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The Briefing Room was used for announcements and press conferences by the Prime Minister and the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Generally, the Chief Cabinet Secretary made announcements twice a day in the Briefing Room on decisions at Cabinet meetings and other policies, while the Prime Minister used it to give press conferences and to speak directly to the people on important issues. The Briefing Room was on the first floor of the Annex, built on the west side of the Kantei's forecourt in 1996, and had about 300m2 of floor space. Some people might have noticed that there were a few different Briefing Room curtains. Different colors were selected depending on the occasion. A Kantei Briefing Room was first set up when the former Annex was built in 1962, and until then the Okyakuma (the Grand Drawing Room) was used to conduct press conferences. The Briefing Room was also a witness to history. Press conferences on the appointment of new Prime Ministers were conducted in the room, and when the Showa era changed over to the Heisei era (January 1989), the Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time, Keizo Obuchi, used the Briefing Room to announce the name of the new era.
The Annex The Kantei Photography Office