Daily Yomiuri Online :: Friday, August 7, 2009

• Hiroshima marks A-bombing (Aug.7)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  HIROSHIMA--Hiroshima marked the 64th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city Thursday and held a memorial ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park here in Naka Ward. continued ...


• Retired officials rush to beat potential amakudari ban (Aug.7)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  A number of retired senior government officials have recently assumed executive posts at independent administrative institutions and other organizations. continued ...


• Youths listen to A-bomb stories / 2 students from Obama's alma mater participate in ceremony (Aug.7)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  HIROSHIMA--Among the many participants of a ceremony to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Thursday were two students from Punahou School in Honolulu, the alma mater of U.S. President Barack Obama. continued ...


• Clear up pension mess ASAP / Victims of record-keeping blunders need prompt redress (Aug.7)
  Kenji Uchida and Manami Hayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
  To help regain public confidence in the nation's pension system that was lost in the wake of a series of blunders in pension record-keeping, political parties have expressed a firm determination to accelerate their efforts to resolve the issue. continued ...


• ELECTION 2009--BATTLE FOR POWER / Support for DPJ remains solid following unveiling of manifestos (Aug.7)
  The Yomiuri Shimbum
  A Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found continuing high public support for the Democratic Party of Japan, with 41 percent of respondents saying they intend to vote for the opposition party in proportional representation blocs in the upcoming House of Representatives election, exceeding the 24 percent who said they plan to back the Liberal Democratic Party. continued ...


• ELECTION 2009--BATTLE FOR POWER / DPJ eyes national strategy bureau bill (Aug.7)
  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  The Democratic Party of Japan has decided to convene an extraordinary Diet session in October and enact a bill to set up a national strategy bureau during the session if the party wins the Aug. 30 general election. continued ...

Aso goes on defensive in policy speech

Aya Igarashi and Makoto Miura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Prime Minister Taro Aso cast aside the combative approach he exhibited immediately after taking office and embraced a strategy of defense when he delivered Wednesday's policy speech to the Diet.

The question remains, though, with this speech in which he vowed to make steady progress in implementing policies, can Aso effectively put a bad patch of difficulties in managing his administration behind him and regain the initiative in battling against the opposition camp?

During Aso's speech in the House of Representatives plenary session, the prime minister called for cooperation from the opposition parties while casting a look to his left toward the seats of opposition party members.

"What the public wants is not confrontation for the sake of it, but politics that quickly produces results," Aso said in the speech.

But Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa, seated toward the back of the hall, sat with his eyes tightly shut and registered no reaction to Aso's words. Aso looked calm as he finished his speech, but the applause from lawmakers around him was sparse.

In the policy speech he delivered in September soon after taking office as prime minister, Aso referred to the DPJ 12 times. He directed a string of questions at the DPJ to counter the position of the opposition camp and provoke it.

Four months later, this confrontational stance seems to have vanished.

During Wednesday's speech, Aso never mentioned the DPJ by name. He read from a prepared script in subdued tones except when he raised his voice to say, "I'm going to actively hold discussions with the opposition parties."

When reporters asked about the difference between the two speeches after Wednesday's Diet session, he coolly replied, "I've had no change of heart."

But it is obvious the dramatic changes in the political circumstances surrounding Aso over the past four months have led to a change in the style and content of his speeches.

When he delivered his previous policy speech last autumn, Aso planned to quickly dissolve the lower house for a general election. Accordingly, ruling party members were sure to unconditionally shower the prime minister with praise for openly expressing a hostile attitude toward opposition parties, since he would be the face of the Liberal Democratic Party in the election.

But Aso later decided to postpone the dissolution of the lower house due to the worldwide financial crisis. Furthermore, due to repeated slips of the tongue by the prime minister, the Aso Cabinet's approval ratings in Yomiuri Shimbun surveys has halved from 49.5 percent at the time of its launch to 20.4 percent.

Yoshimi Watanabe, a former state minister for administrative reform who recently bolted from the LDP, reacted to the latest speech, saying, "I sense he's even lost the power to provoke [the opposition parties], with his approval ratings as low as they are."

Securing a recovery of his Cabinet's approval ratings will not be an easy task for the prime minister. For the time being, all he can do is wait for an opportunity to go on the offensive, while emphasizing his reformist credentials by forging ahead with civil service and other reforms, and through smooth diplomatic activity.

Recently, Aso has placed particular importance on administrative reform.

In Wednesday's speech, Aso showed his enthusiasm about administrative reform by saying, "As I'm going to ask the public to take on a larger burden, it goes as a precondition that we should steadily implement administrative reforms and thoroughly eliminate wasteful government spending."

As Aso plans to raise the consumption tax rate in fiscal 2011, he believes he will not be able to win public support for the move unless he clearly shows his determination to carry out reform and provide a road map to that end.

Aso also hopes this strategy will counter the DPJ, which is likely to make reform of the nation's bureaucracy an election pledge.

But a government source said that implementing administrative reform runs the risk of becoming a "double-edged sword" for Aso.

By the end of the month, Aso plans to compile a timetable of public servant system reforms to be tackled by 2012 and to submit related bills to the Diet by the end of March.

However, the National Personnel Authority has refused to transfer its functions to a new cabinet-controlled entity in charge of personnel and management affairs relating to public servants, apparently judging Aso's political influence to be on the wane.

(Jan. 30, 2009)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090130TDY03103.htm

Japanese Newspapers - Friday, September 5, 2008

Kyodo

• Outgoing PM Fukuda says Japan-China ties will continue to develop
  Sep 5 10:42 AM US/Eastern
  TOKYO, Sept. 5 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told the visiting head of the China-Japan Friendship Association on Friday that bilateral ties will continue to develop as they have done while he has been in office, a Foreign Ministry official said. continued ...


• Japan plays down S. Korean reaction to description of Takeshima
  Sep 5 06:05 AM US/Eastern
  TOKYO, Sept. 5 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japan on Friday played down South Korea's reaction to an annual Japanese government report that describes a disputed island chain in the Sea of Japan, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, as an integral part of Japanese territory. continued ...


• Japan defense report warns of China's military expansion in space
  Sep 5 01:23 AM US/Eastern
  (AP) - TOKYO, Sept. 5 (Kyodo) — In an annual defense review released Friday, Japan remains vigilant of China's growing military power, including its development of an anti- satellite laser, but takes a less apprehensive view than last year about Beijing's stand against Taiwan. continued ...


• 3 1/2 yrs sought for ex-vice defense minister Moriya for bribe-taking
  Sep 5 01:06 AM US/Eastern
  TOKYO, Sept. 5 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Prosecutors sought three years and six months of imprisonment Friday for former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya accused of taking a total of about 12.5 million yen in bribes from a defense equipment trader and is also charged with perjury for giving false testimony in the Diet. continued ...


• Aso formally announces bid to run for LDP presidential election
  Sep 4 10:39 PM US/Eastern
  TOKYO, Sept. 5 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taro Aso on Friday formally announced his bid for the party's presidential election on Sept. 22. continued ...


• Ruling coalition considers dissolving lower house in Oct.
  Sep 4 01:12 PM US/Eastern
  TOKYO, Sept. 5 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party is considering dissolving the lower house in October for a general election in November, coalition sources said Thursday. continued ...

Daily Yomiuri Online  Click

• 4 LDP lawmakers set to take part in race
  (Sep. 5, 2008) (Daily Yomiuri Online)
  Four Liberal Democratic Party members are expected to compete in the party presidential election set for Sept. 22 to choose a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. continued ...


• Capt. seeks confirmation of boat's location
  (Sep. 5, 2008) (Daily Yomiuri Online)
  The former chief torpedo officer and other crew members of the Atago Aegis-equipped destroyer, during a maritime accident inquiry Thursday, pointed to the responsibility borne by the fishing boat that the Atago collided with. continued ...


• Fukuda panels may come to naught / PM's decision to step down could spell disaster for reform-tasked councils
  (Sep. 5, 2008) (Daily Yomiuri Online)
  Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's decision to resign from the nation's top post has raised concerns among government councils over the future of nascent projects to reform social security systems and tackle other problems. continued ...

The Asahi Shimbun  Click

• Yosano, Ishihara set to run in LDP race
  2008/9/5 (The Asahi Shimbun)
  Economic policy minister Kaoru Yosano on Thursday threw his hat into the ring for the race to choose the next Liberal Democratic Party president--and thus prime minister--while Nobuteru Ishihara, a former party policy chief, indicated that he, too, intends to run, making it a four-way contest. continued ...


• 56% of voters favor early Lower House election
  2008/9/5 (The Asahi Shimbun)
  Fifty-six percent of voters favor early dissolution of the Lower House for a snap election, compared with 33 percent who say there is no need to rush things, an Asahi Shimbun survey shows. continued ...


• Officers of Atago dispute charges
  2008/9/5 (The Asahi Shimbun)
YOKOHAMA--Duty officers and the former skipper of the Aegis destroyer Atago apologized Thursday for a collision in February that killed two fishermen but denied they had failed to take adequate safety measures. continued ...

The Japan Times  Click

• Yamaoka urges DPJ to stay focused
  Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 (The Japan Times)
  By KAZUAKI NAGATA, Staff writer
  Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's resignation has shifted much of the media's attention on to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. continued ...


• Taiwan politicians hope Aso takes reins (Kyodo)
  Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 (The Japan Times)
  By MAX HIRSCH
  TAIPEI (Kyodo) Taiwanese power brokers seemed upbeat Tuesday on the possibility that Taro Aso, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, would become Japan's next prime minister. continued ...


• Yosano, Ishihara eye run for LDP's helm
  Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 (The Japan Times)
  By MASAMI ITO and KAZUAKI NAGATA, Staff writers
  Two more names surfaced Thursday as candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election as economy minister Kaoru Yosano and former LDP policy chief Nobuteru Ishihara both indicated they were willing to run. continued ...


• MSDF denies it was negligent in Atago collision (Kyodo)
  Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 (The Japan Times)
  YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) The Maritime Self-Defense Force on Thursday denied allegations of negligence over a fatal collision in February between its Aegis-destroyer Atago and a fishing boat off Chiba Prefecture. continued ...


• EDITORIAL :: The DPJ's kind of nation
  Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 (The Japan Times)
  The sudden decision and announcement by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to resign must have caused a headache for the Democratic Party of Japan, the No. 1 opposition party. The DPJ had worked out a strategy for future general elections on the assumption that Mr. Fukuda would remain in power. The DPJ thought he would be an easy target to assail because of his low approval ratings and seeming aloofness from the public. Mr. Fukuda's announcement to resign has deprived the DPJ of the basis for such optimistic thinking. continued ...

The Mainichi Daily News  Click

• Prosecutors demand prison term for ex-top Defense Ministry bureaucrat over bribes [Takemasa Moriya]
  September 5, 2008 (Mainichi Japan)
  Prosecutors demanded Friday that former top Defense Ministry bureaucrat Takemasa Moriya spend 3 1/2 years behind bars and be fined about 12.5 million yen for accepting bribes from a defense contractor in return for helping the company win contracts. continued ...


• Round-table talk on Fukuda's resignation: what about perseverance and forcefulness? (Pt 2)
  September 5, 2008 (Mainichi Japan)
  Barely a month after drastically reshuffling his Cabinet, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda abruptly announced that he would step down. We asked former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Professor Takashi Mikuriya of Tokyo University and Professor Jun Iio of the Graduate Institute for Policy Studies to get together to discuss the reasons behind the collapse of Fukuda's government. This is the second part of a three-part series. (Coordinated by Atsuro Kurashige, Managing Editor, Editorial Division of the Tokyo Head Office) continued ...