Cablegate: Daily Summary of Japanese Press 08/03/07-1

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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 5278

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TOKYO 003568

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 08/03/07-1

Index:

(1) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties, upper house election
results (Sankei)

(2) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties, upper house election
results (Asahi)

(3) Spot poll on House of Councillors election results (Yomiuri)

ARTICLES:

(1) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties, upper house election
results (Sankei)

SANKEI (Page 5) (Full)
August 3, 2007

Questions & Answers
(Figures shown in percentage, rounded off.)

Q: Do you support the Abe cabinet?

Yes 22.0 (29.1)
No 64.8 (53.6)
Don't know (D/K) + Can't say which (CSW) 13.2 (17.4)

Q: Which political party do you support?

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 23.0 (32.6)
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) 32.8 (16.6)
New Komeito (NK) 4.5 (4.3)
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 4.3 (3.9)
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto) 2.0 (2.0)
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto) 0.7 (0.2)
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon) 1.4 (0.3)
Other answers (O/A) 1.1 (0.5)
None 28.6 (37.2)
D/K + Can't say (C/S) 1.6 (2.7)

Q: Do you appreciate Prime Minister Abe and his cabinet on those
listed below?

His personal character
Yes 50.7 (52.9)
No 37.7 (34.5)
D/K+CSW 11.6 (12.7)

Foreign policy
Yes 27.9 (30.8)
No 50.4 (48.2)
D/K+CSW 21.7 (21.0)

Educational reform
Yes 24.7 (27.8)
No 55.1 (50.0)
D/K+CSW 20.2 (22.2)

His leadership
Yes 8.1 (15.8)
No 80.8 (72.6)
D/K+CSW 11.1 (11.7)

TOKYO 00003568 002 OF 008

Economic policy
Yes 17.1 (19.5)
No 61.6 (59.0)
D/K+CSW 21.3 (21.5)

Response to lost pension records
Yes 21.9 (29.0)
No 65.7 (57.6)
D/K+CSW 12.4 (13.5)

Approach to constitutional revision
Yes 24.7 (30.7)
No 53.5 (45.7)
D/K+CSW 21.8 (23.6)

Policy priority
Yes 17.3 (21.5)
No 53.8 (46.9)
D/K+CSW 28.9 (31.7

House of Councillors election campaign
Yes 17.4
No 61.7
D/K+CSW 20.9

His way of taking responsibility for House of Councillors election
results
Yes 24.4
No 57.0
D/K+CSW 18.6

Q: How long do you think the Abe cabinet will continue?

Step down within the year 56.4
Until the fall of the year after next 29.5
Beyond the fall of the year after next 6.6
D/K+CSW 7.5

Q: What do you think about the outcome of the House of Councillors
election this time?

Beyond expectation
Yes 35.5
No 61.7
D/K+CSW 2.8

Satisfied with results
Yes 54.7
No 33.1
D/K+CSW 12.2

A de facto vote of confidence in the Abe cabinet
Yes 64.5
No 23.5
D/K+CSW 12.0

Outcome affected by the images of party heads
Yes 45.3
No 44.6
D/K+CSW 10.1

TOKYO 00003568 003 OF 008

Party and candidate choice based on manifestos
Yes 38.4
No 47.1
D/K+CSW 14.5

Affected by cabinet ministers' scandals
Yes 92.9
No 4.7
D/K+CSW 2.4

Prime Minister Abe should step down to take responsibility for his
ruling party's rout
Yes 54.7
No 34.2
D/K+CSW 11.1

Look forward to the DPJ
Yes 54.3
No 36.1
D/K+CSW 9.6

Fear political, economic stagnation
Yes 36.8
No 42.0
D/K+CSW 21.2

The House of Councillors should strengthen its functionality of
checking the House of Representatives
Yes 76.8
No 10.3
D/K+CSW 12.9

Prime Minister Abe should dissolve the House of Representatives
early and appeal to the nation
Yes 59.4
No 25.9
D/K+CSW 14.7

Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge after the House of
Councillors election?

Pension issue 27.8
Economic disparity 26.2
Politics and money 13.6
Education reform 7.4
Consumption tax 6.4
Constitutional revision 5.4
Low birthrate countermeasures 3.2
Foreign, security policies 3.2
Administrative approach 3.2
D/K+CSW 3.6

Q: What would you like Prime Minister Abe to do from now on?

Carry through his political stance and policy course as ever 14.7
Change his political stance and policy course 25.5
Dissolve the House of Representatives at an early date for public
judgment 56.0
D/K+CSW 3.8

TOKYO 00003568 004 OF 008

Q: Who do you think is most appropriate for the next prime
minister?

Taro Aso 10.8
Sadakazu Tanigaki 4.1
Yasuo Fukuda 8.4
Junichiro Koizumi 10.8
Yuriko Koike 2.1
Other ruling party lawmakers 3.7
Ichiro Ozawa 13.8
Other opposition party lawmakers 6.2
No one but Prime Minister Abe 5.3
None 27.9
D/K+CSW 6.9

Q: Do you think you are a floating voter with no party in particular
to support?

Yes 55.1 (55.6)
No 38.9 (36.9)
D/K+CSW 6.0 (7.5)

(Note) Figures in parentheses denote the results of an FNN-Sankei
survey conducted in July.

Polling methodology: The survey was conducted July 31 and Aug. 1 by
Fuji News Network (FNN) over the telephone on a computer-aided
random digit dialing (RDD) basis. For the survey, a total of 1,000
persons were sampled from among males and females, aged 20 and over,
across the nation.

(2) Poll on Abe cabinet, political parties, upper house election
results (Asahi)

ASAHI (Page 3) (Full)
August 2, 2007

Questions & Answers
(Figures shown in percentage, rounded off. Figures in parentheses
denote the results of the 11th serial survey conducted July 21-22.)

Q: Do you support the Abe cabinet?

Yes 26 (30)
No 60 (56)

Q: Which political party do you support now?

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 21 (23)
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) 34 (22)
New Komeito (NK) 5 (4)
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 3 (3)
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto) 2 (1)
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto) 1 (0)
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon) 0 (0)
Other political parties 0 (1)
None 30 (37)
No answer (N/A) + don't know (D/K) 4 (9)

Q: Do you think the outcome of the House of Councillors election
this time was good?

TOKYO 00003568 005 OF 008

Yes 68
No 18

Q: Do you think the LDP's crushing defeat in the election this time
is attributable to Prime Minister Abe?

Yes 34
No 59

Q: What do you think is the primary reason for the LDP's defeat?
(One choice only)

Pension fiasco 44
Social divide 12
Cabinet ministers' scandals 38

Q: What do you think is the primary reason for the DPJ's victory?
(One choice only)

DPJ President Ozawa is good 4
Reforms can be expected 9
The LDP has problems 81

Q: After the election this time, Prime Minister Abe said many people
understand his basic policy course. With this, the prime minister
indicated that what his cabinet is going to do was not rejected. Do
you agree to this view?

Yes 26
No 62

Q: Prime Minister Abe has taken over the Koizumi cabinet's reform
policy with emphasis on economic growth. Do you support this reform
policy course?

Yes 36
No 43

Q: In the wake of the outcome of the election this time, Prime
Minister Abe clarified his intention to stay on. Would you like him
to stay on, or do you think he should step down?

Stay on 40
Step down 47

Q: As a result of the election this time, the DPJ dominates the
House of Councillors. What do you expect of the DPJ? (One choice
only)

Change the ruling coalition's policies 37
Change government 25
Expect nothing 33

Q: Do you think the House of Representatives should be dissolved for
a general election as early as possible?

Yes 39
No 54

Q: What was the most frequent source of information in the election
this time? (One choice only)

TOKYO 00003568 006 OF 008

Newspaper 35
Television 58
Internet 4

Polling methodology: The survey was conducted from the evening of
July 30 through the night of July 31 over the telephone on a
computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) basis. Respondents were
chosen from among the nation's voting population on a three-stage
random-sampling basis. Valid answers were obtained from 1,094
persons (61 % ).

(3) Spot poll on House of Councillors election results (Yomiuri)

YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full)
August 1, 2007

Questions & Answers
(Figures shown in percentage)

Q: Do you support the Abe cabinet?

Yes 31.7
No 59.9
Other answers (O/A) 1.2
No answer (N/A) 7.2

Q: In the House of Councillors election this time, the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, New Komeito,
failed to keep its pre-election majority of the seats in the House
of Councillors. Meanwhile, the leading opposition Democratic Party
of Japan (Minshuto) and the rest of the opposition bench now hold a
majority. Do you think it was good?

Yes 64.2
No 21.2
Can't say which 11.1
N/A 3.5

Q: What do you think caused the LDP to sustain such a big loss of
seats? Pick as many as you like from among those listed below.

Pension fiasco 67.1
Politics and money 58.0
Social divide 37.5
Prime Minister Abe's political stance, leadership ability 47.4
O/A 1.6
N/A 1.6

Q: Do you think the LDP should have garnered more seats or fewer
seats, or do you otherwise think it's just right?

More seats 28.9
Fewer seats 20.5
Just right 44.3
N/A 6.3

Q: Prime Minister Abe said he would stay on to push ahead with
reforms and fulfill his responsibility as prime minister. Do you
appreciate his decision?

TOKYO 00003568 007 OF 008

Yes 44.1
No 45.4
Can't say which 7.9
N/A 2.7

Q: What do you think is the reason for the DPJ's overwhelming
victory in the election? Pick as many as you like from among those
listed below.

Support for DPJ policies 12.2
Expectations for DPJ President Ozawa 14.4
Criticism of Prime Minister Abe, LDP 68.1
Expectations for a change of government 38.7
O/A 0.5
N/A 4.5

Q: Do you think the DPJ should have garnered more seats or fewer
seats, or do you otherwise think it's just right?

More seats 13.3
Fewer seats 27.4
Just right 53.2
N/A 6.1

Q: Do you think the DPJ is competent enough to take office?

Yes 35.9
No 46.0
N/A 18.1

Q: Do you think it would be better to dissolve the House of
Representatives for a general election at the earliest possible time
in the wake of the outcome of the election this time, or do you
otherwise think there's no need to hurry?

Dissolve at the earliest possible time 41.9
No need to hurry 52.8
N/A 5.4

Q: As a result of the election this time, the opposition bench now
holds a majority of the seats in the House of Councillors while the
ruling bench holds a majority of the seats in the House of
Representatives. Do you fear that national politics may be stagnated
in such a distortion?

Fear very much 22.6
Fear somewhat 29.2
Don't fear very much 32.1
Don't feat at all 9.5
N/A 6.6

Q: Which political party do you support now? Pick only one.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 31.3
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) 31.4
New Komeito (NK) 4.9
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 2.8
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto) 2.2
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto) 0.3
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon) 0.3
Other political parties 0.1

TOKYO 00003568 008 OF 008

None 24.1
N/A 2.6

Polling methodology: The survey was conducted July 30-31 across the
nation (excluding Niigata Prefecture's earthquake-hit districts) on
a computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) basis. A total of 1,725
households were found to have one or more eligible voters. Valid
answers were obtained from 1,044 persons (60.5 % ).

SCHIEFFER

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