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On October 2, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended a meeting with the members of the 24th term of the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
 
“Everyone from the SCJ, welcome to the Prime Minister’s Office. I want to give my sincere thanks to former President Onishi for his long service. I would also like to congratulate the new President, Dr. Yamagiwa, on his appointment. I look forward to your continued guidance and support.

The SCJ is truly a group that brings together people with the highest level of wisdom in Japan, immersing itself in research in the various fields and producing major outcomes. I want to express my respect and gratitude to the members of the SCJ for gathering your collective insight and submitting proposals to the Government.

An individual by the name of Dr. Seiroku Honda, the first person in Japan to receive a doctor of forestry, created the reconstruction plan in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake and engaged in a variety of state issues. At the risk of being presumptuous, I would like to introduce to you his following quote: ‘People who rush to succeed are people who rush toward failure. True success will only come by persevering down a long road carefully and without rushing.’ This is also true in the world of politics.

For example, the issue of the declining birthrate is absolutely not one that can be overcome easily. It requires the implementation of a firm policy in the mid- to long-term.

Diversity is in effect an extremely important part of such efforts. For the first time the number of women members of the SCJ has exceeded 30%. The Government is now advancing measures to have 30% of women in leadership positions in Japan. The SCJ is essentially a front-runner on this issue, and I want to again express my respect to the SCJ.

Japan will face many difficult challenges going forward. I hope that the members of the SCJ will continue to gather its collective insight and present a range of proposals to us for overcoming those issues.

In closing, I would like to extend my best wishes for the further development of the SCJ.”