[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a cherry blossom viewing party at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo.
Standing before the guests from many fields, including the culture and art world, as well as the sports world, the Prime Minister said in his address,

"We have held a lively cherry blossom viewing party this year, and have been joined by many people. 
There was a lot of worry about the weather, but since I seem to really bring sunny weather with me wherever I go, and since we have always enjoyed sunny weather at these events up until now, I believed that today as well would absolutely be a sunny day. Thanks to that and the wishes of everyone here, the weather has turned out well for us.

The wind has been a little strong, such that the Somei-yoshino blossoms are just starting to fall in a flurry of petals. I am grateful that they did their best to remain on the trees up until today. There are blossoms on about 70% of the double-flowered cherry blossom trees. It seems that their buds have been working hard in aiming to blossom by today.
The wind is very strong today, but the blossoms have weathered these hardships.
Chief Representative Natsuo Yamaguchi of Komeito is in attendance today. The coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito has weathered hardships as well.

Today, the wind is greatly coming from this direction, with a mostly constant wind coming from the opposite direction.
The Abe administration has now weathered hardships for five years.
We encountered particular hardships in the first half of this year. A verse comes to mind which emphasizes this viewpoint.
'Weathering hardships / Surviving for five long years / Double cherry trees'
The double-flowered cherry blossom trees we can see today are noteworthy.
There are always difficulties. Nevertheless, if we cooperate and work hard together, we can view cherry blossoms on days like this.

The Nikkei Shimbun covered the current situation related to wage increases today. Thanks to everyone's hard work, we have achieved wage increases of greater than 2% for the fourth year in a row.
One special characteristic of this year is the wage increases we are seeing in the service sector.
For example, Yamato Transport is raising its wage increase rate considerably compared to before, and has also started work style reforms.

When the Abe administration began, initially only one, two, or three companies responded to our calls for wage increases. It was merely a few places.
When I said during a speech in the Diet that there were some companies that had responded to the call for wage increases, a member of the opposition party heckled me by saying only one company increased wages.
With that kind of attitude, we would never have been able to create a great wave of change. However, we have realized the highest ever level of wage increases since the start of this century, including for most small- and medium-sized enterprises.

I believe the situation is similar for work style reform. More and more companies are starting to heed our calls.
This movement will become a big wave, and the work styles of Japanese people will change.
Everyone should have a chance to succeed, including the elderly, the young, women and men, those with disabilities, those suffering from difficult-to-treat diseases, and those who have experienced failure in life.
The era in which everyone will be able to choose a work style to suit their lifestyle will come at last.
With efforts for the dynamic engagement of all citizens, I want to create a society in which everyone gathered here today can be actively engaged.
If we can create that kind of society, Japan will become even better.
Although there will be more hardships ahead as we work to achieve this, I want us to overcome them together."

After his address, the Prime Minister toured the garden with guests, shaking hands with people, and joining in commemorative photographs.