[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the JFK – His Life and Legacy Exhibit held at the National Archives of Japan.

After viewing the exhibit, the Prime Minister delivered the following address at the opening ceremony,

“I offer my congratulations on the opening of the JFK – His Life and Legacy Exhibit today, with such a strong turnout.

This marks the first exhibit co-organized by the National Archives of Japan and the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States. I believe this was made possible by the appointment of H.E. Ms. Caroline Kennedy as Ambassador of the United States to Japan. I would like to again express my sincere appreciation.

I had the privilege of touring this exhibit today. I was able to view the legendary coconut shell paperweight as well as the handwritten file of the manuscript for President Kennedy’s inaugural address. At the urging of Ambassador Kennedy, I also viewed the part of the speech that said “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” I was also shown the diary of Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister at the time, which contained an entry about his impression of this speech. Prime Minister Sato was the younger brother of my grandfather, but this was the first time that I had the opportunity to view his personal diary. This diary was set to be released to the public soon after his passing, but his older brother Nobusuke Kishi delayed it, saying that the diary should not be made public for 20 years because the people concerned were still living.

Today, I had the opportunity to view a number of invaluable pieces of history. The most amazing was perhaps the crayon picture of a sunflower drawn by Ambassador Kennedy, which put me in quite an good mood.

The National Archives of Japan is still a very small institution. Former Prime Minister Fukuda, who is attendance today, is very passionate about the National Archives and along with him, first Minister of Public Records Management and National Archives Kamikawa and Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Tanigaki have dedicated efforts to the modest work of improving the National Archives. Japan has a much longer history than that of the United States, but the National Archives is quite small in comparison to its counterpart in the United States. I hope to work toward making the National Archives into an institution more befitting of that history.

I sincerely hope that many people will visit this exhibit to learn about President Kennedy and his family, and the history behind their fight for world peace, democracy and human rights. Visiting the National Archives and viewing the documents on display provides an opportunity to learn about how people lived and thought during this time. I would like to utilize this event to gather momentum to further enhance the National Archives and encourage more people to visit.”