Haraguchi, other lawmakers to inspect disputed Senkaku Islands from air+

TOKYO, Oct. 8 Kyodo - Former Cabinet minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi and other lawmakers plan to inspect the disputed Senkaku Islands from the air on Saturday in the wake of last month's collision between a Chinese trawler and a Japan Coast Guard patrol boat near the islets in the East China Sea.

The inspection by Haraguchi, former internal affairs and communications
minister, and several other members of a nonpartisan parliamentarians group for
national sovereignty is expected to irk China amid signs that the bilateral
ties, deeply hurt following Japan's arrest of the Chinese trawler captain, have
begun to recover.
Haraguchi, along with Katsuyuki Kawai, a lower house member of the main
opposition Liberal Democratic Party, arrived in Okinawa Prefecture on Friday
and told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima that they want to view the collision
scene.
The lawmakers plan to take off from an airport on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa
Prefecture, by a private chartered plane Saturday morning and inspect the area
of the islets from the plane for about two and a half hours.
If the weather conditions are poor, they will consider rescheduling.
On the planned inspection, Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling
Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters on Thursday that his party is not
involved in the plan and the inspection should be conducted at each lawmaker's
responsibility.
Haraguchi asked the Japan Coast Guard through transport minister Sumio Mabuchi
late September to provide a plane for the inspection but gave up using the
Coast Guard plane as Mabuchi did not give a clear response. His group later
chartered a private plane.
He and other lawmakers established the group, called the ''league of
parliamentarians who act to protect national sovereignty and interests,'' on
Oct. 1, mainly to conduct a study on the collision. The group is jointly headed
by Haraguchi and LDP member Takeshi Iwaya.
==Kyodo