[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted the second “Meeting with the Prime Minister and Workers to Exchange Views on Work Style Reform,” at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for coming here today despite your extremely busy schedules.

The Abe administration is now advancing work style reform as one of its top priority issues. The reason this issue has been assigned top priority is that, unless Japan achieves growth even as its population is decreasing, we will not be able to respond to the increasing cost of social security. To achieve that, one important aspect is to improve productivity. 

With this in mind, by advancing work style reform, diverse work styles will be facilitated, enabling people to choose the work style that matches their particular lifestyle, resulting in improved productivity. At the same time, I believe that such reform will also lead to a more abundant life for each individual.

Recently, there was the very sad case of Ms. Matsuri Takahashi, an employee of Dentsu, who took her own life because of the harsh conditions of working long hours. In order to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again, I believe that we must advance work style reform.  

Today you have gathered together as representatives of those who, after leaving their jobs at major corporations, aiming to achieve fulfillment by following their individual paths. Today, based on an exchange of your various experiences, I would like to hear your opinions on what kinds of work reform must be advanced so we can move Japan in the direction I mentioned earlier. Please share your views frankly and candidly. Thank you very much.”