[Interviewer]
First of all, we would like to ask your opinion regarding Japan's foreign policy from your perspective as a member of the Diet, who has had numerous opportunities to participate in various international conferences

[Yamanaka]
Since I as elected a member of House of Representatives, I have served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and have been involved in Japan's foreign diplomacy for 18 months.

Frankly speaking,I feel that there is no long-term vision, consistency or philosophy. In other words, it is lacking in strategy, policy, and accountability. It is not an over statement to say that this covers the entire foreign policy of Japan. In addition to this, the balance of power is not equal between the bureaucracy and the legislature.

Since the presence of the Diet members as representatives of the legislature is not strongly felt in diplomacy, it has inevitably been dominated by the bureaucracy.

The Administrative offices are supposed to simply carry out policies already adopted, so they cannot employ dynamic diplomacy by their own political decision, according to the constantly changing international situations.

It has become obvious to me that bureaucrats who are in charge of administration are taking the place of politicians to give expost facto explanations. The direction and the intent of foreign policy is totally unclear. This is the reality of Japan's diplomacy.

[Interviewer]
Nowadays, in the region surrounding Japan, there are many factors which can trigger off conflicts. We believe that Japan's diplomacy should play a critical role to prevent armed conflict. Recently, concept of preventive diplomacy has been attracting world's attention. What do you think about preventive diplomacy?

[Yamanaka]
In January this year, I delivered a speech regarding preventive diplomacy at Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington D.C.). I believe preventive diplomacy is very important and should be the key strategy to Japan's future diplomacy.
An international conference on preventive diplomacy will be held in Beijing in July. Until now, China has shown little interest in this approach, but now, even China cannot avoid considering preventive diplomacy.

First of all, it is necessary to acknowledge that there is an inherent difference between Europe and Asia.
In Europe, NATO is in charge of security issues, and cooperative system has already been established. Regarding economic issues, they will proceed with the EMU from next January, the cooperation among EU countries is becoming increasingly political in nature.

Meanwhile, Asia is a region with great diversity in respect to politics, economy, history, culture, ethnicity, religion etc. Therefore, it is quite difficult to rapidly establish a framework like that in Europe. I believe that it is desirable to build trust among the various countries through dialogue to overcome the region's diversity. Such mutual understanding is to be the premise to plan our preventive diplomacy in Asia.

I believe that we must acknowledge that there are four steps involved in the application of preventive diplomacy in Asia: step one, creating trust and advancing dialogue; step two, properly tackling armed conflicts if and when they occur; step three, preventing the spread of specific conflicts; and step four, preventing recurrence of such conflicts. To apply preventive diplomacy to the surrounding region, Japan should work on step one, that is, creating trust. I believe that it is critical to create opportunities for dialogue as often as possible.

[Interviewer]
What concrete measures should be taken for step one?

[Yamanaka]
Considering the fact that poverty and economic disparity often trigger off conflicts, preventive efforts to eliminate such factors is essential. Just as humans are vaccinated before they become ill, it is necessary to vaccinate countries in the context of international relations before they enter into armed conflict.

Projects related to healthcare or the environmental can be the primary preventive measures. Healthcare and care for the environment are universal concepts, and from the standpoint of their goals, few countries would oppose them; in other words, this is where Japan can play a leading role in diplomatic strategy.

The other day, I proposed the necessity of a multipurpose hospital ship at the Committee on Foreign Affairs. This is also concept of multipurpose international medical cooperation, including public health, emergency medical care, educational and technological exchange or training programs for medical students, and furthermore, information networking among Asian medical students. Of course, this plan should be managed directly by the cabinet.

If such hospital ship project works effectively, it would contribute significantly to building trust among neighboring countries. In addition, it is important to vitalize "dialogue" among various forums, diplomacy led by the Diet members,
NGOs, and private sector organizations.

Japanese thinktanks are quite weak in the areas of diplomacy and security. Significant efforts should be concentrated to strengthen their ability in these areas. Education in the environment, peace process and security is also critical. Such education should incorporate ample scientific data, as well as which of the problems facing humanity, societies and individuals can be solved and which cannot.

Education must also consider the causes of conflicts. In any case, education must include a forum in which measures to be taken against the problems facing us, as nations, as regions, and as individuals are to be considered.

[Interviewer]
The budget for Official Development Assistance (ODA) was cut by 10% this year on the basis of general accounting; which areas do you think will be cut back.

[Yamanaka]
When the contribution to international organizations were cut in the budget draft, there were concerns for budget cuts in the international arena. The budget had to be revived. Taking such history into consideration, I do not think the budget will be cut in these areas in the future.

Actually, in bilateral relationships, inefficiently used funds will probably be cut first. A system of objective evaluation upon completion of projects must be established, and necessary information must be disclosed to the public. The evaluation methods used to date have neither been realistic nor strictly enforced since the group involved in the project was the one evaluating it, etc.

[Interviewer]
Ms. Yamanaka, could you explain us the reason why you propose a conversion of concept of assistance at the Committee on Foreign affairs?

[Yamanaka]
I think that sticking to financial assistance is not appropriate for the current situations. For instance, in Britain, the organization dealing with ODA experienced a drastic nominal and structural change and has become the Department for International Development (DFID) under Blair administration.

The DFID uses agrees deal of diplomacy in working toward its goal of a sustainable global environment and the elimination of poverty. Its assistance projects are comprehensive and cover various areas such as environment, medicine, education and human resources.I believe that international cooperation and international assistance should take the place of concept of financial assistance.

[Interviewer]
Japan's deregulation has made little progress. Through your perspective as a member of the Diet, do you think that this impasse is caused by the triangle structure formed by politicians, bureaucrats, and industries?

[Yamanaka]
Government offices still control regulations under the name of " guidance". For example, whenever I apply for perusal of resource materials I need, administrative offices are reluctant to disclose information and their responses are always slow. This plainly shows that the system is not streamlined. I wonder how much waste can be avoided just by rationalizing disclosure of resources and simplifying procedure.

Actually there are some areas, such as the environment, where stricter regulations are needed. However, frankly speaking, deregulation of most regulations that deprive businesses of competitiveness has made little progress because of the lack of dynamic political leadership.

[Interviewer]
As economic stimulus measures, major part of public investment is still spent for public works. What do you think about this?

[Yamanaka]
The situation is similar in ODA and I suppose that in the end these public works do not benefit local community. Nowadays, it is inadequate to invest in the construction of public facilities, and in infrastructure including dams and roads which has traditionally been the object of public investment.

I believe that urban development plans harmonized with the area's environment and location would be much more beneficial. For a long time, I have repeatedly proposed to create rural culture harmonized with the local community. One of the successful examples is biotope in Germany, where the indigenous ecosystem is restored in a community area. In Hokkaido, there is a successful example of reproducing entire rows of houses of a certain town in Sweden to be harmonized with natural environment in Japan. I believe that public investments should be spent for projects of this type.

[Interviewer]
In closing, do you have anything to add?

[Yamanaka]
I would like to approach to diplomacy by using preventive diplomacy as the key to Japan's foreign policy. Also, I would like to build networking of politicians through various levels in Japan and also in other countries of the world, and I intend to create "dialogue" as a politician in order to reinvigorate Japan's diplomacy in a variety of ways.