Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the ceremony for the completion of the new Yomiuri Shimbun building held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"I offer my sincere congratulations today on the completion of the new Yomiuri Shimbun building. It was mentioned a moment ago that this building is 200 meters tall. It is of course vital for the mass media to fix its gaze on the faraway horizon while at the same time judging matters from a high vantage point, and in that sense, I believe today we are seeing the completion of a building befitting of the Yomiuri Shimbun.
I heard that the decision to construct this building was made two years ago when the Japanese economy was still facing a tough situation. I feel that the decision to make a capital investment under such circumstances must have required some courage. It is important to have the perceptiveness to decide to make a capital investment while business conditions are at their worst. Since 1971, the Yomiuri Shimbun has had its head office here in Otemachi and taken an aggressive business approach, recording sales of 10 million newspapers - that is more than any other company in the world. I believe that the stance to continue working with strong resolve and a sense of responsibility has been an appropriate one for the Yomiuri Shimbun. I hope that we in the Liberal Democratic Party and the Abe Cabinet might learn even a little from you as well.
Furthermore, the special intelligence protection bill has recently come under much discussion. There will not be an increase in the amount of information already classified as intelligence. There are many categories of intelligence that have already been classified as such. This bill further narrows down the definitions of these categories. Right now there are 420,000 pieces of specially managed intelligence. Ninety percent of these are satellite photographs - either satellite photographs taken by Japan, or ones that we received - these account for ninety percent. There are also encrypted documents. Apart from the photographs and encrypted documents, the other pieces of classified information account for just a few tens of thousand. We will strictly classify this information in an even more secure manner in line with the law. What currently constitutes specially managed intelligence has never before been stipulated in a law, and so I would like to also mention that with this bill we are properly stipulating common rules. I hope that you will all continue to actively report the news in a free manner.
In addition, I have been told that this building has a nursery. One of the major issues taken up by the Abe administration is the creation of an environment that facilitates the increasing participation of women in society. We have set the goals of first creating enough places to take care of 200,000 children within two years, and then enough places to take care of 400,000 children within five years. I think it is wonderful that you are truly ahead of the times here in building an environment in which women can work at the Yomiuri Shimbun while raising children. Furthermore, I note that you will open the clinic in this building up to the public, an action befitting of the Yomiuri Shimbun, which is known for its medical expertise and has been publishing the column 'Medical Renaissance' since 1992. I myself once appeared in your medical column in relation to a chronic disease. You have created a specialized medical bureau here, and I remember that I was very impressed by the reporter of the aforementioned column who understood my disease very well. I understand that courageous and responsible reporting is a motto of the Yomiuri Shimbun. I would like to conclude my congratulatory remarks by expressing my hope that the completion of this new building will be an opportunity to continue even more courageous and responsible reporting and allow you to lead Japan in an even better direction."