Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have a few points I want to cover first. At a meeting today of the Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Measures, the headquarters chief took a decision to establish under his authority a Subsidiary Headquarters for Special Measures to Assist the Lives of Disaster Victims. This decision was taken in order to strengthen the system in place for assisting the daily lives of those affected by the disaster.

In connection with this, I have several personnel announcements to make. Effective as of today's date, Yoshito Sengoku, acting president of the Democratic Party of Japan, is appointed as deputy chief cabinet secretary. The outgoing Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirohisa Fujii will become a special advisor to the prime minister. Koichi Kato has been relieved of his duties as a special advisor to the prime minister at his own request. The new Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary will be officially invested with the office by the Emperor at the palace at eight this evening. One reason for these appointments is that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujii, whose official duties since the earthquake have placed him under considerable pressure despite his advanced years, has personally informed the prime minister that he was approaching the limits of his physical strength to continue in his present capacity.

At the same time, the prime minister was conscious of the need to further strengthen the Cabinet Secretariat in order to improve the system in place for assisting the daily lives of those affected by the disaster. For this reason, the prime minister has accepted Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujii's request. However, the prime minister was eager to keep his services, feeling that his experience and insight are particularly vital to the government in this situation, given the extremely important role he has fulfilled in a different position from Kato, especially in recent days in connection with the electricity supply situation and the rotating power cuts. Since the law limits the number of advisors to five, it was decided to appoint Fujii as a special advisor in Kato's place, in order to provide practical assistance to the prime minister and myself, and to work with the support of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Sengoku as part of a strengthened Cabinet Secretariat to provide assistance to the lives of disaster victims.

Accordingly, the following appointments have been made to the new headquarters for special measures to assist the lives of disaster victims. Minister of State for Disaster Management Ryu Matsumoto will act as headquarters chief, and Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshihiro Katayama as acting headquarters chief, with a view to reflecting the voices of people in the affected regions. Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office Tatsuo Hirano will act as deputy headquarters chief and director general of the new headquarters. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Sengoku will be officially appointed at eight this evening. Together, this new team will do everything in their power to carry forward the work of assisting the lives of disaster victims.

Also in connection with this, a decision was taken at today's meeting of the Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Measures, and subsequently ratified by a round robin cabinet meeting, that whereas until now myself and the Minister of State for Disaster Management have acted as deputy headquarters chiefs for the Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Measures as a whole, from now on the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and the Minister of Defense will additionally serve as headquarters chiefs.

Following today's decision, the new headquarters will work to resolve the problem of isolated emergency refuge areas, to ensure steady replenishment of supplies, and to restore vital lifelines. It will also work to further enhance measures to provide material support to affected areas. Many people around the country have offered to provide temporary shelters for disaster victims in their homes rather than letting them continue to subsist on the bare minimum in cold emergency refuge areas. Today's decision indicates our resolve to further strengthen our ability to respond to measures like these in the future.

In addition, I have two further requests to make to the people of Japan. The first is concerns about the rotating power cuts currently being implemented in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Under the scheduled power cuts, it is extremely difficult to keep the railway system operational, given the overall demand for electricity. However, because keeping the trains moving to at least a certain extent is vital to people's lives, we have so far been working to maintain a somewhat reduced service at electricity usage levels just below threshold capacity. But I have received reports that a situation has arisen, partly because of today's colder weather, in which we are now facing the possibility that demand could easily outstrip capacity. The relevant minister has already asked the people to make even more strenuous efforts to conserve electricity. We are already asking people to accept considerable hardship as it is, with the rotating power cuts and reduced train services. Nevertheless, the fact is that we are already almost at capacity, and we now face a situation in which we risk comprehensive and unpredictable power failures across the board unless everyone cooperates in the strenuous efforts to conserve electricity. I therefore ask all of you, please, in addition to the rotating power cuts, to make every effort to conserve as much electricity as you possibly can.

Also, over the past few days there have been reports of bank transfer-related identity fraud in which people have attempted to take advantage of the damage and suffering sustained as a result of this disaster. People in the affected areas and emergency refuge areas are doing their best to cope with an extremely challenging and harsh situation. The Self-Defense Forces, fire fighters, police, and many others are also working in extremely harsh and often dangerous conditions to overcome this national disaster. It is extremely regrettable that cases like this should have arisen in which people have tried to take advantage of the situation in this way. However, it is also a fact, and I would ask you therefore to be on your guard.

That is all from me for now.