Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received a courtesy call from Mr. Yuhei Sato, Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his address,

"I chose Fukushima Prefecture without hesitation as my first place to visit. After actually visiting and talking with the people of the region, I reaffirmed my thinking that without reconstructing Fukushima, there will be no rising from the damage, and there will be no revival of Japan as well.
Minister Nemoto accompanied me. We found that there is a need to change the awareness of the vertical segmentation, and there is also a problem that there is a lack of awareness on-site.
I instructed Minister Nemoto to thoroughly instill an attitude of focusing on the actual site, and Minister Nemoto shares the same view.
From now on, I would like to eliminate the vertical segmentation and establish a system allowing for Minister Nemoto to take the lead comprehensively, as well as to change the awareness of the Reconstruction Agency.
Taking office as the Minister for Reconstruction, Minister Nemoto is now in charge of the comprehensive coordination of the reconstruction of Fukushima Prefecture.
In addition, I told all ministers that each of them is the 'minister in charge of reconstruction.'
Minister Mori, born in Fukushima Prefecture, is the minister in charge of dealing with unsubstantiated reputational damage. Both ministers are from Fukushima, and I would like them to join hands and work together."