Japan, US Proceed With Military Bases Plan Despite Opposition

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
March 13, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Pentagon plans to realign the U.S. military presence abroad faced a new hiccup after residents of a Japanese city voted Sunday in a referendum against a plan to increase the number of American military planes and personnel deployed at a local base.

The proposal would raise the number of troops at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in the southwestern city of Iwakuni from 3,500 to around 5,100, and its component of 53 planes would be bolstered by an additional 57 aircraft, including fighters attached the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.

City officials said 87 percent of those voting opposed the plan. Voter turnout was 58.6 percent, above the 50 percent threshold required for the plebiscite to be valid.

Although the vote was non-binding, Iwakuni Mayor Katsusuke Ihara said earlier he would ask Tokyo to scrap the plan if a majority opposed it. He and other critics oppose the plan because of concerns about accidents and noise.

The central government, which is reported to be concerned about the referendum sparking similar votes elsewhere in Japan, reacted to the poll result by saying it would continue working on getting support from the Iwakuni community.

"There is no change" to the redeployment plans, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Monday. Shinzo Abe, the chief cabinet secretary, told a press conference that the government understood most residents of the Iwakuni area who supported the plan had refrained from voting.

The U.S. is in Japan to help protect an important ally, but it also maintains forward-deployed forces there to deter and respond to security situations in the region not directly related to Japan.

Iwakuni's location is strategic as it lies closer to North Korea -- about 500 miles from Pyongyang -- than any other U.S. base in Asia apart from those in South Korea, where political sensitivities hamper American forces' freedom to operate outside that country.

Indeed, Iwakuni was first used by U.S. forces in 1950 as a springboard for operations during the Korean War.

The extra planes and personnel earmarked for Iwakuni are to transfer from a base near Tokyo as part of a complex realignment plan agreed upon by the two governments last October. Schedules for implementing the changes are meant to be finalized by the two sides by the end of this month.

The realignment plan in Japan is in line with the Pentagon's global review of force posture aimed at equipping the military to better face challenges such as terrorism and proliferation threats.

The main impact will be the return home of 50,000 troops from Europe, where the presence of 100,000 personnel is widely seen as superfluous in the post-Cold War era.

In the two major East Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, the plan's main focus is on consolidating command structures, streamlining deployments, and improving capabilities to respond to new threats.

At the same time, the U.S., South Korea and Japan are seeking to ease local disquiet about the presence of American forces.

This is being done primarily by moving a military headquarters out of central Seoul, and restructuring bases in Okinawa, the southern Japanese island where the majority of the 45,000 U.S. personnel in Japan are located.

Last weekend, tens of thousands of Okinawans rallied against a plan to move a Marine base there to a new location elsewhere on Okinawa.

The aim is to move the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station from its current setting near the congested center of the island to a quieter location in the northeast, but opponents of the plan want the base relocated from Okinawa completely.

The U.S. also is planning to return three other facilities on Okinawa to the Japanese government.

And, in the most far-reaching change for Japan, the Pentagon also intends to transfer up to 8,000 Marines -- half of the total number on Okinawa -- to Guam, an island 1,400 miles further east that is set to become far more important as a staging point for U.S. forces in the Pacific.

Guam is a U.S. territory, and so is not hampered by the local sensitivities present in Okinawa, or by the restrictions South Korea's liberal government wants to place on what the Pentagon calls "strategic flexibility" - the ability to dispatch forces based there in the event of crises elsewhere in the region, such as the Taiwan Strait.

U.S. eyes 'trilateral' military cooperation with Japan, S. Korea

Kyodo News

The United States plans to set up a ''trilateral military cooperation'' with Japan and South Korea to deal not only with North Korea but also with China and terrorist threats in Asia, U.S. Pacific Command Commander Adm. William Fallon said Tuesday.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Fallon said the United States has been working to transform its bilateral defense alliances with the two nations to deal with regional and global issues and develop them into a stronger trilateral initiative.

''We also hope to foster greater trilateral cooperation between the ROK (Republic of Korea), Japan and the United States,'' Fallon said in a written statement.

Fallon did not spell out the details of the trilateral cooperation. But referring to the ongoing realignment of bilateral military alliances with the two nations, Fallon indicated the U.S. military wants the three countries to jointly deal with China's increasing military power, North Korea's possible collapse and reunification of the two Koreas, unconventional regional threats such as terrorism risks in Southeast Asia, and other regional matters.

The three nations have been promoting working-level defense consultations, but the talks have largely been limited to exchanging views on North Korea.

But uncertainties remain because the trilateral process as well as bilateral defense talks between Japan and South Korea have occasionally stalled due to lingering territorial and history-related disputes between Tokyo and Seoul stemming from Japan's aggression during and before World War II.

Defense experts said Washington wants to keep Japan and South Korea on its side against China, especially hoping to prevent Seoul from leaning toward Beijing due to their similar disputes with Japan and their common reconciliatory interests over North Korea.

Fallon's remarks came after the U.S. Defense Department issued its Quadrennial Defense Review last month, which singled out China as having the ''greatest'' potential to militarily compete with the United States among emerging and major powers.

In the QDR, which set the defense strategy and military posture for the next 20 years, the Pentagon called for ''greater'' military presence in the Pacific Ocean and vowed to boost military integration with allies to deter against emerging and major powers and ''complicate any adversary's efforts to decouple them.''

The integration includes intelligence sensors, communications networks, information systems, missile defenses, undersea warfare and counter-mine warfare capabilities.

Japan and the United States agreed last October to step up integration and joint operations between Japanese Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces as part of their broad accord on realignment of the U.S. military presence in Japan.

The two nations are set to compile implementation plans by the end of March for the realignment accord.

''We are conducting a U.S.-Japan interoperability study, exploring ways to improve how our forces coordinate a wide range of operations,'' Fallon said, noting that they are also jointly developing a missile defense system.

Fallon said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has demonstrated ''exceptional leadership'' in guiding the SDF through ''significant change'' such as sending ground troops to Iraq and refueling vessels to the Indian Ocean to help the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan.

''These actions clearly show the willingness and capability of the government of Japan to deploy the SDF regionally and globally in support of security and humanitarian operations,'' Fallon said.

Meanwhile, Seoul and Washington agreed earlier this year on ''strategic flexibility'' of U.S. armed forces in South Korea, paving the way for U.S. forces there to engage in missions outside the Korean Peninsula.

But the accord led to controversy in South Korea as it may lead the nation to get involved in regional conflicts that the United States could be engaged in such as a possible contingency in Taiwan.

Fallon said, ''We welcome Korea's adoption of a more regional view of security and stability.''

The two nations ''must remain adaptable in light of the changing security environment, including unconventional threats, China's military modernization, and the potential for reconciliation between the Koreas,'' he said.

Kyodo News

35,000 rally in Ginowan against Futemma base relocation plan

GINOWAN, Japan, March 5 Kyodo [2006]

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered Sunday in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to rally against a relocation plan for the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station and envisioned legislation that would allow Tokyo to override the Okinawa governor's authority regarding landfills for the project.

Holding placards and banners demanding the immediate closure of Futemma and its relocation outside of Okinawa, about 35,000 people took part in the two-hour rally organized by opposition parties represented in the Okinawa prefectural assembly, labor unions and grassroots groups, according to the organizers' estimate.

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine and assembly members of the ruling coalition did not attend.

''If the U.S. Marines troops at Futemma are included in the 8,000 troops the two governments have agreed to move out of Okinawa, there is no need at all to build a new facility in Henoko,'' House of Councillors lawmaker Masahide Ota said in addressing the crowd.

''If the foreign minister and the Defense Agency director general think the Japan-U.S. security alliance is necessary, they should bring the bases to their own places,'' the former Okinawa governor said.

Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha said, ''The city of Ginowan strongly demands that Futemma, the world's most dangerous base, be shut down immediately and relocated outside of Japan.''

The Futemma base sits in the center of downtown Ginowan and occupies 25 percent of the city's land. Locals have long complained of noise and safety concerns, and their anger was further agitated by the crash of a U.S. military helicopter at a university campus near the base in August 2004.

Despite calls for relocating Futemma outside of Okinawa, Japan and the United States agreed last October on a revised plan to build a new airfield on the shores of the U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, to relocate Futemma's heliport functions.

''This is absolutely unforgivable,'' said Toshio Ikemiyagi, a 66-year-old resident of Naha, Okinawa's prefectural capital. ''For how much longer is the government trying to use Okinawa as a hostage put on sale to the United States?''

Given that the initial offshore plan in Nago has been stalled for 10 years, Tokyo is eyeing a special law that would transfer to the central government the Okinawa governor's authority to grant permission for landfills in the area, in order to ensure that the new plan will not be hampered by local opposition this time.

''I think it's ridiculous that Prime Minister (Junichiro) Koizumi and U.S. President (George W.) Bush are trying to make Okinawa the depot for U.S. forces to expand war,'' said 20-year-old Hidekazu Furuuchi, a Tohoku University student who traveled all the way from Sendai in northeastern Japan to Okinawa for the rally. ''The government is ignoring the Okinawa people's opposition and I cannot allow that.''

Ginowan and other municipal governments to be affected by the October agreement, which also includes other realignment plans for U.S. forces in Japan, are also upset that Tokyo struck the accord with Washington without prior consultation with them.

Meanwhile, rally participant Kaoru Takahashi said she was disappointed that Gov. Inamine did not show up for the event and that she is concerned that the governor would in the end kowtow to the central government and agree with Tokyo's plans.

''I can't trust the governor and local politicians who didn't show up at the rally,'' said Takahashi, dressed in the costume of a seal in protest against expected environmental pollution in the waters where the new airfield will be built.

In concluding the rally, the participants adopted a resolution demanding that the Japanese government respect local opinions against the relocation and realignment plans.

Japan and the United States aim to finalize the realignment details by the end of this month, but Tokyo has yet to succeed in convincing the local authorities to accept the plans. [*493*]

U.S. House Guam delegate urges Japan to fund 75% of relocation cost

(Kyodo) _ U.S. House of Representatives Delegate Madeleine Bordallo from Guam urged Japan on Friday to fund 75 percent of the cost of relocating U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, calling it a "necessity" amid the tight U.S. budget.

In a statement, Bordallo also said she understands that the actual number of Marines to be relocated will be closer to 8,000, instead of 7,000 earlier agreed on between the two nations.

Her comments confirmed recent news reports that the United States has offered to increase the number by 1,000 during ongoing negotiations for crafting implementation plans by March of a broad agreement reached in October on realigning the U.S. military presence in Japan.

The October accord highlighted the removal of 7,000 Marines from Okinawa -- 6,000 to Guam and 1,000 elsewhere in Japan.

"Negotiations between the Japanese and the United States have been substantive," Bordallo said, noting that she has recently met with senior U.S. defense officials to receive updates on the negotiations.

The two nations are scheduled to resume their senior working-level meeting in Honolulu next week.

"However, it is clear that cost-sharing is a critical issue that must be resolved. For this move to happen on the right timeline, within six to eight years, a Japanese commitment to fund 75 percent of the relocation costs is a necessity," Bordallo said.

"The strained U.S. budget will not be able to accommodate this move without the targeted level of Japanese cost sharing," she said.

Bordallo did not give any cost estimates for building Marine headquarters, training sites, housing and other facilities in Guam for the relocation, merely referring to news repots of a $8 billion estimate tabled by the United States.

Various cost figures have hit the headlines, ranging from $3 billion to $9 billion, as being presented by the United States during the negotiations.

But behind the scenes, the Marine Corps has reportedly come up with a more a realistic estimate of around $6 billion through its preliminary studies, with the United States hoping Japan will cover up to 60 percent.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government is planning to propose lending money to the United States to cover part of the construction cost in Guam.

Bordallo said, "There came be little doubt that we are at an important juncture as the United States and Japanese negotiators approach the mutually agreed upon deadline for final agreement."

"From my viewpoint, we are at a crossroads," she said. "The whole plan to move Marines to Guam will not come to fruition if these negotiations fail."

But she noted, "I remain optimistic that because of the importance of this realignment to Japanese and to American society that the outcomes will be positive."

Ambassador Thomas Schieffer Speaks to Okinawa Business Leaders

TRANSCRIPT

Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer
Remarks to Okinawa Association of Corporate Executives
Loisir Hotel Okinawa
Naha, Okinawa

February 13, 2006

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: Thank you very much. This is my second visit to Okinawa, and I have really enjoyed it. Yesterday I had a chance to go down to the aquarium and see it, and I want to compliment you. It is a world-class facility, and it is the most impressive aquarium that I have ever seen.

It is a great honor for me to be here today. The Okinawa Association of Corporate Executives is an important part of the Okinawa business community. Your strong voice has helped build a friendship between America and the Okinawan people.

The friendship between our two countries is unique in the world. Borne out of conflict, it has come to epitomize the power of freedom to transform bitter enemies into close, prosperous and powerful friends. Sixty years ago, few would have thought that the United States and Japan could enjoy the kind of relationship that we have today. It has come to be because both our societies share the same core values of freedom - values that give dignity and respect to the individual and hope and opportunity to the masses.

Friendship is never appreciated more than in a time of tragedy. Last summer, in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Japan came through for America. At the government, corporate, and individual level, Japanese reacted with extraordinary generosity to the plight of ordinary Americans caught up in the disaster. From the collection boxes on the streets, to a Japanese businessman walking into my office and donating $1 million, to every member of the Diet contributing to the relief effort, the Japanese people time and time again said that they wanted to help Americans. May I take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the people of Okinawa and Japan for the compassion you showed America.

Let me turn now to the alliance that has grown out of our friendship. Never has it been stronger. It is emblematic of the close and personal friendship shared by our two leaders, President Bush and Prime Minister Koizumi. Sons of fathers who fought on opposite sides in the war, these two world leaders know that the fate of each of us is inexorably tied to the success of our relationship. Their summit last November demonstrated once again that we are committed to a growing and evolving alliance that will serve the individual and mutual interests of each of our great countries.

For America, the alliance is the linchpin of our whole foreign policy in Asia. The American-Japanese alliance has provided for the security of both of our countries in the Pacific. That security, in turn, has allowed our economies to prosper without suffering again from the devastation of war.

Now we are engaged in talks designed to transform that 20th century alliance into one capable of meeting the security challenges of the 21st century. One of the great challenges we face will be adjusting to the world order that has emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the events of September 11th.

The economic rise of China and India present both challenge and opportunity. We must encourage both to be active contributors to the well being of the international order without endangering the peace and stability of their neighbors. At the same time, all of us - every member state of the international community - must guard against the threat of transnational terrorism. Civilization as we know it will cease to exist if terrorists are allowed to roam among us. All of us must come together to defeat terrorism, the bane of our time.

And yet our friendship and alliance extend far beyond security matters. Together, we are a formidable force for good in the world. Our two economies are far and away the largest. We produce more, earn more, and give away more than any two nations in history. But we are not just about money. We have responded to tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and disease with a compassion that relieves suffering and offers hope for a better day for victims caught in the midst of these natural tragedies. So too, do we support the institutions that bring democracy and freedom to the oppressed. Tyranny knows it has a formidable foe in the alliance of the United States and Japan.

Here in Okinawa, we often hear of the burden borne by Okinawans in the defense of both the United States and Japan. It is true that you bear a heavy burden for all of us. But at the same time, we hope you realize that all of us have burdens to bear when it comes to the defense of our countries and the peace of the world. Americans spend a little less than 4% of our gross domestic product on national defense. Japan spends less than 1%. In real dollars, Americans spend more than ten times as much on defense as the Japanese. Over the last four years, our defense spending has almost doubled while the Japanese spending in real dollars has actually declined. This increased American spending has produced greater capacity in our military forces, which in turn creates greater capability in the alliance between our two countries, and that translates into more security for Japan. American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines serve throughout Japan, and they do so with pride and honor for their country and yours. But as much as they enjoy living here and as lovely as Japan is, they would rather be with family and friends at home. And by the way, it would be cheaper for the United States taxpayer if that were possible. But that is not possible, because the risks of a dangerous world cannot be ignored. The presence of American troops here in Okinawa and the rest of Japan has made all the difference in the cause for peace. For sixty years, the peace of Japan has been preserved because potential enemies have known that they would face the full force and effect of American power if they made war on Japan. That peace and security has allowed Japan to build the second largest economy in the world, an economy that in turn has given the Japanese people an opportunity to regain the dignity and respect that they deserve in the international community.

The defense of Japan presents heavy burdens to the people of Okinawa. The defense of Japan presents heavy burdens to the rest of Japan. The defense of Japan presents heavy burdens to the United States. But Okinawans, Japanese, and Americans bear those burdens because they understand that they are essential to the defense of liberty in Japan, America, and the rest of the world. Peace is not inevitable. We must work at it every day, and each of us must do our part.

All that said, we are now engaged in talks with Japan that are designed to reduce the number of Americans stationed here without reducing their capability to respond to the security threats of the future. We listened to the people of Okinawa when they said they wanted to reduce the number of Marines based here. We have offered to move 7,000 Marines to Guam. We listened to the people of Okinawa when they said they wanted Futenma back to stimulate local development and reduce the possibility of future accidents. We have offered to move from Futenma on the day that a replacement facility can open. There are many other things that we can do together to reduce the burdens each of us bear, but to accomplish them, we must work together in an atmosphere of honesty and cooperation. We must be prepared to act upon and not just talk about what needs to be done. We must treat each other in a way that befits the friends and allies that we are.

Let me also add at this point that we want to be good neighbors in the communities where we live. The United States remains committed to a goal of zero tolerance for criminal acts performed by American service personnel. We are deeply saddened when an American violates the law. We pledge to you that we will cooperate in every way possible to bring any wrongdoer to justice. Each of us wants the United States to be well thought of and respected for the ideals and values we hold. None of us wants America to be dishonored or disgraced by individuals who violate the law. Americans are not here to prey upon the innocent; we are here to protect the innocent.

Finally, I want to look to the future of the Japanese American friendship and alliance. We want this friendship and this alliance to reflect the best that is in the soul of both of our peoples.

There is much that needs to be done in the world. Poverty and disease are still with us. War and pestilence still visit too many places. Together, we have built the two greatest economies in the world. Together, we have secured the peace of Asia. And together, we look to the future with hope.

The world and Okinawa are very different places than they were sixty years ago. And they are much better places, more democratic, more prosperous, and more free than ever before. That didn't just happen. It happened because men and women of courage and vision made it happen. Our task is to live up to their courage and their vision. If we do so, I am confident that an American ambassador sixty years from now will address a group like this and extol the virtues of our friendship and emphasize the contributions that that friendship has made to a better world.

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

QUESTION: Regarding the transformation of US forces in Japan, the United States and Japan agreed on Futenma relocation in October. There has been opposition to this from Governor Inamine, the mayor of Nago, surrounding towns and villages, and fishermen and fisheries cooperatives. Given the local opposition to the Camp Schwab plan, Mr. Ambassador, do you think it would be better to revise the agreement?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: I think that what we did in October was to have a broad conceptual agreement as to what we would do, and that broad conceptual agreement was to have a facility built at Camp Schwab.

We are in the process now of negotiating the details of how that would be done. I think that if the people of Okinawa or the people of those local communities have suggestions to make that might improve the agreement, we have a duty to listen to them.

And I am hopeful that after the conclusion of those discussions, and that exchange of information, that we would be able to, in the details, reach an agreement that everyone could support.

QUESTION: Some are of the opinion that unless the Futenma relocation issue is resolved, there will not be progress on matters that will reduce Okinawa's burden, such as the return of bases south of Kadena and the reduction of 7,000 Marines. Mr. Ambassador, do you view these issues as a set that should be pursued in tandem and do you see a resolution to the Futenma question as a precondition?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: I think it is a package that we are talking about, and I believe we are narrowing our differences. I had an opportunity to meet with Governor Inamine this morning before this meeting, and he told me that basically he felt that the DPRI agreement could be accepted pretty much as it is, with the exception of the Futenma question. And my response to that was that we ought to try to figure out how we could resolve the Futenma question so that we could have an agreement that everyone could accept. And I am hopeful that in these next few months that we will be able to do that.

QUESTION: Again, on the relocation of Futenma, you said earlier that you should listen. Does this mean that if there is a local plan, one that is better than the coastal plan, that you are ready to consider it? Or will America put forward its own proposal?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: The negotiation is between the United States and the government of Japan, and we have reached a broad conceptual agreement on that negotiation. Having said that, I think we always should listen to people. If they can offer a better idea, then we should embrace it. And then, I don't think there is any harm in ever listening to people, but you have to listen to them sincerely and listen to them in the manner that they present their arguments. If those arguments are sincere, then I think that we have to listen to them. That doesn't mean that we will always agree at the end, but I think we have a duty as friends and allies to listen to one another and try to appreciate the point that each is trying to make. We want this agreement to work. And we want an agreement that will be able to be implemented. An agreement just for agreement's sake helps no one. But we think that these talks can produce something that will have a very positive effect on Okinawa, on Japan, and the United States. And that is the spirit in which we have entered these negotiations.

QUESTION: As you mentioned earlier, and as the Department of Defense has announced recently, China is becoming a threat. But at the same time, it is seeking a peaceful environment. In what areas do you view China as posing a threat? Also, what do you think about the state of Japan-China relations recently?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: I don't think that we have said that we consider China a threat. I think what we have said is that we hope that China can be integrated into the international community in a peaceful way, so that it enhances the security and stability of the international community. At the same time, we are concerned with the military buildup that has occurred in China, and we want to be sure that that military buildup is not a threat to the United States, or to Japan, or to our allies.

With regard to relations between Japan and China, those are matters the Chinese and Japanese have to resolve. But having said that, we would point out the fact that we have a better relationship with China today than we probably ever have had in our history. At the same time, we have the best relationship with Japan that we have ever had. And our relationship with China did not come at the expense of our relationship with Japan. On the contrary, we believe that our good relationship with Japan enables us to have a good relationship with China. And while both China and Japan enjoy great relationships with the United States right now, I think that Japan and China are somewhat anxious when it comes to the relations that they have with each other. That's understandable given the fact that the whole international order is in the process of redefining itself. Japan and China each have to be comfortable with the new position that they are occupying in that redefined international order. Ifm quite hopeful they can resolve those differences, but obviously there's a lot of work to do right now.

QUESTION: The Japanese government is saying that there will not be major changes to the agreed-upon coastal plan. But listening to you today, Mr. Ambassador, I get the feeling that you are more flexible than the Japanese government regarding revisions. Is that correct? Some have called for Futenma to be relocated outside the prefecture. Is that something you would consider? Additionally, the previous mayor of Nago has said that a plan closer to the shore than the original offshore plan could be considered. Is this something you would consider?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: I think what I have tried to say was that, conceptually, we have made a broad agreement with the government of Japan, and conceptually, that agreement includes a provision that Futenma would be relocated here within Okinawa Prefecture. I don't see that changing. All I am saying is, as we engage in the negotiations on the details of that conceptual agreement, I don't see any harm in listening to people to see if they have a better idea. At the end of the day, we may wind up exactly where we are right now. But at the end of the day, if somebody has a better idea, we should be willing to embrace it.

QUESTION: I think a lot of work is going on to try to wrap up the negotiations. What do you think are the chances that an agreement will be reached by the end of March?

AMBASSADOR SCHIEFFER: I think we will have a final report by the end of March. I think both sides are working very hard to do that. I think that negotiations are very difficult; if it were easy, we would have already done it. But I think both sides recognize that there is the opportunity to transform this alliance, and this is the moment to seize that opportunity. And because they realize that and because they are approaching it with seriousness, I am quite hopeful that we will be able to conclude the negotiations and get the final report in by the end of March.

Domo arigato gozaimashita.

Publisher dismayed by Japanese nationalism

By Norimitsu Onishi
Published: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2006

TOKYO: At day's end, it was perhaps one of the few things over which he held no sway, the relentless logic of aging, that made Tsuneo Watanabe, Japan's most powerful media baron, decide to step out of the shadows.

For years, most Japanese had caught only glimpses of the man, usually leaving, late at night, one of his favorite ryotei - the members-only redoubts where Watanabe dined with fellow power brokers and received supplicants.

Reporters would swarm around him as he made his way toward his black sedan, peppering him with questions on the day's topic, and he would oblige them with imperious one-liners that made him the embodiment of the arrogant, ultimate insider.

But Watanabe, now nearly 80 years old, has stepped into the light. He has recently granted long, soul-baring interviews in which he has questioned the rising nationalism he has cultivated so assiduously in the pages of his main newspaper, The Yomiuri Shimbun, which with a circulation of 14 million is the world's largest.

Now, he talks about the need to revisit Japan's wartime history and reflects on his wife's illness and his own, as well as the fresh joys of playing with his new pet hamsters.

Struck by his own sense of mortality but still in the saddle, Watanabe seems ruffled that his power may be waning. He has railed against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who he says just does not listen to him anymore.

"Before, early on, he used to listen to me sometimes," Watanabe told a television interviewer.

During a two-hour interview at his office, where he presides over the newspaper, Japan's most popular baseball team and the rest of the Yomiuri Media Group's empire, he puffed on one of the three pipes on the coffee table before him.

He was a man in a hurry, in a hurry to change Japan, no less, by forcing it to confront, understand and judge its wartime conduct and to set it on the correct path as his testament to the nation.

"I'll be 80 years old this year," he said. "I have very little time left." His first move was an editorial last June criticizing Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, the Shinto memorial where 14 Class A war criminals, including the wartime prime minister, Hideki Tojo, are deified.

This was an about-face for The Yomiuri Shimbun, a conservative publication that had been moving rightward in recent years and tended to react viscerally against foreign criticism of the Yasukuni visits.

Indeed, Watanabe's Yomiuri was a main force in pushing for the kind of stronger Japan now emerging. Shortly after becoming editor in chief in 1991, Watanabe set up a committee to revise the Constitution, a pacifist document imposed by the United States under General Douglas MacArthur. If MacArthur's Constitution emasculated Japan by forbidding it from having a real military, Watanabe's constitution, published in 1994, restored its manhood.

Now, it seems only a matter of time until Japan completes the process that Watanabe started years ago.

Still, Watanabe seems troubled by some aspects of the nationalist movement he helped engender. The editorial, which reflected his worries about Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors, sent shock waves through the political world. It called for the building of a secular alternative to the shrine and bluntly said the country's prime minister did not understand history.

Nowadays, Watanabe is unsparing in his criticism. Koizumi worships at a shrine that glorifies militarism, said Watanabe, who equates Tojo with Hitler.

"This person Koizumi doesn't know history or philosophy, doesn't study, doesn't have any culture," Watanabe said. "That's why he says stupid things, like, 'What's wrong about worshipping at Yasukuni?' Or, 'China and Korea are the only countries that criticize Yasukuni.' This stems from his ignorance."

Like many of postwar Japan's leaders with wartime experience, Watanabe is a conservative and a realist. He remains suspicious of the irrational and emotional appeals to nationalism used increasingly these days by those who never saw war.

In his high school in Tokyo, he said, military officials visited regularly to instill militarism in the young.

"I once instigated my classmates to boycott the class and shut ourselves in a classroom," he recalled. "We were punished later."

When he entered the army as a private second class, the war was already in its last stage. Japan kept on fighting despite the certainty of defeat. In desperation, the military began dispatching kamikaze pilots, whom the Japanese far right glorifies as willing martyrs for the emperor.

"It's all a lie," he said angrily, "that they left filled with braveness and joy, crying, 'Long live the emperor!' They were sheep at a slaughterhouse. Everybody was looking down and tottering. Some were unable to stand up and were carried and pushed into the plane by maintenance soldiers."

After graduating from the University of Tokyo and flirting with communism after the war, Watanabe joined The Yomiuri Shimbun in 1950 and quickly made his mark as a political reporter.

To this day, political reporters in Japan tend to succeed by becoming close to a particular politician, earning scoops while shielding him and becoming insiders.

According to a 2000 biography, "Watanabe Tsuneo, Media and Power," by Akira Uozumi, Watanabe ingratiated himself so much with one Liberal Democratic heavyweight, Banboku Ohno, that he became the gatekeeper at his house and rode in his car.

Politicians seeking favors from Ohno would ask Watanabe to put in a good word. One young politician helped by Watanabe was Yasuhiro Nakasone, the future prime minister. They remain famously close.

Such was Watanabe's power that by the 1980s, and especially after he was made the newspaper's editor in chief in 1991, he helped broker major political deals. In those exclusive ryotei, nationally known politicians prostrated themselves before the shadow shogun.

Ordinary Japanese only became aware of his existence in 1996, when he became the head of the media group's baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants.

"I'm not an ogre or a snake," Watanabe said with a smile, protesting that his one-liners were frequently twisted.

Nowadays, he is expansive, even on his own frailty.

But he is hardly ready for retirement, though. Convinced that Japan will never become a mature country unless it examines its wartime conduct on its own, Watanabe has ordered a yearlong series of articles on the events of six decades ago. Next August, the newspaper will pronounce its verdict.

The series and Watanabe's recent fierce attacks on Koizumi are said to have already shaken Japanese politics, as Koizumi prepares to retire next September. Even though Koizumi won a landslide election a few months ago, attacks against his legacy are rising and allies have begun defying him.

Political analysts see Watanabe's hand, which he does not hide. The series, he said, has started changing the opinions of some politicians. But he is far more ambitious."I think I can change all of Japan," he said.

FOCUS: Experts praise Japan-U.S. ties, but see challenges

NEW YORK, Feb. 1 2006 KYODO

Japanese and U.S. political and economic experts recently expressed optimism about U.S.-Japan ties despite Japan's leadership change in September, while they raised concerns about how this may be challenged by Iran's nuclear issue, and touched on other topics such as Japan's diplomatic problems linked to the Yasukuni issue

The panel discussion, sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York on Jan. 25, brought together four experts on economic and political affairs.

The panelists were Michael Green, senior adviser and Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Shinichi Kitaoka, a Japanese ambassador to the United Nations; Masato Mori, president and chief executive officer of Nippon Steel USA Inc.; and Motokazu Yoshida, chairman for the Americas and president and chief executive officer of Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc.

''No matter how the midterm election will turn out, there is a bipartisan consensus on the importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance,'' said Green, a former special assistant to the U.S. President George W. Bush for national security affairs and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

Green said both Japan and the United States have come to see their ties as an alliance based on ''common values,'' unlike 15 years ago when the their relations were strained by trade friction.

But nuclear nonproliferation will be a major issue in the future, Green said. ''The Iranian issue will be increasingly difficult. So far, Japan has invested in Iranian oil fields while conducting a strong nonproliferation diplomacy at the International Atomic Energy Agency. But this will be a year in which Japan must choose one -- energy diplomacy or nonproliferation.''

Green said most U.S. government experts agree that Iran is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons.

On North Korea, Green said the agreement reached at six-nation talks last September was an ''important diplomatic step,'' but pointed out that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has yet to make any strategic decision.

He also said North Korea's illegal activities, such as suspected counterfeiting and drug trafficking, are increasing, while diplomacy is making modest progress.

Green also praised the role of Japan's Self-Defense Forces in the international community and said that after the Iraq mission is over in 2006, Japan must think of the SDF's international role.

''It does not have to be Iraq. Personally, I think it is necessary for Japan's SDF to operate somewhere in the world. Sending personnel abroad is becoming an important pillar of the Japanese diplomacy,'' he said.

On Japan's relations with its neighboring countries such as China and South Korea, Kitaoka said that his opinion has not changed since he wrote a dissertation earlier calling for the creation of a secular memorial apart from the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's shrine visits have strained Tokyo's ties with Beijing and Seoul, and have led to a halt in bilateral talks between the countries' top leaders following Koizumi's most recent visit to Yasukuni last Oct. 17.

Koizumi has visited the shrine once a year since taking office in 2001.

''Who is right and who is wrong -- diplomacy cannot be settled like that. Because of this (Yasukuni) problem, I feel that Japan's diplomatic options are being reduced,'' Kitaoka said.

Kitaoka said he used to attend a joint historical committee of Japanese and South Korean scholars, and said while the media's reporting of the committee's achievement was critical, he felt that the fellowship between the researchers was beginning to emerge.

''It was not a wasteful attempt. Different opinions cannot converge that easily. Rather, I strongly oppose such concept as 'integrating' historical interpretations. I believe that intellectual cognitions belong to an individual, and in that spirit, Japan should have a dialogue with China,'' Kitaoka said.

''Japan can take a fair and offensive approach on historical issues based on the deep and democratic freedom of learning. But when the discussion comes to the Yasukuni issue, Japan becomes defensive and cannot discuss any other issues,'' Kitaoka said.

Kitaoka said there are a number of cases in the world where the interpretations of historical events cannot be reconciled, and there are organizations working to resolve such problems, including the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in Salzburg.

''On the Palestinian issue, for example, the two sides will exchange maps and chronological tables, and that's all. But even such an exchange is better than none,'' he said, adding that the full reconciliation between Germany and Poland began only after the Cold War.

''We need to take a long-term approach on this (historical reconciliation) issue outside of the government framework, and it will be ideal if the government continues to support such an undertaking,'' Kitaoka said.

Green also expressed worry about the simmering tensions between the two Asian giants: ''What we should be concerned about (with) deteriorating relations between Japan and China, is not whether there would be a conflict or war -- these scenarios are not very likely -- but an overall strategic structure in Asia and Japan's diplomatic weight in Asia. This, I think, is directly linked to the national interest of the United States.''

Green said he believes that China's mid- to long-term strategy is to be a bipolar power with the United States -- with China representing Asia and America representing the West.

''If this structure becomes a reality, China does not have to democratize itself much. China can boost its economic and military power at its own pace,'' Green said.

==Kyodo