Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the 2013 New Year Party by RENGO held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"I was not able to attend this party six years ago, when I was Prime Minister the previous time. However, this is the year of the snake in the Chinese calendar, so I have cast off my old skin and I am able to attend this year's party.
The most important mission imposed on us is to restore the economy.
We wish to manage to realize the growth of the Japanese economy with the 'three prongs,' namely, bold monetary policy, flexible public finance policy, and a growth strategy that encourages private sector investment. We would like to restore the country to where the Japanese people can become more lively and affluent.
Japan has been suffering under a super-strong yen for these few years.
Especially, people in the manufacturing industry have been continuously under a situation where the industry is unfortunately losing in competition because of the strong yen, despite working earnestly from morning to night, exercising their wisdom, with the industry hollowing out, and with companies being forced to close down factories and people losing their jobs. Something is definitely wrong with this. I believe that it is the responsibility of politics to create a situation in which people's earnest effort is rewarded and everyone can stand at the same starting line. In this context, we must revive the manufacturing industry of Japan. Of course, it is necessary at the same time to invest in human resources, to generate competitiveness through active investment in research and development, and to increase productivity. In the area of the service industry, I would like to aim for realizing a situation wherein competitiveness is reinforced in the form of even higher added-values, and at the same time the income of people actually working on site increases."