On the discussion agenda were the U.S. presidential election's impact on Japan-U.S. relations, the privatization of postal services, and the effect of the government’s fiscal decentralization plan on compulsory education.

Prime ministerial advisor and LDP heavyweight Taku Yamazaki was the guest speaker on the U.S. presidential election and its impact on Japan-U.S. relations. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara talked about fiscal decentralization and its effect on compulsory education.

Foreseeing further expansion of the “Pax Americana” after U.S. President George W. Bush’s reelection, Yamazaki said Japan should stick to its policy of international collaboration and U.N.-centered diplomacy, without being limited by U.S. diplomatic strategies.

He said that Japan should push to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and work to make the U.S. recognize the importance of the world body, thereby contributing to international security and order.

On Iraq, Yamazaki said the Japanese Self-Defense Force deployment in Samawah, southern Iraq, is providing valuable moral support for the U.S., which is becoming increasingly isolated. “If the U.S. withdraws, Iraq will end up being a hotbed of international terrorism,” he warned.

Nobuyuki Yoshida, executive director and chief editorial writer at the Sankei Shimbun, said he believes that Japan-U.S. relations will remain stable over the coming several years because the governments of the two countries share conservative values. He also predicted that the inclination toward conservatism would become dominant in Japan, leading to stronger moves to change the Constitution and the Basic Education Law.

On the contrary, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, editor in chief of the Tokyo Shimbun, cited mounting dissatisfaction in Europe about U.S. President Bush’s reelection. He also said that the collapse of the support base of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and the split in the leadership of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, will destabilize Japan-U.S. relations. “Such chaos will prevail for some time, and under the circumstances, there will be no progress on the proposed revisions to the Constitution,” he said.

On privatizing the postal services, Kazuo Mori, deputy chief editorial writer at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, summarized the latest developments and explained the government’s privatization program adopted in September.

“In the case of privatizing the national railways, it was much easier for people to understand the need to privatize due to the rudeness of station employees and frequent strikes by railway workers. But, this is not the case with the postal services.” “Some of the roughly 350 trillion yen, held as postal savings and collected as postal life insurance premiums is funneled into semi-governmental organizations. But the problems with that situation are quite abstract and the public cannot understand why postal services need to be privatized,” he said.

Senior editorial writers at local newspapers also discussed their difficulties in addressing the postal privatization issue.

Akira Mizokoshi, deputy chief editorial writer at the Nishi-Nihon Shimbun, said that although the ultimate goal of privatization is justifiable, local communities are more concerned about the future of their neighborhood post offices than any grand design.

Takaharu Hanajima, executive director and editor in chief of the Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, said that his newspaper is using its editorials to advocate universal postal services and the maintenance of postal service networks. “We are neither opposing nor supporting the privatization plan. We are only calling for the maintenance of the status quo,” he said.

On the issue of fiscal decentralization and its effect on the compulsory education system, Tokyo's Ishihara told the meeting that the Association of Prefectural Governors has proposed slashing state subsidies worth about 3.2 trillion yen, including about 850 million yen intended for compulsory education. Ishihara said he is against abolishing state subsidies for compulsory education, even if they are to be replaced by a transfer to local governments of some of the central government's rights to collect taxes.

Takenori Shiino, the chief editorial writer of the Tokushima Shimbun, said that local governments, with few local sources for tax revenues, are unable to effectively deal with the planned cuts in state subsidies. Mizokoshi of the Nishi-Nihon Shimbun said his newspaper is demanding that decentralization be separated from the issue of state subsidies for compulsory education to avoid a regional discrepancy in the quality of education. Nobuyuki Nagaoka, a deputy chief editorial writer at the Kahoku Shimbun, said that he favors decentralization because it would allow local governments to make their own decisions on matters that cannot be handled by the central government.