Press Conference by the Prime Minister regarding His Visit to Mie Prefecture

(On his thoughts regarding his visits to a candidate site for a maglev train station where environmental impact assessment is underway and the VISON, and how he plans to reflect them in the upcoming policies)

Today, I first observed the status of the boring survey conducted to determine the location of the planned “Mie Prefecture Station” on the maglev Shinkansen. While it took 190 minutes to travel from Tokyo Station to the inspection site today, the maglev Shinkansen, once completed, would shorten the travel time to 60 minutes. The Tokaido Shinkansen, which was inaugurated 60 years ago, has met with a series of incidents that resulted in a large-scale suspension of services and significantly affected the lives of the people, including the torrential rain during the Obon holidays in mid-August last year and the derailment of maintenance vehicles a short while ago. I once again realized the need for an early establishment of multiple networks linking Japan’s three major cities.

I then visited the VISON to see the efforts of the project, as well as those by agricultural venture businesses in the local community. Among them was the project to introduce the operation of autonomous driving on ordinary roads on a full-year basis and the Government plans to increase by the end of this fiscal year the number of targeted areas by 25 or more, including the area covered by the VISION bus service. We hope to expand this project to 100 or more areas nationwide as soon as possible. Two years ago, there was no area where Level 4 autonomous driving, or fully automated driving under certain conditions, was implemented. The Government now plans to increase the number of such areas to around 10 before the end of this fiscal year and sequentially raise the levels in various areas across the nation. To this end, we will speed up the examination procedure by shortening the required time from around 11 months at present to around two. The introduction of Level 4 operation by the VISON bus will also be significantly accelerated to take place by around this autumn, rather than January next year as originally planned, if the application is made immediately.

I also listened to how local entrepreneurs engage in agricultural venture businesses. I was very glad and proud to know that young people are enthusiastically involved in local activities as they seek to fundamentally solve global food issues, including by growing vegetables using seawater. I believe that such venture businesses seeking to contribute to society are a driving force for a New Form of Capitalism. Going forward, the Government will strengthen assistance for the commercialization of agricultural technology through expanding the scope of our comprehensive assistance program for startups. That’s all from me.

(On whether he intends to urge JR Tokai to start construction on the route west of Nagoya with a view to the full opening of the Maglev Chuo Shinkansen in 2037 and how he intends to break the deadlock as we expect delay in the opening of the route east of Nagoya reaching Shinagawa, originally set for 2027)

Given the national assistance under a fiscal investment and loan program totaling three trillion yen, the Government hopes to ensure an appropriate progress in the construction of the Maglev Chuo Shinkansen, including the Shizuoka construction area, on the assumption that it will be fully open in 2037 at the earliest. For this purpose, we will provide necessary guidance and technological assistance, while strictly monitoring the environmental situations and status of water resources, as well as the financial standing of JR Tokai, which holds the primary responsibility for the construction. Responding to your question regarding the route west of Nagoya, we are committed to ensuring a steady progress in the construction and therefore need to accelerate the efforts to determine the locations of planned stations and routes. They include further studies on the construction of Shin-Osaka Station, along with two other stations, one near Kameyama Station in Mie Prefecture and the other in Nara Prefecture. That is why we have decided to send, as early as next month, as official members representatives from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, along with those from JR Tokai, to the liaison conference to promote the construction of the Maglev Chuo Shinkansen set up by Mie, Nara and Osaka Prefectures, primarily in response to the request from the Governor of Mie. In addition, the Government will work with those local governments to extend all-out assistance to the development of local communities, including those surrounding the planned stations, so that the effect of the construction will be best felt.