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On September 11, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting with chairpersons of prefectural assemblies at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“I wish to first thank all of the Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies for gathering here today despite your very busy schedules.

You have shared with me many valuable opinions today.

As Assembly Chairperson Yanai (Chairperson of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly/Chairperson of National Association of Chairpersons of the Prefectural Assemblies) stated, the nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea are indescribably outrageous. If North Korea continues along this path, it will not have a bright future. We will work in close collaboration with the international community to make North Korea understand this and change its policies. At the same time, under the robust Japan-U.S. Alliance we will continue to maintain elevated vigilance and do everything we can to protect the safety of the people.

Each region of Japan has experienced tremendous disasters, including the heavy rains in northern Kyushu. Both Assembly Chairperson Inoue from Oita Prefecture and Assembly Chairperson Fujishima from Ibaraki Prefecture spoke about this. The Government will continue to work as one to support recovery and reconstruction so that the people affected by these disasters can return to their normal lives and livelihoods as soon as possible. In addition, we will continue to advance efforts to implement further disaster prevention and mitigation measures and to build a country that is strong and resilient against disasters.

Last month, I reshuffled my Cabinet. The Abe Cabinet will continue to focus on the economy as our utmost priority.

We are now advancing efforts for enhancing child rearing supports and nursing care, promoting work style reform, and working for the realization of a society in which all citizens are dynamically engaged. As Assembly Chairperson Uda of Hiroshima Prefecture mentioned, human resources development (“Hito-zukuri”) will be the driving force to pave the way to the next era of Japan. We will set our sights on a 100-year life society, and decisively carry out human resources development. To that end, we will continue to offer our firm support for ambitious regional initiatives.

From now on, the regions will be the major players in Japan’s growth. Assembly Chairperson Yanai spoke about this. We will do everything we can and actively offer informational, personnel, and financial support for challenging efforts aimed at vitalizing local economies, so that the people of the regions are able to experience for themselves the positive cycle of growth and distribution.

As Deputy Chairperson Omori of Fukui Prefecture and Assembly Chairperson Tsuruta of Akita Prefecture touched upon, transportation networks contribute significantly to the vitalization of local economies, for example by stimulating exchanges among regions, encouraging companies to set up bases in the regions, and promoting tourism. We will systematically develop such networks.

Assembly Chairperson Ohashi of Osaka Prefecture spoke about tourism promotion. We will offer support for initiatives to enhance the appeals of each region and to use them as tourism resources, in order to draw tourists to each region from throughout Japan and around the world.

With regard to the hosting of the World Exposition, this would provide an excellent opportunity to communicate Japan’s appeal all over the world. We will do everything we can through all-Japan efforts to win this bid.

Assembly Chairperson Mori of Ehime Prefecture talked about reflecting the opinions of people from the regions in national politics. The basic stance of the Abe Cabinet is to carefully listen to the opinions of the regions. We will support the initiatives of each region based on the opinions that we have received from everyone here today.

I hope that all of you will continue to do all you can to propel your local governments forward. I once again ask for your understanding and cooperation for the policies being promoted by the national Government.

Thank you very much.”