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Viewing cable 06TOKYO5562, DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 09//06
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| Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06TOKYO5562 | 2006-09-26 08:21 | 2011-08-25 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Tokyo |
VZCZCXRO0187
PP RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHKO #5562/01 2690821
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260821Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6768
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/USDOJ WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/USDOT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5//
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHMHBA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
RHMFIUU/HQ PACAF HICKAM AFB HI//CC/PA//
RHMFIUU/COMUSJAPAN YOKOTA AB JA//J5/JO21//
RUYNAAC/COMNAVFORJAPAN YOKOSUKA JA
RUAYJAA/COMPATWING ONE KAMI SEYA JA
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 0749
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 8199
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 1559
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 7943
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 9282
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4307
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0435
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2054
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TOKYO 005562
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION;
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE;
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN,
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR;
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 09//06
INDEX:
(1) Media fear new Abe administration; Abe clearly critical of media
and cool to media coverage
(2) Abe aiming to strengthen Japan-US alliance with his new
interpretation of collective self-defense
(3) Study of Shinzo Abe (Part 3): Economic policy could be new
administration's Achilles' heel
(4) Kantei-led policy councils increased to 71, seven of which have
never met; Realignment as challenge for new administration
(5) Weapons-carrying ships via Japan: Cargoes untouchable under
Japanese law
(6) Editorial: An incomprehensible proposal on amakudari
ARTICLES:
(1) Media fear new Abe administration; Abe clearly critical of media
and cool to media coverage
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Pages 24 and 25) (Abridged slightly)
September 26, 2006
The new Abe administration is set to move into action. Abe is
planning to enhance the functions of the Prime Minister's Official
Residence (Kantei). Abe's response to the media deserves attention,
as well. During his tenure as LDP secretary general, Abe harshly
criticized television stations as lacking balance. LDP executives'
refusal to appear on television programs also created a controversy.
But he remains mum when it comes to the question of visiting
Yasukuni Shrine. The media, challenged to perform the function of
checks and balances, seems to be losing ground to Abe. This article
examines the openness of Abe with a sense of self-reflection.
The LDP's stance toward the media, especially television, hardened
in September 2003, coinciding with Abe's assumption of office as
party secretary general.
First, LDP executives refused to appear on TV-Asahi programs on the
day of the November 2003 Lower House election in protest against the
station's long report on the main opposition Minshuto's (Democratic
Party of Japan) cabinet vision earlier.
This led to a letter in the name of Secretary General Shinzo Abe to
the Broadcast and Human Rights/Other Related Rights Committee (BPC)
run by the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization
(BPO) calling for its deliberations.
In the June 2004 Upper House election, the LDP also sent 200 - 300
letters to media organizations, reading, "There were programs
strongly suspected of having violated the spirit of political
fairness and equality," apparently alluding to TBS and TV-Asahi
programs on the pension programs.
Japan's leading parodist Mad Amano's work posted on Environment
Green Political Assembly (Midori no kaigi) head Atsuo Nakamura's
website during the election campaigning was also followed by the
secretary general's "strong message" that the work be removed from
SIPDIS
the website.
TOKYO 00005562 002 OF 011
SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 09//06
Abe later became acting secretary-general. In August 2005, the LDP
effectively refused the Asahi Shimbun's news coverage on LDP
executives except for press conferences on the grounds that the
newspaper's data on an NHK program modification case had leaked out.
During the September 2005 Lower House election campaigning, the LDP
also sent letters to media organizations urging them not to refer
the LDP candidates against the postal rebels as "assassins."
"Lawmakers are unnecessarily edgy about the contents of media
reports, which is not normal. We fear that such a trend will become
stronger under an administration, " a midlevel commercial-network
worker noted.
This past July, TBS aired an irrelevant photogram of Abe in its news
program, This, too, resulted in a stern warning to the broadcaster
from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
"In the past, a program reporter would have been called in and
asked, 'What was that? Do you have any ill intent? Be sure that you
practice more caution from now on.' And that was it," the network
worker also said.
The story on LDP executive's refusal to appear on TV-Asahi programs
stunned a worker of another broadcaster, who said:
"It sounded like, 'You could become another TV-Asahi.' It certainly
served as a threat to other broadcasters, as well. But I don't
understand why they immediately resort to legal steps or the BRC
instead of offering rebuttals on the media. The Internal Affairs and
Communications Ministry, which oversees broadcasting, has also
changed recently. The ministry often says, 'Turn in a report on a
program aired on a certain date. We of course ask why, and the
ministry inadvertently says, 'Because there was an query from a
certain lawmaker.'"
Meanwhile, Mad Amano, who received the "message" from the LDP, said,
"It was more blackmail than a message."
The message read: "The LDP has not approved your modifying our copy.
You have clearly defamed Prime Minister Koizumi and the LDP."
In response, Amano sent a letter to then Chief Cabinet Secretary
Abe, asking, "I simply intended to correct mistakes in your copy
from the standpoint of the general public. What is your view on my
action?" Amano has not received any reply from Abe.
How has Abe responded to media coverage on himself?
In 2004, journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka covered a scandal allegedly
involving a close relative of Abe. Yamaoka sent inquiries to the Abe
office. But an Abe office staffer hung up on him, saying: "People
here don't know anything about it."
Yamaoka took this view:
"I haven't received a reply from Mr. Abe. He is the kind of person
who only answers questions that are convenient to him and ignores
the rest. I have heard similar reactions from other journalists, as
well. As a lawmaker, he has not fulfilled his accountability."
It was reported this spring that Abe had sent a congratulatory
telegram to a convention of an organization affiliated with the Holy
TOKYO 00005562 003 OF 011
SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 09//06
Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity
(Unification Church).
In the wake of the report, Abe released this statement in June:
"I learned from my local office that it had sent a congratulatory
telegram in my personal capacity using the title chief cabinet
secretary. The action was misleading, and I told the person in
SIPDIS
charge to exercise caution."
But he has not replied to an open letter from the liaison council of
lawyers to prevent the fraudulent sale of goods or services claimed
to bring supernatural benefit to the purchaser.
Remains elusive about Yasukuni issue
Abe's posture is hardly open regarding political issues, as well.
For instance, it became clear that he had visited Yasukuni Shrine in
April this year despite the fact that it was already a political
issue in Japan. But he repeatedly insisted: "I have no intention of
saying whether or not I had visited the shrine."
Also asked if he would pay homage at the controversial Tokyo shrine
once he becomes prime minister, Abe only said: "With the matter
escalating into a diplomatic and political issue, I have not
intention of declaring my standpoint."
Former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato's house in Yamagata was set
on fire last month. As was Prime Minister Koizumi, it took two weeks
for Abe to release this comment: "If it was intended to suppress Mr.
Kato's freedom of speech and cause other effects, the act is
unforgivable." Abe's summer vacation began on the afternoon of the
day the arson incident occurred and he did not regard it as an
"emergency case."
It is also eerie to know that persons critical of Abe have suffered
from violent attacks, although Abe himself has nothing to do with
them. Beside Kato, former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, who had
lambasted Abe, received threatening calls. Eggs and other objects
were also thrown at the nameplate at the gatepost of Tanaka's
house.
Lawyer Yoichi Kitamura, a specialist on media lawsuits, explained:
"In 1964, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the New York Times.
But since then, public figures, like lawmakers, have not been able
to seek compensation of the media except for a case where the media
knew that what was reported was false or the media reported a story
regardless of its credibility."
Sophia University Media Law Prof. Yasuhiko Tajima also sounds an
alarm. Tajima cited the NHK program alteration incident as an
example clearly reflecting Abe's posture toward the media.
"Abe may lack the awareness that the media's role is to keep tabs on
authority"
Tajima noted:
"Even though Abe himself doesn't mean to apply pressure, saying
something about the contents of a program to NHK executives before
broadcasting it, that is nothing but outside pressure, objectively
speaking. Abe is not aware of that. Abe probably lacks the awareness
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that journalism's role is to keep tabs on authority independent of
it."
The next administration has also expressed eagerness for
constitutional revision and conspiracy legislation regardless of
strong opposition. Tajima added:
"The current administration has tried to capitalize on the media.
The next administration might directly intervene in the media
finding such incompatible with its wishes."
Tajima also sounded an alarm for the current situation of the
media:
"Media organizations that have repeatedly been excluded from media
coverage or experienced lawsuits may end up treating reporters
coldly. The Asahi Shimbun reporters who had covered the NHK incident
and the NHK's whistleblowers were all consequently removed from
their posts. The media have become dispirited to some extent."
(2) Abe aiming to strengthen Japan-US alliance with his new
interpretation of collective self-defense
ASAHI (Page 4) (Abridged)
September 23, 2006
Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe will now become Japan's new prime
minister in an extraordinary session of the Diet that convenes Sept.
ΒΆ26. In its debate to be kicked off thereafter, the Diet will likely
focus on his view of the right of collective self-defense. The
government has so far taken the position that Japan has the right to
collective self-defense but is not allowed under the Constitution to
exercise it. In the meantime, Abe, bearing a stronger Japan-US
alliance in mind, has revealed he is thinking of having the
government's conventional interpretation altered after taking the
reins of government. But there is something vague in his standpoint
and there is also something inconsistent with the government's
interpretation until now. His view has brought out both welcomes and
objections in the government.
"I think we should study this matter, including whether there can be
a new interpretation," Abe said in a press conference on Sept. 5,
when asked about the right of collective self-defense. With this,
Abe implied taking a positive stance to pave the way for Japan to
exercise its right to collective self-defense by reinterpreting the
Constitution even without amending its provisions.
The Japanese government has consistently taken the position that
Japan is constitutionally not allowed to exercise its right to
collective self-defense. However, the United States wants Japan to
change course. In the United States, former Deputy Secretary of
State Armitage, who knows Japan well, is one of those who would like
Japan to do so. In 2000, Armitage wrote a report before the Bush
administration's inauguration. In it, he argued: "Japan's
prohibition against collective self-defense is a constraint on
alliance cooperation."
Abe probably wanted to answer such expectations. In May last year,
Abe, who was then the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's acting
secretary general, visited the United States, where he delivered a
SIPDIS
speech. "The government's conventional interpretation has now hit
its limit," Abe remarked in his speech there. He added, "One of our
generation's responsibilities is to alter the government's
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interpretation and make it possible to exercise that right."
Abe has also hinted at his intention of setting up a study group to
reinterpret the Constitution when his administration is launched.
Prime Minister Koizumi strengthened the Japan-US alliance by taking
forward-looking postures, so it would seem that Abe, too, would like
to further solidify the alliance when he comes into office.
(3) Study of Shinzo Abe (Part 3): Economic policy could be new
administration's Achilles' heel
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Slightly abridged)
September 23, 2006
House of Representatives member Sanae Takaichi of the Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) dined with Shinzo Abe in late June.
Takaichi and Abe are allies in such areas as diplomacy and
education.
Around that time, an Abe landslide was almost certain. But Takaichi
had something on her mind.
It was economic policy. Abe is well versed in foreign
affairs/national security, social security, and education, and he
has many advisors. He also has a solid vision for the state. When it
came to economic policy, though, she had hardly heard about his
views.
Abe has come up with a way of ensuring that the unemployed and those
whose businesses have failed can get a second chance in society. To
do this, it will be necessary to secure new financial resources and
eventually undertake fiscal reconstruction, an essential challenge
for the Abe government to tackle.
Takaichi told Abe: "A single misstep could result in nothing more
than doling out welfare subsidies." In response, Abe replied: "I
know, I know. But ..."
Takaichi thought at that time that she was somewhat worried that if
Abe only adopted policies to win public favor, the size of the
government could swell.
Abe cites "innovation" as the key to Japan's economic growth. The
father-in-law of his elder brother, Hironobu, is Jiro Ushio,
chairman of Ushio Inc. Ushio repeatedly used this word during
meetings of the Council of Economic and Fiscal Policy.
The economic panel served as the engine of the Koizumi
administration's structural reforms. After assuming the post of
chief cabinet secretary, Abe attended about 30 sessions of the
panel.
Looking at the minutes, Abe spoke only 16 times, far less than the
roughly 240 statements by State Minister in Charge of Economic and
Fiscal Policy Kaoru Yosano and the 180 by Minister of Internal
Affairs and Communications Heizo Takenaka.
According to an informed source, "In most cases, he read in a flat
tone from papers prepared by administrative officials."
In the first half of this year, Yosano and Takenaka locked horns
over fiscal reconstruction. At that time, Abe reportedly just
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listened.
Abe had never assumed a portfolio until he became chief cabinet
secretary. In addition, he has been elected to the House of
SIPDIS
Representatives only five times. Given this, he has few contacts in
government agencies, particularly in economic offices.
Takenaka supported the Koizumi administration's economic policy, but
he will leave Nagata-cho when the Abe administration is launched.
There are no key advisors to support Abe's economic policy.
It is generally believed that economic policy is Abe's Achilles'
heel. Abe is eager to address foreign affairs and national security,
but he seems to be less interested in economic matters.
If Abe gives priority to principles or philosophy in working out
policies while setting aside discussions on areas that are linked
directly to the people's livelihood, his administration might become
dominated by ideology.
LDP Lower House member Katsuei Hirasaka, who tutored Abe when he was
an elementary school student, said: "He should fully study economic
affairs and appoint persons with a sense of balance as his
advisors."
(4) Kantei-led policy councils increased to 71, seven of which have
never met; Realignment as challenge for new administration
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full)
September 26, 2006
Jun Tabuse
Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe has proposed establishing a Japanese
version of the National Security Council (NSC) as part of his
efforts to enhance the functions of the Prime Minister's Official
Residence (Kantei). Prime Minister Koizumi also proposed
strengthening the Kantei's functions. During his tenure as premier,
the number of Kantei-led policy councils, which are viewed as the
symbol of the enhanced functions, increased to 71, the largest ever
among past administrations. On the other hand, there are evils, too,
one of which is that seven of the councils have never met even once.
Realigning the councils is likely to be added to the agenda for the
new administration.
Of those Kantei-led policy councils, 40 were established by the
Koizumi administration in order to deal with emergencies, for
example, the Ministerial Council on the Asbestos Issue and the
Emergency Anti-Terrorism Headquarters.
The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) came into being in
January 2001 when the Mori administration was in office, but
economic management led by the Kantei never occurred before the
Koizumi administration came into office. The CEFP met 187 times and
shifted the budget compilation initiative from the Ministry of
Finance (MOF) to the Kantei. It also demonstrated its ability to
break the vested rights and interests held by ministries and
agencies, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Policy Research
Council associated with them, and lawmakers working for special
interests (zokugiin).
In the areas in which the prime minister has a strong interest, a
number of policy councils were established. One example is the
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Council on Promotion of Food Education, which was established in
response to the prime minister's policy speech in January in which
he said, "a healthy diet is essential." In the area of tourism, the
prime minister appeared on a video promoting tourism and established
the Japan Tourism Advisory Council.
On the other hand, seven councils have never met even once during
the five and a half years of the Koizumi administration, such as the
Ministerial Council on Public Pension System and the Office of
Market Access. The last time the Ministerial Council on Minamata
Disease met was in 2000. This council has been retained, for "the
government needs to make it clear it attaches importance to Minamata
disease," a Secretariat staff member said. There are as many as 33
councils that have met less than three times over the last five
years.
A senior official at the Cabinet Secretariat commented: "Aside from
councils associated with top priority issues for the administration,
some councils were established in a way that overlaps with those
ministries or agencies handling the same services. This only leads
to terrible inefficiency."
In September 2004, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Sonoda
said, "Rationalization is necessary; otherwise, the Kantei's
functions will be dispersed instead of enhancement." There were 84
councils in existence at the time, but by the end of that fiscal
year, 17 councils that were moribund were removed.
Abe is now trying to enhance the Kantei's functions by establishing
a Japanese version of NSC to come under the prime minister's direct
control.
Speaking of the way the prime minister exercises his leadership,
Keio University Professor of Political Science Yasunori Sone said:
"The key is how best to use bureaucrats, politicians, and experts."
He cited Britain, which has the same parliamentary cabinet system
and where the existing organizations, such as the Foreign Ministry
and the National Defense Ministry, concurrently hold posts under the
prime minister's direct control to share information. Sone noted,
"That could serve as a good reference."
Councils and headquarters that have often met under the Koizumi
administration
Times of meetings
First meeting
Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
187
January 2001
Senior Vice-Ministers' Meeting
160
January 2001
Ministerial Council on Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative
Issues
65
April 1954
Council for Science and Technology Policy
54
January 2001
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Security Council
53
August 1985
IT Strategic Headquarters
35
January 2001
Headquarters for Administrative Reform
19
March 2001
Councils and headquarters that have not met under the Koizumi
administration
Conference for Issue of US Military Bases in Okinawa
0
November 1995
Ministerial Council on Public Pension System
0
February 1994
Office of Market Access
0
February 1994
Headquarters for the Promotion of the United Nations Decade for
Human Rights Education
0
March 1996
Office of Government Procurement Review
0
December 1995
Headquarters for Prevention of Inhumane and Violent Acts including
Hijacking
0
October 1977
Ministerial Council on Minamata Disease
0
March 1977
(5) Weapons-carrying ships via Japan: Cargoes untouchable under
Japanese law
MAINICHI (Page 30) (Full)
September 13, 2006
In western Japan, there is a port with a wire-netted berth for
foreign ocean liners with 24-hour monitoring security cameras. This
summer, a group of more than 10 officials from the Japan Coast Guard
(JCG) got into a rusty foreign cargo ship berthed there. Their
on-the-spot inspection of cargoes was carried out in the intervals
of loading, and the inspection lasted for several hours.
Foreign cargo ships loaded with weapons, such as antitank guns and
shells, have been making frequent port calls in Japan. One of them
was loaded with tons of material that can be diverted to make
chemical weapons like poison gas. Another ship was loaded with
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cargoes suspected of being missile-related components.
According to public security sources, such cargoes are loaded in
Chinese or North Korean ports to be shipped to the Middle East or
South Asia. Among the exporters of those cargoes are Chinese
companies banned by the US government in its sanctions. However,
foreign ships carrying such cargoes do not unload them in Japanese
ports. Their cargoes are therefore handled as transit cargoes. These
cargoes, though confirmed in inspections, cannot be unearthed.
Japanese authorities only report it to their next port of call and
other countries.
"Once their cargoes are unloaded, we can take legal action on
suspicion of, for example, violating the Swords and Firearms Control
Law," says a senior official of the National Police Agency. "But,"
this official adds, "even if they have cargoes that violate the
Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, which prohibits
weaponry- and WMD-related shipments, they're untouchable under the
Japanese law as long as they're on board and not unloaded."
The cargo ship, which was inspected in the western Japanese port,
was on its way to the Middle East with cargoes on board from China.
The Japanese authorities, though informed of weapons on board the
ship before its entry into port, could not check it out.
In January this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and
the customs discovered smuggled weapons in a foreign vessel that
entered port in Yokohama. Those weapons included 23 pistols, 2
machineguns, about 800 live cartridges, 2 grenades, and 6 hydraulic
explosives that are as powerful as dynamite. In this case, police
arrested a member of an organized crime group under the wing of
Inagawakai, one of Japan's major gangland syndicates, on suspicion
of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law. The police raided
that arrested gangster's linked place, where they seized an M-15
submachine gun of the US military and an AK-74 submachine gun of the
former Soviet Union.
Those weapons were carried on the foreign freighter that arrived at
the off-limits international berth. The gangster and his company
entered the berth's restricted area with a pass they had obtained
from the Yokohama Customs for "peddling" purposes, and they received
those weapons and munitions from crewmen.
This case exemplified Japan's failure to prevent arms from landing
in Japan even from ships at international berths under tight
security.
"They transfer cargoes to another ship at sea and bring them into
Japan," says Katsuhisa Furukawa, chief researcher at the Research
Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX), who once
worked for a US research institution studying terrorism. "Terrorists
disguising themselves as seafarers could also bring weapons into
Japan," Furukawa says. "If they try, they can even use weapons on
board their ship," he added.
Last year, a total of 108,179 foreign vessels entered port in Japan.
The JCG patrols Japan's territorial waters and conducts rescue
services on call. At the same time, the JCG also inspects incoming
foreign ships on a routine basis in order to block their crewmen's
smuggling of firearms and drugs into Japan and prevent the
proliferation of WMD-related materials. Last year, the JCG inspected
a total of 11,832 foreign vessels, including its check of transit
cargoes in the western Japanese port.
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However, the JCG needs to ask for foreign vessels' voluntary
cooperation on its investigations, according to a JCG Guard and
Rescue Department official. "We cannot answer anything about our
investigations," the official commented. Facts about weapons passing
through Japanese ports remain veiled.
(6) Editorial: An incomprehensible proposal on amakudari
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Full)
September 25, 2006
The practice of amakudari or national government employees retiring
to cushy positions in companies they previously used to regulate is
one issue the new Abe cabinet will take over from the Koizumi
cabinet. State Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Koki
Chuma recently released a set of proposals for redressing the
central government employees' personnel system centering on imposing
penalties on illegal influence peddling, while liberalizing in
principle the practice of amakudari. Sources involved in the
drafting process call the set of proposals the Chuma plan. Chuma has
called for the next administration to start working in specific
terms, such as revising the personnel system for national government
employees.
The National Civil Service Law bans national government employees
from landing jobs with profit-making companies for two years after
retirement, if those companies are linked with the ministries or
agencies they worked for five years until retirement. The revision
plan called for the scrapping of this regulation, based on the just
cause of lowering the fence between the government and the private
sector. However, it is premature to liberalize amakudari practices,
because an ex-ante-regulation-type administrative mechanism
administered by central government agencies is still in place.
The revisions prohibit retired national government employees from
engaging in the following actions: (1) working to persuade companies
that have close relations with their pre-retirement duties at their
respective ministry or agency to employ them, (2) illegally working
on those organizations to which they were assigned before retirement
for a certain set period after taking up their new jobs. Just
looking at these proposals reveals that the revision proposals have
many loopholes. Usually it is not retired officials but personnel
officials of each government agency that find companies that accept
retired government employees. Ties between government offices and
companies that have accepted retired government officials will
strengthen if retired government officials go on to work at
companies they previously used to regulate. It is possible for
government officials who have landed jobs with private companies to
work on government offices for which they used to work before
retirement not directly but through subordinates.
A proposal for strengthening a monitoring system to ensure the
efficacy of the new reemployment rule, another aim of the revision
plan, is also questionable. The plan proposes reorganizing the
National Public Service Ethics Examination Committee into a
monitoring organ, as well as to designate an inspector in an
outsider's position for each government agency. No retired
government officials would ever openly make an illegal proposition
to bureaucrats within government offices. No bureaucrats would ever
respond to such a proposition. If the government intends to
seriously monitor wrongdoings, a considerable number of personnel
and authorization for investigation would be needed. The revision
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plan is far short of specifics to meet such needs.
The revision plan also incorporates a dual-type personnel system of
establishing expert posts so that bureaucrats can work until
mandatory retiring age. It is better to speed up efforts to revise
the personnel system this way. Revising the reemployment rule will
only allow rampant amakudari practices. It is necessary to return
this revision plan to the drawing board and await reconsideration by
the next administration. Measures to encourage amakudari will never
be able to obtain understanding from the taxpayers.
SCHIEFFER