Press Conference by Prime Minister Ishiba regarding His Visit to Nagano Prefecture and Other Matters

(On Prime Minister Ishiba's thoughts upon attending a meeting of the Council for Creating New Regional Economies and Living Environments; and, in light of the rapid population decline centered in rural areas, on (i) how Prime Minister Ishiba intends to reflect the results of the Council's recent discussions in his administration's policies and how he intends to maintain and improve social infrastructure, (ii) whether or not Prime Minister Ishiba intends to continue going on observation tours to rural areas in the future, and (iii) Prime Minister Ishiba's thoughts on the significance of observing local areas as he works to promote Regional Revitalization 2.0)

I'm afraid this will be a somewhat lengthy reply, but yes, as you mentioned, today in the city of Ina, I participated in a meeting of the Council for Creating New Regional Economies and Living Environments. This meeting took up the topic of how Nagano Prefecture is engaged in regional revitalization.

Since the time I was serving as the minister handling regional revitalization a decade ago, I have visited Nagano Prefecture a number of times, and I have seen for myself how revitalization has been progressing here.

The city of Ina is using a wide array of digital technology, including vehicles equipped to handle online medical consultations, as well as drone-based shopping assistance, to name just two examples. This was in fact my first time to see these in person. In addition to witnessing the efforts being taken by Ina, where the living environment is truly being transformed, I saw how people with experience as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) are working towards regional revitalization.

And, something I had seen before and had the chance to observe once more after about a decade was the role that Saku Central Hospital is playing in regional healthcare, as well as other efforts the hospital group is making. I felt I received valuable hints on a tremendous number of points about new ways to promote regional revitalization.

In particular, small- and medium-sized municipalities have to grapple with a host of issues, a problem true in the past and still true today. We have just established what is called the Escort Runner System for Regional Revitalization, in which civil servants working at central government ministries and agencies -- what people often refer to as "Kasumigaseki"-- make use of their wide-ranging experiences to provide assistance to municipalities. Beginning next month, in April, the participants in this Escort Runner System will be appointed as Regional Revitalization Support Officers and begin providing escort runner support. We asked if there were any municipalities interested in participating, as well as any national civil servants wanting to head to a local community to provide help, during an application period that was only two weeks long. Despite the limited time to apply, some 200 cities, towns, and villages from Hokkaido to Okinawa submitted their applications, asking Support Officers to come.

In addition, we had 250 national civil servants representing almost every government office take the initiative to say, yes, I want to participate, I want to go and work to help a rural area, I want to provide advice to a local government. So in only two weeks we had requests from 200 municipalities for Support Officers, and in only two weeks we also had 250 civil servants at the central government ministries and agencies stepping forward to offer their services. I consider this to be a genuinely groundbreaking undertaking. Now, this is a new initiative in which the Support Officers provide assistance to local areas they are personally interested in, in what we might call the manner of a side job, rather than them being seconded out to hold particular posts such as department head or section chief.

We will get the ball rolling starting with a total of 60 cities, towns, and villages nationwide. We will make teams of three Support Officers, bringing together government workers from a mix of ministries and agencies and a variety of administrative posts and ages. A total of 180 Support Officers will visit these local communities, or in some cases consult with the areas online, and provide support for these municipalities that are highly committed to regional revitalization. Also, today I again had the chance to observe a variety of digital innovations. In fact, almost all local governments have already begun the process of implementing digital systems. As the next stage under Regional Revitalization 2.0, I want to move forward in a way that is genuinely helpful in improving the living environment in these communities.

Ina is a city where these advances are already underway. Ina uses digital and new technologies such as online medical consultations, on-demand transportation, and drone delivery of medicines and daily necessities, leading to tangible improvements in its way of living. I plan to make use of new regional revitalization grants and other means to popularize these kinds of good practices all around the nation. These kinds of visits to rural areas are something I'd like to do as much as possible, because a lot of things can only be understood when you go to see a place for yourself.

That said, there are a lot of things on the Diet schedule, as well as numerous overseas visits to make, among other obligations. Should time allow, there are 1,718 municipalities nationwide, and I have only been to about 450 so far, so there are a lot I haven't gotten to visit yet. I hope to make an increase in visits to local areas a reality and I will do my best to make that happen.

(On Prime Minister Ishiba's reaction after taking an observation tour of the Ohisama no Mori facility and on the potential for regional revitalization in Nagano Prefecture)

As I said earlier, I hope to expand the practice of having CCRCs, meaning Continuing Care Retirement Communities. The key point of a CCRC is that it is indeed a community. Normally when we think of nursing care facilities that offer only the other words in that label, namely "continuing," "care, and "retirement," the only image that comes to mind is one of care recipients and their caregivers. A CCRC is not like that, but rather a true community, instead incorporating multiple generations, from children to the elderly, and people with a wide range of jobs in the community as well. It is nursing care provided through the community as a whole, producing an entirely different image from what we have had until now.

These kinds of communities are slowly beginning to appear here and there in Japan too. Ohisama no Mori is small-scale and brings together people in the community from multiple generations. To me, a facility like that is pioneering a new approach, one that, when we think about it, might be more desirable for rural areas, including those affected by depopulation. Mindful of this, I intend to reinforce our efforts once again, with a focus on CCRC.

This would be taken up by relevant ministries and agencies, which would include the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and also the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and perhaps the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; various ministries and agencies would be involved in this. Among these relevant ministries and agencies, we will reorganize a team to examine this and get to work on this matter, actively taking up today's example as a point of reference.

Today we are in Nagano Prefecture, and I have known Governor Abe for quite some time. Here we don't see the government just doing things on its own without regard for other stakeholders, nor do we see the private sector relying excessively on anyone. It seems to me that in true Nagano fashion, collective efforts in Nagano are truly functioning well, incorporating the efforts of the government, the private sector, students, media organizations such as those here today, and financial institutions, centered on Hachijuni Bank.

(On whether or not Prime Minister Ishiba believes he has gained the understanding of the public regarding the gift certificate controversy, after the explanation he provided March 14 at the Budget Committee, and, if he has not succeeded thus far, what he plans to do going forward)

The main crux of this is exactly what I stated during the committee meeting. [The gift certificates I distributed were] truly nothing other than an expression of appreciation to the lawmakers themselves as well as to their families who supported them over an extended time, as a way of saying, it was really a long, hard road getting elected, and thank you for all the effort you put in. Since that was the intent, distributing them does not fall afoul of the Public Offices Election Act or the Political Funds Control Act in any way. But as you mention, the general public's sense of this is different, and accordingly, I do not think I have gained the understanding of the public thus far.

I will continue to explain that legally speaking, there is nothing problematic here, but in order to gain the understanding of the general public, I do think further work will need to be done. I believe the only thing to do is simply to put forth my best efforts in a way that is earnest and sincere. Naturally, I am well aware that the situation from a legal aspect is something entirely different from the matter of whether or not people in their heart consider it acceptable. Fully mindful of that, I believe I still have work to do in this regard.