Press Conference by Prime Minister Ishiba

 
[Opening statement by Prime Minister Ishiba]
 
Today, the extraordinary session of the Diet came to a close. At the outset of the policy speech I delivered during this extraordinary Diet session, I quoted former Prime Minster ISHIBASHI Tanzan, saying, "As a main principle of our national policy, we will institute the practice of exchanging views in a straightforward manner at all times and work together while also clearly stating our individual stances. We must endeavor to keep pace with global progress while engaging in this ready cooperation."
 
Having introduced this quotation from former Prime Minster Ishibashi Tanzan, I made my best efforts to build as broad a consensus as possible by having us as the leading political party also listen carefully to the views of members of other political parties.
 
During this Diet session, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in candid discussions without restraint. I felt this was highly suitable for what was a truly "deliberative Diet." Here as the Diet session comes to a close, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the members of both the ruling and the opposition parties and also to the Japanese people. Thank you very much indeed.
 
Giving due regard to the reproach expressed by the public in the recent election, I was especially determined to tackle political reforms.
 
After the House of Representatives election, as President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in keeping with my strong resolve, I stated our policy of holding discussions that transcend political parties and factions and swiftly bringing about political reforms that include abolishing policy activity expenses, publicly disclosing how the allowance covering research, public relations, and accommodation expenses is used and returning any remaining funds, and establishing at an early time a third-party organization [to monitor and audit political funds] based on the amended Political Funds Control Act.
 
In the LDP's Headquarters for Political Reform, we did away with our own personal reasoning and pretexts to compile our draft as the Liberal Democratic Party. Within the Diet's Special Committee on Political Reform, nine bills in total were submitted by the various political parties, and both the ruling coalition and the opposition engaged in earnest discussions. The result was today's passage of political reform bills.
 
There was also the matter of the bill submitted by the LDP not being adopted, but insofar as we are a minority ruling party, I am well aware of the fact that not all of our views will come to fruition exactly as we submit them. Even if we did not achieve a perfect score, it was significant that we succeeded in taking at least one step forward. That is my approach regarding what politics should be like.
 
As for corporate and organizational donations, under the principle of "disclosing rather than banning," our stance is that the most important thing is efforts towards transparency. Each political party has its own thinking on this, and at the end of this fiscal year, namely, by March 31, 2025, we will have reached a conclusion on this matter.
 
Also, with regard to the allowance for research, public relations, and accommodation expenses, through consensus among the various political parties and factions, at the Diet, revised legislation on disclosing how such funds are used as well as returning any remaining funds was passed with unanimous consent.
 
We were able to achieve legislative action within 2024 on the entirety of the reform menu that I set forth as LDP President. Let me take a moment here to express once again my sincere appreciation to all those who extended their cooperation to us.
 
With regard to the fiscal 2024 supplementary budget as well, through the deliberation process, amendments were made by the Diet, which happened for the first time in 28 years, and those revisions made by the Diet were ultimately approved for a first-ever occurrence in the case of a supplementary budget. The budget was passed with the approval of a portion of opposition party members.
 
It was the first time for both the ruling parties and the opposition parties to experience this kind of Diet session in which, rather than each side doing either most of the talking or most of the listening, both sides participate in the deliberations, with back-and-forth discussions in the truest sense. In light of that I feel it became a highly deliberative Diet session.
 
During this Diet session I also stated several times that we will work to dispel the deflationary mindset that has weighed heavily on the Japanese economy for such a long time. I regard us as being at a crossroads where we determine whether or not we can transition to a growth-driven economy led by wage increases and investment. We will execute future economic measures to make the transition from an economy focused on cost-cutting to an economy based on the creation of high amounts of added value.
 
To realize wage increases that surpass the rise in prices, we will advance our efforts to enable companies to smoothly and promptly pass price increases through to their customers. At the same time, we will provide vigorous support for promoting investments in automation or other labor-saving initiatives, investments in digitalization, and the like. We will also bolster our efforts to raise the minimum wage.
 
Through investments to foster human resources and through domestic investments utilizing public-private cooperation, we will boost companies' earning power, which is the source of wage increases. We will also take measures that increase income in a sustained manner into the future.
 
In order to deliver these to the Japanese people, we will endeavor to achieve swift and appropriate execution.
 
As we move closer to the next fiscal year [beginning April 1, 2025], we must engage seamlessly in various policies and measures that support the Japanese people. The fiscal 2025 draft budget is our very last task for 2024. We are scheduled to take a decision on the budgetary request on December 27.
 
As for the Government's progress in its policies, today the new Regional Revitalization Headquarters took a decision on its "Basic Approach." Squarely taking up the situation of both the population and the working-age population decreasing in the near term, the Headquarters has compiled its basic perspective, whereby even if the scale of the population shrinks, the economy will still grow and adaptation measures will be taken to make society function.
 
I learned a great deal from the late Prof. SAKAIYA Taichi when he was alive. The final book he wrote before his passing is named "Sando-me no Nihon" ("Japan's Third Transformation"). Some of you might have read it yourselves.
 
In that book, Prof. Sakaiya says the centralized state system of the Meiji Revolution aimed for "a strong Japan" under the slogan, "Rich nation, strong army." After World War II, during reconstruction from the wartime defeat and also during the high economic growth period, the aim changed from "a strong Japan" to "a prosperous Japan."
 
I recall Prof. Sakaiya argued that in order to actually manifest "a strong Japan" or "a prosperous Japan," heavy centralization was advanced as a rational choice, or dare we say, as a national policy. It was the Heisei era [(1989 – 2019)] when that ended.
 
Now, heading into the future, being strong and being prosperous should be assessed as values, but the issue is what kind of Japan we are aiming to achieve. Prof. Sakaiya himself argues in the book that our nation should aim to become "an enjoyable Japan." When I read this, I could sense exactly what "a strong Japan" and "a prosperous Japan" meant, but I thought for quite a while about what exactly "an enjoyable Japan" referred to.
 
In our local regions, the population is not increasing. But economically speaking, our local areas are prosperous. If we look at income distribution and focus on the 10 percent above and the 10 percent below the median value of income distribution published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, that is to say the middle-most 20 percent of households overall, we find that our local areas are also economically prosperous.
 
Of course, the local regions are also scenic, with delicious food and a greater abundance of human connections, so why is it that even in such local areas the decline in the population continues unabated?
 
The essence of the problem lies in that fact, in my view. In particular, what is exceptionally striking is that in population declines, it is the young generation, and also women, who stream out of the local areas into our cities.
 
In this current era of diversity, I hope to consider and then bring about regional revitalization from the perspective of enhancing the appeal of local areas as places for self-actualization and bringing into being "an enjoyable Japan" with connections to cities.
 
We will also fundamentally reinforce our measures to prevent and reduce disasters. There are earthquakes like the one that struck the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day this year, and that same disaster area was hit with torrential rains in September. I imagine that heart-rending cries of, 'Why are we the only ones to have this happen to us?' remain in many people's ears, never to fade.
 
With a view to fundamentally reinforcing our disaster management measures, we will newly establish a Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Disaster-Resilient Nation and begin discussions on related matters. We will advance our examination of this area so that a bill for strengthening our disaster responses at the national level, enhancing welfare support in disaster-stricken areas, and fostering collaboration with volunteers from the public can be submitted to the Diet during the upcoming ordinary session.
 
Full-fledged disaster prevention means doing it wholeheartedly and seriously. Of course, I am not suggesting it is not being done that way now, but the intended meaning here is to have people put their heart and soul into it and really make the greatest efforts they can towards disaster prevention.
 
We will promote full-fledged disaster prevention and deepen our consideration in concrete terms about how a Disaster Prevention Agency should operate, with a view to vigorously advancing the improvement of the environment in evacuation centers based on the Sphere Standards (the minimum standards regarding the Humanitarian Charter and humanitarian responses), which are grounded in human rights.
 
Winter has now come in earnest to the Noto Peninsula. We once again dispatched to the disaster-affected areas personnel from related ministries and agencies and had these personnel confirm the state of evacuation centers. They will continue to work on grasping the state of recovery and reconstruction as well as the needs expressed by the disaster victims. The most important thing, to my way of thinking, is having the disaster-affected people think, "The Government really understands."
 
The Government is also acting together to ensure adequate numbers of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) officers. With the newly-established Ministerial Council having summarized the basic contents, we will promptly examine what should be included in the fiscal 2025 draft budget bill and what revisions need to be made either legally or institutionally and submit to the upcoming ordinary Diet session those things we are able to prepare. Here again, I want the SDF members and their families to think, "The Government really understands." By fostering an environment in which people think, "I'm really glad to be in the SDF and truly glad I joined," we will improve our fill rate [(the degree to which the SDF has met its personnel targets)] and strengthen the very foundation of Japan's defense.
 
As we find ourselves in a severe and complex international situation, I was engaged in diplomacy at the summit level even during this extraordinary Diet session. I held telephone talks with each of my counterparts in the other G7 countries as well as face-to-face meetings with the leaders of the Northern European countries Finland and Sweden during their visits to Japan. Through these occasions I reconfirmed our partnership and cooperation in our responses to the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East.
 
With regard to the Republic of Korea (ROK), some things have occurred in the nation's domestic political situation, and I had a telephone talk with Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. We confirmed that we will maintain close bilateral Japan-ROK and trilateral Japan-U.S.-ROK cooperation and that we will continue moving forward in our preparations for the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-ROK relations next year.
 
On January 20, 2025, the second Trump administration will begin in the United States of America. I hope to meet with President-elect Trump of the United States of America at an early time and raise the level of the Japan-U.S. alliance to even greater heights.
 
As we have a minority ruling party, I intend to proceed by using an unorthodox interpretation of the phrase "a hung parliament" -- that is to say, our National Diet dangling mid-air -- to our very best advantage, namely, by listening to a wide range of views held by a large number of people to build the Japan we aim for.
 
Accordingly, I continue to ask for the understanding and cooperation of the Japanese people. Thank you most sincerely for the cooperation you extended to us during the Diet session we just completed. I truly appreciate that.