Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met with German high school students from the Tokyo-Yokohama area at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The five-student delegation was led by the principal of the students' school. The Prime Minister spent about an hour with the students. He encouraged them to act as goodwill ambassadors, saying, "It is young people like you who will be a bridge between Japan and Germany in the twenty-first century. I am sure you will lead the way in enhancing exchange and understanding between our two countries." He also fielded questions about Japanese students' language abilities and international competitiveness, among other topics, relating anecdotes from his own experience.