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December 29, 2008
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will begin periodic meetings with U.S. officials, party officials announced, with an eye towards building a mutual rapport as the DPJ looks more and more likely to win the next Lower House election.
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission James P. Zumwalt and Director of the International Bureau of the DPJ Tetsundo Iwakuni finalized the agreement on Dec. 16 in Tokyo, along with Kuniko Tanioka, deputy director of the International Bureau of the DPJ, and Kenzo Fujisue, shadow vice minister of economy, trade and industry.
During an exchange of opinions on Afghanistan, the U.S. emphasized that they sought not support for the U.S., but a contribution to the international community, urging the DPJ to propose the types of aid they can provide. The DPJ explained the party's proposed plan for the eradication of terrorism, in which the Self-Defense Forces would be dispatched to Afghanistan after the fighting ends, to focus on irrigation and infrastructure support.
While DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa places an emphasis on "the construction of equal and stronger Japan-U.S. relations," and as party policy, supports revisions of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement and the transfer of the Futenma U.S. air base to a location outside Okinawa Prefecture, specific avenues of negotiation on these issues had yet to be established. Tanioka's appointment on Dec. 11 was designed to raise the number of staff working to create a relationship with Barack Obama's new administration.
There has been increasing contact between the DPJ and the U.S. since Obama's election in November. In most instances, the U.S. side made visits to DPJ officials specializing not only in security issues -- which had been common in the past -- but also those with expertise in environmental, agricultural, and economic issues. The DPJ, in turn, explained the party's policies, such as the proposed plan for income compensation for individual farming households.
"The U.S. probably wants to open avenues of negotiation on various topics," said a senior official in the DPJ's International Bureau. "But their main focus appears to be the issue of Afghanistan."
(Mainichi Japan) December 29, 2008
Dec 29 02:05 AM US/Eastern
The head of South Korea's parliament ordered opposition legislators Monday to end their sit-in by midnight so major bills can be passed, warning them not to force him to take "extreme measures."
However the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) rejected the demand from Speaker Kim Hyong-O, setting the stage for more battles inside the assembly.
"The year must not pass without settling bills which will relieve the burden on the public," Kim told a press conference, saying a full session would be held on Wednesday to pass the legislation.
Photo: South Korean opposition party member try to enter a parliamentary committee room barricaded by ruling party legislators in Seoul on December 18. The head of South Korea's parliament ordered opposition legislators Monday to end their sit-in by midnight so major bills can be passed, warning them not to force him to take "extreme measures."
"I also ask the opposition party to empty the main chamber by midnight. Do not force me to take extreme measures."
Clashes involving sledgehammers and fire extinguishers broke out on December 18 when the conservative ruling Grand National Party (GNP) began procedures to ratify a free trade agreement with the United States.
Last Friday, opposition lawmakers barricaded themselves inside the main parliamentary chamber to thwart approval of the free trade agreement and other legislation.
"We are deeply ashamed at the Speaker for siding with the government and the ruling party. He has declared war on the opposition," DP spokesman Cho Jeong-Sik said in a statement, refusing to quit the chamber.
Photo: South Korean opposition party members try to enter a parliamentary committee room as ruling party members use a fire extinguisher in Seoul on December 18. The head of South Korea's parliament ordered opposition legislators Monday to end their sit-in by midnight so major bills can be passed, warning them not to force him to take "extreme measures."
The GNP had urged the Speaker to use his authority to set up a final vote. It has 172 seats in the 299-member legislature compared to 83 for the DP.
The ruling party insists that the free trade pact, signed by Seoul and Washington last year but awaiting ratification by both legislatures, should be approved before the end of this year.
It sees the pact as necessary to stimulate the slowing economy and believes that approval by Seoul will encourage the US Congress to move faster.
The opposition says South Korea should not ratify it until the US Congress also moves to do so.
Photo: South Korean opposition party members use a fire hose as they try to enter a parliamentary committee room barricaded by ruling party members in Seoul on December 18. The head of South Korea's parliament ordered opposition legislators Monday to end their sit-in by midnight so major bills can be passed, warning them not to force him to take "extreme measures."
Business groups want early ratification, but Korean farmers are demanding more measures to protect them against cheaper imports.
For the United States, the deal with South Korea would be its biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
Some estimates say it could boost two-way trade, worth 78.4 billion dollars last year, by up to 20 billion dollars in coming years.
Other controversial bills which the ruling party wants approved this year include a measure to allow large businesses and big newspapers to acquire a stake in local broadcasters.
The rival parties are also wrangling over planned tax cuts and looser regulations on industrial conglomerates' ownership of banks.
The DP also said a bill to increase penalties for libel on the Internet is aimed at gagging web users critical of the conservative government.
Yutaka Ito and Takeo Azuma / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Bureaucrats have started to keep the administration of Prime Minister Taro Aso at arm's length while making overtures to the largest opposition party in view of a possible change of administration.
Though Aso, whose approval ratings have plummeted, is desperately trying to recover his popularity with their backing, bureaucrats do not seem willing to cooperate. This situation shows that the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats is definitely changing.
On Saturday, though it was the first day of his winter vacation, Aso had lunch with Administrative Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka and other senior Foreign Ministry officials, and dinner with Administrative Vice Finance Minister Kazuyuki Sugimoto and his subordinates at Tokyo restaurants.
During lunch, Yabunaka described important issues that Japan must address immediately next year, namely, how to build a positive relationship with the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who will take office on Jan. 20, and how to respond to the situation in Afghanistan, which has reached a crucial stage.
Aso responded positively to Yabunaka and other officials during the meeting.
A senior Foreign Ministry official described this sort of meeting as "extraordinary." It obviously symbolizes Aso's wish to improve his relationship with bureaucrats.
Aso has long insisted that he intends to fully utilize bureaucrats and try to "coexist" with them.
"Bureaucrats are neither my enemies nor my ministers'," Aso said in a policy speech immediately after his inauguration on Sept. 29. "Those who can't utilize bureaucrats aren't fit for the job of managing the government."
In this speech, he tried to emphasize his ability to take charge of the government by emphasizing how this differentiates him from the Democratic Party of Japan, which has the reputation of seeing bureaucrats as its enemy. He also tried to make clear that he has different views from former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa and Yoshimi Watanabe, former state minister in charge of administrative reform, who called for drastic administrative reform under the administrations of former Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda.
However, contrary to Aso's hopes, the distance between him and bureaucrats seems to be widening. It was Aso himself who triggered this by appointing Masakatsu Okamoto, former chief of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry's general affairs department, as chief clerical secretary to the prime minister rather than choosing a Finance Ministry official, as is conventional.
"This disgraced the Finance Ministry--the 'ministry of ministries'--and it became the first ministry to move away from the administration," a senior official of a ministry said.
A former cabinet member said that the fiasco over the expected distribution of fixed-amount cash benefits and the abandonment of a plan to raise the tobacco tax were partly caused by the uncooperative attitude of the Finance Ministry.
"The Finance Ministry, which has been drawing up policy plans for the administration of the day, keeps itself at a distance [from the administration]," the former cabinet member said.
The only way for Aso, who is fast losing centripetal force, to reconstruct the administration is to "do more to get his policy measures approved," an aide to the prime minister said.
In this regard, bureaucrats' cooperation is essential.
Aso on Thursday appointed Takaya Imai, former chief of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's general affairs department, as a secretary to the chief cabinet secretary. Imai was a secretary to the prime minister under the Abe administration. It is highly unusual for a former secretary to the prime minister to become a secretary to the chief cabinet secretary.
However, observers say this is also one of the tactics adopted by the Aso administration to compensate for his inability to coordinate opinions between the Prime Minister's Office and government entities.
However, a senior ministry official said, "It's no use presenting new policy ideas," as bureaucrats "see the Prime Minister's Office as being in disorder."
The ruling and opposition parties are expected to lock horns over the fiscal 2008 second supplementary budget and other issues from the beginning of the ordinary Diet session to be convened on Jan. 5.
Ministries and agencies are holding back on presenting new bills to the session.
"They can't repeatedly have bills [passed at the House of Representatives but rejected at the House of Councillors] passed with a second vote at the lower house using the two-thirds majority," an official said.
Taking advantage of the weakness of the Aso administration, which has lost control of ministries and agencies, bureaucrats have started to act for their own entities' interest.
The government's decentralization promotion committee has advised the prime minister that the workforce at the central government's local offices should be reduced by about 35,000, in its proposal on the expected integration and abolition of such entities. But committee members say lawmakers lobbying for related government entities and their bureaucrats are trying to cripple the proposal.
Also, Foreign and Defense Ministry officials are concerned that the situation may affect the nation's diplomacy, defense and other fundamental issues.
"Diplomacy and other fundamental issues won't make headway until after the [next general] election and a new government is in place," a senior government official said. "Also, bureaucrats won't cooperate fully [until then]."
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DPJ eyes overhaul of bureaucracy
The DPJ would place bureaucratic reform at the top of its list of priorities if it takes over the reins of power.
DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa announced his plans for the reform of officialdom during his unopposed campaign for the main opposition party's leadership election in September.
His plans include the appointment of more than 100 Diet lawmakers in government positions, such as senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries.
The party would not follow the LDP's practice of selecting senior vice ministers and other top government officials based on the recommendations of party factions.
"We'll compile an expert team of politicians by entrusting cabinet ministers with the power to appoint officials such as senior vice ministers," a senior official of the party's Policy Research Committee said.
Hard-liners in the party, aiming to "grant politicians control over policy and quell opposition from bureaucrats," say they would not hesitate to swiftly fire bureaucrats that did not toe the line.
The DPJ also plans to put an end to meetings of administrative vice ministers prior to cabinet meetings, in which ministries and agencies iron out differences in opinion over the content of bills.
The party would also abolish the practice of amakudari, in which retired bureaucrats parachute into lucrative positions in industries they previously oversaw.
Central government ministries and agencies are wary of the DPJ's plans.
One senior Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying that it would have been better for the party to keep mum.
With a switch to a DPJ administration in the next lower house poll a distinct possibility, a shift toward treating the DPJ in the same way as a ruling party has begun.
Aso's Cabinet approved the government's draft state budget for fiscal 2009 on Wednesday. The same day, a secretary of a senior DPJ lawmaker received explanatory materials on the budget from a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official who visited one of the Diet members office buildings.
"I had no previous contact with the health ministry," the secretary said, unable to conceal surprise. "It seems as if government offices are also making contingency plans."
More ministries and agencies are sending officials at the level of councillors, rather than those at section chief level, to perform the role of a mouthpiece to DPJ lawmakers.
(Dec. 29, 2008)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government and the United States will soon sign an accord over the relocation of U.S. marines from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam that will include a clause prohibiting Japan's financial contribution to the relocation from being used for other purposes, according to government sources.
The accord aims to gain public approval by clarifying how much money Japan will contribute, and how it will be used. A substantial sum of money is expected to be needed for the relocation.
The two governments plan to sign the accord early next year, the sources said.
After the signing, the government will submit a bill to seek Diet approval of the accord during the next ordinary Diet session.
The draft of the accord stipulates that the Japanese government's direct contribution to the relocation be up to 2.8 billion dollars, in line with a 2006 agreement between the two countries.
The draft obliges the U.S. side not to use Japan's contribution for other purposes, and that it treat equally all concerned entities, including Japanese companies, in tenders and other project procedures.
A plan for the realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Japan, which the two governments agreed upon in May 2006, aims to move about 8,000 marines and about 9,000 dependents to Guam by 2014.
Japan promised to provide 6.09 billion dollars in financial aid to the relocation, including the 2.8 billion dollars direct contribution, to be used for new facilities and infrastructure in Guam.
(Dec. 29, 2008)
12-28-08, 10:39 am
By Akahata
Sonic booms from low-altitude flight training exercises conducted by US military aircraft are disturbing residents across Japan and causing growing concerns about possible plane crashes.
The number of the low-flight exercises is said to have decreased. However, residents are still complaining in Hokkaido, some prefectures in northeast Japan, Gunma, and Nagano prefectures as well as in mountain areas in the southwestern region that includes Hiroshima Prefecture, plus Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture.
The recent FA-18D Hornet crash that killed residents in the United States added fear among residents in these regions.
If the safety of residents is to be ensured, a halt to low-altitude flight exercises is indispensable. No attempt simply to “minimize adverse impacts” will be effective.
Flying at an altitude below 150 meters
US military aircraft flying at high speeds are buzzing the ground while scattering the area with thunderous noise. Their shock waves actually break the widows of buildings. After appearing suddenly, they leave behind sonic booms that could cause “heart attacks” to residents. How can residents live in peace under such circumstances?
At the House of Councilors meeting on April 18, Japanese Communist Party representative Nihi Sohei demanded that the government take effective measures to stop the US low-flight exercises.
Defense Minister Ishiba Shigeru responded by saying, “After being exposed to the thunderous noise, I myself shared the great fear expressed by local people concerned.” If he really shared the fear, why did he leave the matter unchecked?
Alleging that their lawless flights in Japan are in accordance with domestic laws, the government has made no effort to regulate such flights. Many witnessed US warplanes flying below the altitude of 300 meters over densely populated areas and as low as about 150 meters in other areas, which is in violation of the Aviation Law.
While the Japanese government kept on ignoring the testimonies of witnesses, the US Forces in Japan officially replied to the Tokushima Prefectural Government last August that US aircraft were flying below the 150-meter level over non-densely populated areas.
Ignoring local requests, the government has made no inquiry into these illegal flights.
The government must stop accepting the low-flight exercises by foreign troops and take urgent steps to address residents’ concerns.
The government gives priority to low-flight exercises over the safety of residents because it has determined that nothing is more important than the Japan-US Security Treaty.
The government went so far as to say that maintaining and improving US air force pilots’ maneuverability skills through low-flight exercises is “essential for maintaining US forces’ operational capabilities in a state of readiness.
Low-flight exercises are not meant to ensure Japan’s safety. They are designed to meet the US strategy of launching preemptive strikes as part of the US military intervention policy anywhere in the world.
The low-flight exercises are intended to help pilots to increase their skill to access to enemy targets and strike them while avoiding radar detection in enemy areas.
How can Japan allow the US to continue such low-flight exercises to enhance their capabilities in lawless wars?
Negotiation with US is necessary to stop low-flight exercises
In the light of the Constitution safeguarding the right of the people to live in peace, how can it be allowed to expose residents to the possible danger of crashes of U.S. aircraft and rob them of their right to live in peace?
It is very arrogant for Nishimiya Shin’ichi, the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s North American Bureau director, to state at the House of Representatives committee on National Land and Transportation on December 14 that “Japan should be careful in requesting the US to suspend their low-flight exercises in Japan.”
It is high-time for the Japanese government to reconsider its subservience to the United States, and carry out negotiations with the US so that their low-flight exercises be discontinued.
Daily Yomiuri Online Click
- Govt likely to drop plan to procure F-22 planes
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (Dec. 28, 2008)
The government likely will drop its plan to introduce the U.S.-made F-22 Raptor stealth fighter to replace its aging F-15 fleet, and will instead concentrate on three other potential candidates, government sources said Saturday. continued ...
- Govt releases Takeshima book in 7 new languages
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (Dec. 28, 2008)
The Foreign Ministry has published a booklet on Japan's territorial claim over the disputed Takeshima group of islets in seven more languages to raise international awareness of Japan's stance on the issue. continued ...
- Japan lagging in international piracy fight
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (Dec. 28, 2008)
Shozo Nakayama Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Prime Minister Taro Aso's order to Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Friday to thrash out details of a possible deployment of Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to pirate-infested waters off Somalia has brought such a mission a step closer. continued ...
The Asahi Shimbun Click
The Japan Times Click
- Japan sent uranium to U.S. in secret
(The Japan Times) Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008
Enough highly enriched U.S. uranium to make about 20 nuclear weapons was sneaked back to the United States from Japan over a 12-year period until last summer in a secret operation aimed at keeping it out of terrorists' hands, a senior U.S. official and Japanese specialists recently revealed. continued ...
The Mainichi Daily News Click
Dec 27 08:40 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - TOKYO, Dec. 28 (Kyodo) — Another year has gone in which the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces have been dragging their feet amid a series of scandals and misdeeds involving their personnel.
But as they enter 2009 -- and the new U.S. administration led by Barack Obama enters the scene -- they face uncertainties over how the new U.S. leader will approach Japan-U.S. security relations.
Among the challenges they may face is a possible ground mission in Afghanistan, which Obama, the incoming commander in chief of U.S. forces, says he will focus on in the "war on terror."
A U.S. ally, Japan has forces committed only to a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean as part of the antiterrorism campaign, now that it has ended its Iraq mission involving air and ground defense forces.
The possible Afghan deployment presents Tokyo with a dilemma given the need to ensure the safety of SDF personnel and unresolved questions over the legality of SDF involvement in the antiterrorism campaign under the war-renouncing Constitution, especially if it may entail combat.
"I can't deny the possibility of (the SDF) getting involved in combat activities (in Afghanistan). That is problematic under the Constitution," Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a Diet session in October.
The Constitution also places legal restrictions on SDF activities, such as limits on the use of weapons overseas.
Defense officials say Afghanistan is far more dangerous than Iraq, where Japanese ground and air troops were deployed for nearly five years without a single loss of life, and fear that potential casualties would shake both SDF personnel and the Japanese people.
Still, "We cannot remain idle for so long without playing any new role," while Washington keeps the pressure on Tokyo to do more, a senior ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
As piracy activities intensified in waters off Somalia, concerns grew over the safe passage of commercial ships in the region, where several vessels related to Japan have fallen victim to pirates this year.
Japan soon began considering the utilization of SDF ships or patrol aircraft to join warships from other countries, including those from the United States and several countries from the European Union, to protect ships from bandits in the waters.
There has been a temporary lull in the move, however, after government officials and lawmakers began favoring the passage of a general law to enable such an overseas dispatch.
The enactment of such a law remains uncertain given the logjam in the opposition-controlled House of Councillors, whereas a special law that would limit the area of operations might be enacted more easily.
China's recent dispatch of warships to the region to combat pirates in concert with other countries added to concerns among defense officials and politicians that Japan may be left outside the circle.
"Now is the time to send the SDF. If we fail to do so by the end of January, the momentum will be lost," said the same senior official, who favors a special law for the mission.
In the past week or so, government officials and lawmakers have begun warming to the idea of applying existing maritime policing rules under the SDF law to the mission, if only on the grounds that it would be quicker to dispatch the forces.
A top defense official notes, however, that problems abound with such a solution.
"All the SDF can do (under the rules) is to protect Japanese ships. There are also limits on the use of weapons, but will that be all right? We have no choice but to be negative" about a dispatch under the rules, he said on condition of anonymity.
Maritime policing, which was first applied in 1999 against North Korean spy ships in Japanese territorial waters in the Sea of Japan, also assumes operations in waters around Japan, not waters thousands of miles away.
A relative lack of interest in the piracy issue among the Japanese people does not seem to have helped the drive at a time when economic issues remain the topic of the day.
Meanwhile, the ministry and the SDF were put on the defensive over the robustness of civilian control of the forces due to a controversy involving former Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami.
In an essay, the outspoken Tamogami argued that Japan was a benevolent colonial ruler and not an aggressor in other Asian countries, sparking an instant uproar that cost him the job of top ASDF officer.
As head of an academy for ranking officers, Tamogami had also started a course on "views on history and the nation" in 2003 and invited some lecturers who serve as executives of a group that edited a history textbook whitewashing Japan's militaristic past.
The scandal came at a sensitive moment for the ministry as it eyes strengthening the authority of ranking officers over SDF operations and weakening that of civilian bureaucrats in ministry reforms.
Critics fear that the Tamogami case has cast a cloud over the assumption of a government panel report on which the reform plans were based. The report, issued in July, claims that "civilian control has been nearly internalized by the SDF."
"If authority over SDF operations is transferred from the suit-clad group to the uniform-wearing group, there will be no more civilian control," opposition Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima recently told reporters, referring to bureaucrats and officers.
On Dec. 23, the Defense Ministry unveiled its basic policy on the ministry reform but ended up toeing the line recommended by the panel report, which was issued before the Tamogami case surfaced.
December 29, 2008
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