First Meeting of the Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform Tuesday, December 4, 2001 The first meeting of the Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. This Office was established on December 1, 2001, based on the Justice System Reform Promotion Law. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in his opening address stated, "The reform of the justice system is of vital importance and urgency in converting to a post facto check and relief society with clearly established rules and principles of self-responsibility. From the perspective of those who use the system, namely the people of Japan, this will be a large reform that will drastically revise the basic justice system. I am resolved to put all my energies into endeavoring to construct a justice system that can be trusted by the people and the international community and that befits the new age." At the meeting Minister of Justice Mayumi Moriyama gave an explanation concerning the future schedule for justice system reform. From now a promotion program will start being formulated as soon as possible, with the aim of compiling the program before the end of the fiscal year, and specific work is progressing with a goal that within three years all the laws necessary for the reform can be approved.