Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 07OSAKAKOBE187, UPPER HOUSE ELECTIONS: A VOTER REVOLT IN

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #07OSAKAKOBE187.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07OSAKAKOBE187 2007-07-31 01:20 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Osaka Kobe
VZCZCXRO6427
OO RUEHFK RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH
DE RUEHOK #0187/01 2120120
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 310120Z JUL 07
FM AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0874
INFO RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE 8011
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 0197
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA PRIORITY 2299
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA PRIORITY 0185
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA PRIORITY 0208
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0414
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1120
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OSAKA KOBE 000187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON JA
SUBJECT: UPPER HOUSE ELECTIONS: A VOTER REVOLT IN 
WESTERN JAPAN 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Voters in western Japan lashed out 
at the ruling LDP coalition in last weekend's Upper 
House elections.  This anger stems from several factors, 
including resentment of the LDP's tax policies, especially 
a number of governmental blunders that increased the 
tax burden of traditional LDP supporters prior to the 
elections.  The LDP was also hurt by Prime Minister 
Shinzo Abe's inadequate explanation of his economic 
reform agenda. Seeking change, conservative voters 
turned to young opposition candidates who often lacked 
negative political baggage.  Several politicians who 
were expelled from the LDP for opposing former PM 
Koizumi's postal reforms staged their revenge on the 
coalition, greatly diminishing the influence of several 
party heavyweights in the district.  Finally, the 
opposition ran a smart campaign that drove deep into 
traditionally solid LDP territory.  END SUMMARY 
 
IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID 
------------------------ 
 
2. (SBU) In both rural and urban areas of our district, 
it was economics, largely tax issues, that caused such 
fury among voters and did in the Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP) in Upper House elections on July 29. 
Elderly farmers, always reliable LDP voters, were 
already angry over encroachments on their protected 
status after former PM Koizumi's economic 
liberalization programs.  But SMEs and merchant 
associations also reported to us in Osaka, Nara and 
Okayama that they were fed up with LDP tax policies, so 
they did not vote for the LDP.  Importantly, they 
stated that they may continue to withhold support for 
the LDP, depending on the party's future tax policies. 
It was the end of popular tax breaks, the increase in 
local taxes, the rise in pension premiums and, lastly, 
the infamous pension payment fiasco, most of it 
unfortunately occurring close to the elections, 
that created the perfect storm of a taxpayer's revolt 
against the ruling party. 
 
3. (SBU) According to local media reports and 
conversations with econoff after the elections, Osakan 
corporations and large business organizations have 
begun asking politicians from the LDP and the DPJ to 
work together in a cooperative and practical manner so 
that important economic reforms are not derailed. 
Priority issues for these organizations are structural 
reform, tax reform, a reduction in government spending, 
public pension reform, and a restoration of the 
public's trust by stamping out political money scandals. 
Although large companies are disappointed by the LDP's 
historic defeat, executives were not exactly surprised. 
According to one interlocutor, PM Abe's economic 
policies have been unclear from the beginning, and thus 
difficult for the general public to support. 
 
YOUNG NEOPHYTES TRIUMPHED IN CONSERVATIVE DISTRICTS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
4. (SBU) Six out of our thirteen single seat district 
races were won by young political neophytes from the 
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and People's 
New Party (PNP) in Kagawa, Kochi, Okayama, Shimane, 
Ehime, and Toyama.  These are among the most 
historically solid conservative regions of our district. 
Kochi was a toss-up until the end, but it was still 
surprising to see the LDP completely lose the island of 
Shikoku for the first time in the party's 
existence.  In addition, 32-year old Satoshi Umemura, 
a political newcomer running on the DPJ ticket in Osaka, 
was the top vote-getter in the entire country.  The 
single seat matchups were inevitably between a very 
old LDP incumbent and a youthful opposition contender - 
- not exactly good optics for the ruling coalition. 
Conservative and elderly voters sought change in 
western Japan.  Although this backlash and search for 
policy change could be a statistical blip, it could 
also turn out to be the beginning of the end of the so- 
called rural "conservative kingdoms" of western Japan. 
 
5. (SBU) Traditionally, the Communist or Socialist 
parties have been the beneficiaries of voter backlash 
 
OSAKA KOBE 00000187  002 OF 003 
 
 
against the ruling party in the Kansai.  This time, our 
interlocutors tell us the DPJ positioned itself to 
capture those disenchanted voters, both unaffiliated 
voters and card-carrying LDP members.  Compounding the 
difficulty of the LDP to carry the smaller towns and 
agricultural centers, its junior partner Komeito party 
is weaker in these areas, which made it difficult for 
Komeito to bring out its support network to offset this 
disenchantment. 
 
POSTAL REVENGE 
-------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Victorious candidates Yoshihiro Kawakami in 
Tottori, Akiko Kamei in Shimane, and Yumiko Himei in 
Okayama all were part of the latest act in the postal 
rebel drama of the 2005 Lower House elections.  None of 
their victories would have been conceivable without the 
LDP status quo being stirred up by Koizumi's postal 
privatization campaign two years ago.  Kawakami was a 
former postal rebel, expelled from the LDP for opposing 
PM Koizumi's postal reforms.  He used his extensive 
experience and networks to overtake the stalled LDP 
incumbent as a newly minted DPJ politician.  Kamei is 
the daughter of the Secretary General of the PNP, which 
was founded by prominent postal rebels.  Supporters of 
former METI Minister and postal rebel Takeo Hiranuma 
defected to the DPJ's Himei despite Hiranuma's stated 
support for the LDP candidate, Toranosuke Katayama, the 
number two LDP officer in the Upper House.  Shockingly, 
the veteran Katayama lost his seat in the biggest upset 
of the elections. 
 
DONS DIMINISHED 
--------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Mikio Aoki of Shimane (the leader of the LDP 
caucus in the Upper House) and LDP Secretary General 
Hidenao Nakagawa of Hiroshima have announced they will 
step down from their party posts in order to take 
responsibility for the LDP blowout.  Taken together 
with Katayama's sudden departure from the political 
scene, these elections diminished the influence of 
several of western Japan's most powerful LDP 
politicians. 
 
THE OPPOSITION'S VIRAL MARKETING 
-------------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) DPJ Chief Ozawa started on the campaign trail 
in support of DPJ candidates not in trendy Tokyo, like 
PM Abe, but in an economically blighted rural community 
in Okayama.  The voters there felt as though they had 
been ignored by Katayama, according to one local 
observer.  Those voters remembered Ozawa's gesture, and 
they came through for him in supporting his candidate, 
the young Himei.  Another DPJ leader in Okayama, Satsuki 
Eda, made clever use of the candidates' names ("Himei" 
includes the Chinese character for "princess" and 
Katayama's first name includes the character for 
"tiger") in order to create an election battle between 
a princess and a tiger that sounded more like Chinese 
mythology than a calculated campaign.  The DPJ grabbed 
the voters' attention and created buzz in rural Okayama. 
(Note: The princess appellation even spread north to 
neighboring Shimane, where Kamei capitalized on her own 
"royal" lineage as a direct descendent of local feudal 
lords.  End note)  Katayama apparently seldom campaigned 
in his own prefecture and was caught by surprise at his 
poor polling numbers too late to counteract this 
insurgency. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
9. (SBU) Farming communities and small cities in western 
Japan are traditional bastions of LDP strength.  However, 
the LDP's overconfidence, as witnessed by Katayama's 
campaign, its numerous gaffes, money scandals 
and its missed opportunities to explain the need for 
painful change in order to reform rural Japan's moribund 
economy, worked to hand victory to the opposition in the 
Japanese hinterland.  The DPJ discovered and exploited the 
 
OSAKA KOBE 00000187  003 OF 003 
 
 
weak underbelly of a governing party that had grown 
complacent. It may have been a fortuitous combination of 
strategy and serendipity, but the DPJ and PNP found 
themselves well-positioned to capitalize on growing voter 
angst. 
 
KINGMAN