Address by Prime Minister ISHIBA Shigeru to the 2025 Memorial Ceremony for the Great East Japan Earthquake

I offer with great humility my commemorative address on behalf of the Government at the 2025 Memorial Ceremony for the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Fourteen years have now passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck.

Here in Fukushima, among other places, many irreplaceable lives were lost, and some people remain unaccounted for even today. The colossal earthquake and tsunamis, and also the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company, deprived many Fukushima Prefecture residents of their day-to-day lives.

My heart aches in empathy and overflows with sorrow and condolences for those who have lost beloved family members, relatives, and friends. Today I offer my deepest and sincerest commiserations once again.

Many people are forced to live their lives as evacuees even now because of the nuclear accident. I express once more my most profound sympathies to all those affected by the catastrophe, including those unable to return to their hometowns.

In the fourteen years since the earthquake wreaked its devastation, reconstruction has progressed steadily in the earthquake- and tsunami-stricken areas.

Even in the areas of Fukushima affected by the nuclear disaster, in the areas where evacuation orders have been lifted, progress is being made in improving the living environment and revitalizing and bolstering industries and regenerating means of livelihood. In the difficult-to-return-to zones as well, evacuation orders were lifted for all Specified Reconstruction and Revitalization Bases, and efforts such as decontamination are progressing in the Specified Living Areas for Returnees. On March 7, a decision was made to lift the evacuation order for certain parts of the difficult-to-return-to-zones in Iitate Village and Katsurao Village to facilitate land utilization.

It should go without saying that this is the result of the tireless efforts and support of the local residents and also all those affiliated with the agencies and organizations involved, including Fukushima Prefecture and its municipalities.

Medium- to long-term support will be critical for reconstruction from the nuclear disaster. The Government will continue to stand at the fore, pressing ahead with the safe and steady decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company, on which reconstruction is premised. We will also continue to improve the living environment to accelerate the return of residents and support the restoration and bolstering of industries, as well as the regeneration of livelihoods through initiatives such as the Fukushima Innovation Coast Framework and the Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation (F-REI). In December, we established a ministerial meeting toward the realization of the final disposal of removed soil and other materials outside Fukushima Prefecture, advancing the necessary efforts with a whole-of-government approach.

The next five years of the “Second Reconstruction and Revitalization Period” will be an extremely important period for addressing challenges related to reconstruction. We will advance reconstruction measures more vigorously than ever before.

We have learned invaluable lessons at the grave costs imposed by the earthquake and its consequent disasters. It is our responsibility to pass those lesson on to future generations, never allowing them to fade.

We will utilize the experiences from the Great East Japan Earthquake in our efforts to respond to natural disasters, including the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and large-scale fires, enhance disaster prevention measures, strengthen disaster response systems, and improve living conditions in evacuation shelters. We will also establish a Disaster Management Agency and strive to make Japan the world's leading disaster-resilient nation.

I would like to conclude my address by offering earnest and heartfelt prayers that the souls of all those who passed away repose in eternal peace, and that all the bereaved families be embraced with peace and tranquility.