Hatoyama outranks other Cabinet members in family assets+

TOKYO, Oct. 23 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama overwhelmingly ranked at the top in terms of
family assets of the 18 Cabinet members, documents they submitted showed
Friday.

Hatoyama's family assets totaled 1,442.69 million yen, followed by Mizuho
Fukushima, state minister for consumer affairs, with 249.99 million yen,
according to the documents. Fukushima heads the Social Democratic Party, one of
the coalition partners of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan.
Assets declared by Cabinet ministers and their immediate family members
averaged 140.44 million yen, slightly down from the record 141.28 million yen
declared last year by Cabinet members of Hatoyama's predecessor Taro Aso of the
Liberal Democratic Party.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Akira Nagatsuma reported no assets of his own.
Hatoyama is the grandson of the first LDP president and former Prime Minister
Ichiro Hatoyama, while his mother is the daughter of the founder of Japan's top
tire maker Bridgestone Corp.
In last year's disclosure of Cabinet members' assets, Hatoyama's younger
brother, then Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama,
ranked No. 1 with more than 700 million yen.
Five of the Hatoyama Cabinet members reported more than 100 million yen in
family assets.
Among Hatoyama's family assets are more than 1 billion yen in financial assets
that include nearly 900 million yen in time deposits. Hatoyama owns a home in
Tokyo's Ota Ward and a villa in the summer resort of Karuizawa, Nagano
Prefecture. His assets also include 3.5 million Bridgestone Corp. shares.
Family assets subject to disclosures include real estate, deposits and
securities held by the politicians, their spouses and children financially
dependent on them.
Land and building are declared in terms of assessed value for real property
taxes, while government bonds and other securities other than stocks are
reported in terms of face value.
Stockholding disclosures do not cover market value and are limited to the names
of the issues and the number of shares as par-value stocks were abolished in
2001.
Financial experts said Hatoyama's family assets may reach 9 billion yen if
stocks and other securities holdings are measured in terms of market value.
Of the 249.99 million yen in family assets declared by Fukushima, half are time
deposits, which she earned as a lawyer before gaining her upper house seat in
1998. Her assets include 122.65 million yen held by her husband, who is also a
lawyer. The two are not legally married.
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii ranked third with 202.13 million yen, most of
which are real estate he holds in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Gunma prefectures.
Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei, who heads the DPJ's another
coalition partner, the People's New Party, ranked fourth with 187.44 million
yen. Kamei also declared 6.18 million yen in borrowings.
Two ministers declared less than 10 million yen in family assets. Defense
Minister Toshimi Kitazawa's assets came to 6.09 million yen. Health minister
Nagatsuma's family assets stood at 8.91 million yen in postal savings held by
his relatives.
Meanwhile, family assets held by three deputy chief Cabinet secretaries and 22
senior vice ministers averaged 28.09 million yen and those by 25 parliamentary
secretaries averaged 16.48 million yen -- both a new low.
Cabinet members began disclosing their assets in 1984 under then Prime Minister
Yasuhiro Nakasone, after former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was convicted in
the Lockheed bribery scandal the previous year.
Currently, the prime minister, Cabinet ministers, senior vice ministers and
parliamentary secretaries are required to disclose their assets under a 2001
Cabinet decision on ethical standards of ministers.
In addition to real estate, deposits and securities, they are also required to
report golf memberships, automobiles and art works as other forms of assets but
their value is not declared.
==Kyodo