''in that part of the world'' as Washington has exerted itself in fighting in places such as Korea and Vietnam.

The president noted that some Americans were disillusioned that the United States was working for the defense of all other countries and said Washington would be able to ''work on'' the Okinawa reversion issue if Japan were to assume responsibility in economic and other areas.

Akio Takahara, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in East Asian affairs, said Johnson's remarks showed he was so exhausted from dealing with outstanding issues such as the Vietnam War and economic troubles that he thought it inevitable for the United States to make concessions if Japan would take on some extra responsibilities.

Some commentators point out that the situation back then is similar to current times, such as in the cases of Iraq and Afghanistan, when the United States, suffering from deteriorating war situations, is asking for economic or defense-related burden-sharing by Japan, which has bowed to the requests.

Himei remains in DPJ, undermining prospects for new party

Aug 29 09:09 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — House of Councillors member Yumiko Himei on Friday retracted her decision to leave the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan to form another party with four members of the chamber, undermining the prospects for the new party.

The just-launched "Kaikaku Kurabu" (Reform Club) immediately issued a statement criticizing the DPJ "for pressuring" Himei to remain in it and the new party leader Hideo Watanabe said he will try to find an alternative member.

The latest development came shortly after members of the new party vowed at a press conference to make efforts to break the current deadlock in the divided Diet by changing the management of the opposition-controlled upper chamber.

Noting she had intended to join the new party to reform the upper house while maintaining amicable relations with the DPJ, Himei said at a press conference at the DPJ's headquarters, "I realized that the new party will not be heading in such a direction."

"I've decided not to join the new party and to remain as a DPJ upper house member," she said while senior DPJ members who had persuaded her to stay in the party watched her speaking.

Kaikaku Kurabu was formed with five members, including Himei, on Thursday. Former post minister Watanabe from the DPJ assumed leadership of the party and Hiroyuki Arai, who was not affiliated with any party, was assigned to be its secretary general. The two other members are Yasuhiro Oe from the DPJ and Shimpei Matsushita, an independent.

To be registered as a party, however, a group needs five or more Diet members. The withdrawal of Himei will make it impossible for the new party to be established unless another member is found.

Oe and Watanabe are known critics of DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa and other members of the party's leadership, and the move to form a new party was seen as a blow to the DPJ, which wants to build unity in the run-up to the next House of Representatives election.

Himei and the two other DPJ members submitted defection letters to the DPJ on Thursday, but the DPJ has kept them on hold until after the September party presidential election.

In announcing her decision to remain in the DPJ, Himei said she regretted her "thoughtless actions," although she had been trying to act "for the sake of the voters."

Himei did not appear at the press conference held by members of the new party on Friday to announce their basic ideas. Watanabe insisted at the time that Himei had not changed her mind.

Watanabe told reporters later, "I will not bring down the flag of the new party. I will make efforts from next week so that our party can meet the requirements for the recognition."

With four members, the group can operate as a political group, but it will not be able to receive party subsidies or corporate donations.

U.S. final report on sub leak says radiation less than chest X-ray

Aug 29 08:33 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The United States assured Japan on Friday that the trace levels of radioactivity which leaked from the U.S. Navy submarine Houston during its visits to three Japanese ports were, even when combined, no more harmful than a routine chest X-ray and promised to ensure "stringent performance standard" in the future.

A final report given by the U.S. Embassy in Japan to the Foreign Ministry said the incident was the first of its kind in the more than 50 years that the U.S. Navy has operated nuclear reactors and reemphasized that the leakages posed "no adverse effect on human health, marine life, or the environment."

The information sheet said the radioactivity from trace levels of oxidized metals such as cobalt was released into water that wept past a shut valve on the nuclear-powered submarine during its visits to the ports of Yokosuka, Sasebo and Okinawa between July 2006 and April this year.

"Hypothetically, if an individual drank the entire amount of radioactivity contained in the water that wept from the Houston valve while in these Japanese ports...the radiation exposure dose would be less than that received from a routine chest X-ray," it said, in an apparent attempt to calm anxiety and criticism among the Japanese public.

The U.S. side also defended its failure to detect the leakage from the Houston, which first began in June 2006 and lasted until the sub was placed in dry dock last month, saying the extremely small leakage was below the level of detection by normal ship systems and was "indistinguishable by the crew from no leakage at all."

"The Navy is taking action to ensure the stringent performance standard for the Houston valve is met before returning Houston to sea," the sheet said.

The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine made five port calls at Sasebo, one at Yokosuka and another five at Okinawa's Uruma during that period.

As in an interim report provided earlier this month, the final report said the cumulative amounts of radioactivity released at the three venues were 13 kilobecquerels, 3.5 kilobecquerels and 6.3 kilobecquerels.

Friday's prompt release of the U.S. report by the ministry came after it was criticized earlier for failing to share and communicate with other ministries and local authorities concerned regarding information on the March leak in Sasebo it had received from the U.S. side.

US carrier's radioactive leak blamed on valve

2008/08/29 20:57

A US nuclear-powered submarine that released radioactive water while docked in Japan had a leaky valve that went unnoticed for 2 years.

The United States made the disclosure in a final investigative report presented to Japan's Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The US Navy said earlier this month that the nuclear submarine Houston had leaked water containing trace amounts of radiation while docked at 3 Japanese ports, including Yokosuka, near Tokyo.

The final report says the water seeped out of one of the submarine's closed valves, and that the leakage had gone unnoticed for more than 2 years through July this year.

But the report says the radiation levels in the contaminated water were similar to those found in seawater and the environment at large.

The report adds that the US authorities will ensure similar incidents do not happen again.

Himei won't join new party

2008/08/29 20:57

One of the 3 Upper House members who left the main opposition Democratic Party to form a new group now says she won't join it and is returning to the fold.

Upper House lawmaker Yumiko Himei made the surprise announcement on Friday, just 2 weeks before the start of the extraordinary Diet session on September 12th.

She said she had thought that even after joining the new party she would be able to continue working closely with the Democrats, but had since discovered the new group to be a scheme engineered by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to undermine the opposition.

Himei's departure deals a serious blow to the fledgling group, named "Kaikaku Kurabu," meaning "reform club," as its membership will now stand at only 4 - one short of the number necessary for a group to qualify as a party.
Himei and 2 other fellow Democrats, Hideo Watanabe and Yasuhiro Oe, left the party to form the new group on Thursday, together with 2 unaffiliated lawmakers.

Shortly before Himei's announcement on Friday, Watanabe, a former posts minister and the expected leader of Kaikaku Kurabu, held a news conference in which he stated his willingness to engage with the governing coalition.

Watanabe said the Democratic Party led by Ichiro Ozawa has been playing political football in the Upper House and that his new party was determined to restore the correct balance in the chamber.

In response to Himei's announcement, former Democrat Oe said he was very much surprised and that he intended to ask other Democrats who were thinking of leaving their party to join the new group.

Akiyama indicted on more tax evasion, other charges

Aug 29 06:18 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Defense consultant Naoki Akiyama faced an additional indictment Friday on charges of dodging 26 million yen in income tax and committing other offenses, prosecutors said.

With Friday's indictment, the amount of tax the 58-year-old executive director of the Japan-U.S. Center for Peace and Cultural Exchange is charged with evading now totals some 100 million yen.

The latest move by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office effectively concludes its investigation into the Akiyama case. The prosecutors also looked into whether Akiyama passed the hidden earnings to lawmakers, but found no evidence of this.

According to the new indictment, Akiyama dodged income tax of 26 million yen by not declaring most of some 83 million yen he allegedly received from defense equipment trader Yamada mainly in consultancy fees in 2006.

The suspect is also alleged to have submitted a falsified sworn affidavit to the Tokyo District Court in a debt collection case as well as to have engaged in an illegal property rights transfer.

Akiyama, a man known to have been well-connected to politicians and defense contractors both in Japan and the United States, has already been indicted on the charge of evading around 73 million yen in tax from 2003 to 2005.

The center Akiyama heads is an organization under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.

Ota reveals detailed expenses to clear his name over alleged misuse

Aug 29 05:49 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, Aug. 29 (Kyodo) — Japanese farm minister Seiichi Ota disclosed the breakdown of expenditures logged by one of his political groups Friday in a bid to vindicate himself over the alleged misuse of political funds and reiterated his determination not to step down.

In a regular press conference, Ota revealed the detailed expenditures for 2005 and 2006, and said he can provide receipts for about 90 percent of the office and miscellaneous expenses out of the total recurring outlays reported by the political group in question.

Ota has been under fire since it came to light Tuesday that the political group had reported a total of 23.4 million yen in recurring outlays including 5.5 million yen in office expenses in the two years, while registering the home of his secretary as its office.

"I'm confident the money has been used appropriately for political activities," he said. "I believe many people will be content once they see our disclosed report."

Ota, who took office as minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries earlier this month, said costs related to telecommunications, deliveries and printing account for large portions of the office expenses, while refusing to disclose the details of personnel costs saying they involve private data.

According to the paper, the office expenses came to 3.04 million yen in 2005 and 2.47 million yen in 2006.

But the Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives also apologized to the public.

"I feel sorry for confusing the public and my supporters," he said.

On Ota's explanation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said at a press conference, "I suppose he provided a considerable explanation by showing the breakdown of the significant part of recurring outlays."

"I believe he has explained the matter well, although it's up to how you (reporters) judge it," Machimura said, adding it can be said there were no false expenditures.

Machimura also approved of Ota's refusal to disclose the details of personnel costs, saying, "There's no problem" as the revised Political Funds Control Law does not require the disclosure of personnel expenditures since the issue of privacy is involved.

Ota said again that the registration of the secretary's home in Tokyo's Meguro Ward as the office's address was made "as a second-best measure" because only a political group designated as a fund- management organization is allowed to register an office in the Diet Members' Office Building, but the group in question was not.

The revelation has added pressure to the already beleaguered administration of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, whose support level has been in tatters despite his Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, giving a cue to the opposition camp to intensify its tirade against the ruling bloc comprising the LDP and New Komeito party.

Over dubious office expenses, two ministers stepped down and one committed suicide under the administration of Fukuda's predecessor Shinzo Abe.

Hayashi stresses need to continue refueling

2008/08/29 15:38

Japan's defense minister says his country must continue its mission to refuel US-led coalition vessels in anti-terrorism operations in the Indian Ocean, amid worsening security conditions in Afghanistan.

Defense Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made the comment on Friday, after a Japanese non-governmental organization aid worker was found dead following his abduction in eastern Afghanistan earlier this week.

Hayashi noted that anti-government armed groups are conducting suicide attacks on civilians in Afghanistan and the degree of instability there is rising.

He says the international community is working together to achieve peace and rebuild Afghanistan and Japan must continue to stand firm in its efforts as well.

Hayashi added that Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force mission in the Indian Ocean is an essential part of its personnel contribution to the fight against terrorism for which he will continue to seek public support.

Japan's refueling mission is set to end next January when its mandate under a domestic law will expire.

Hayashi says he plans to visit the United States in early September to discuss security issues with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Japan defense chief negative on sending SDF to Afghanistan

Aug 29 12:14 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, Aug. 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japanese Defense Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi struck a negative note Friday about a possible dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Afghanistan citing deteriorating security situations there which resulted in the murder of a Japanese aid worker this week.

"Basically, we provide logistic supports," Hayashi told a press conference, after asked if the government still considers sending the SDF to Afghanistan to help its reconstruction. Hayashi did not elaborate.

Hayashi was referring to the refueling mission by the Maritime Self- Defense Force in the Indian Ocean to help U.S-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan.

"The degree of instability in the security situation has risen" in southern and eastern Afghanistan, Hayashi said.

The defense minister made the comments after Japanese aid worker Kazuya Ito, 31, was found dead after having been abducted by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan earlier this week.

In June, the Japanese government sent a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan to study whether it is feasible to dispatch SDF troops. But the government has taken no further actions over the matter due to the worsening security situations.

The security situation in a country to which Japan may possibly deploy the SDF is a closely watched topic because use of arms by the SDF outside Japan is strictly limited under the war-renouncing Constitution.