Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: There is nothing to be reported. I would like to entertain your questions.

Q&As

REPORTER: In the NHK program that was broadcast this morning, there was reference made to the temporary homecoming of the residents that are currently staying in shelters. What is the probability of realization?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I understand that many have a strong desire to temporarily go back to their houses. However, this requires full safety to be ensured before we allow them to go home temporarily, so we have just started studying the possibility of whether that may be possible. Of course, we do have the desire to let them do that. At the moment I cannot be specific about the likelihood of these people going back home.

REPORTER: In relation to that, in the periphery of the nuclear power station, what about the activities to rescue the residents of the area?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: SDF, as well as police, have full safeguard gear to protect themselves to go into the evacuation zone and, if necessary, offer relief and rescue operations.

REPORTER: From TV Asahi. About Prime Minister Kan, the Mayor of Rikuzen Takada City is with whom he had conversation yesterday. Have there been any other mayors or governors that Mr. Kan has had conversations with, and if so, what did he talk about?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As much as possible, Prime Minister Kan wants to have a firm grasp of the situation of each area, so the leaders of the municipalities received contact from the Prime Minister sequentially. With those whom Prime Minister Kan had conversations, Prime Minister Kan is trying to listen carefully to their needs and desires. However, there are various circumstances in which these leaders of the municipalities are placed, so with regard to the support of the livelihood of the disaster victims, we are trying to step up our efforts to strengthen the support and assistance.

REPORTER: Ikeuchi from Yomiuri Newspaper. Unit 2 of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant seems to be generating highly radiation-contaminated water. What is the status right now?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Detailed information and data shall be announced and has already been announced by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The announcement has been reported to the Cabinet as well. Finding out the cause of the emission of such water and transferring the water to a different area is something we have instructed already.

REPORTER: According to NISA, the stagnant water in the nuclear power plant, whether the water contains plutonium has not been investigated by the Cabinet I believe, and I think extensive investigation is necessary don’t you think?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Measurement and inspection of plutonium is possible in the method that is introduced. And the soil within the nuclear power plant premise is now being investigated. I have been reported that the measurement is not easy, and if the soil in the periphery does not have the radioactive substance diffused, then the concern may be minimal. However, if the soil is contaminated by the radioactive substance, we have to investigate more carefully.

REPORTER: Oda from Sankei. So from Unit 2 high concentration of radioactive substance is emitted, so can we take it that the restoration work would be suspended over a long period of time?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Safety of the workers would have to be fully ensured, and high level of concentration of radioactive material cannot be scattered around the area of course, so we need to safeguard the area, which means that it would take some time.

REPORTER: Indeed, between 20 to 30km evacuation indoors zone, there has been a suspension of supply of goods to the area which is making it difficult for the residents to sustain their livelihood, so although you asked them to voluntarily evacuate, they don’t know where to go. Also their anxiety is rising because they don’t know if the promotion for evacuation is caused by increasing radiation. There is also concern about reputational damage from rumors -- for example, can you take some supra-legal measures to designate the 20 to 30km area as areas where it is difficult to supply aid to because of the evacuation measure?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Those people who are living under evacuation indoors and to the municipalities who are housing many of these people, we know that we are causing these people a lot of inconveniences and difficulties, and we are in a position where we can communicate with those municipalities, and the status-quo, especially the supply of goods to those areas, plus, the sentiments of the people who are living in the area -- of course this may differ according to individuals -- but we are communicating on these matters with the municipalities. And we are trying to provide thorough information to the people affected. Also, we wanted to promote countermeasures which will match the circumstances in which these people are placed. If these people require, or want to voluntarily evacuate, then the Government is willing to provide the necessary measures for them. In any event, I think for the time being we must support the livelihoods of the people who choose to stay behind or to remain evacuated indoors. And we are promoting such measures including the preparatory measures as well as real action. And so at this point in time I will not deny any possible alternatives or options, but under those circumstances, over these past two weeks, the circumstances in these two areas have changed very frequently. So we are in close contact with the heads of the municipalities.

REPORTER: According to National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), two people are hospitalized there -- two workers -- for radiation exposure, and I believe that the Institute said that these two will be released tomorrow. Can you comment on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe that it is a welcome sign that their period of hospitalization is short, but I believe NIRS will continue to monitor to make sure that they do not have any lingering or developing health issues. We want to improve the situation at the nuclear power plant without affecting any of the workers. I know that is difficult to do at the site, but we will continue to ask NIRS to maintain these two requirements.

REPORTER: From Israel a medical team was dispatched for the first time. How about the receiving system for this team? Why did it take so long for Japan to be able to welcome foreign medical teams here?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: In earthquake disasters we have had cases where overseas medical teams did join in the rescue operations, also the medical teams from the U.S. Forces in Japan (USFJ) -- we have been in close communication with them. So why did you say this was the first time?

REPORTER: It is the first time for a medical team I believe to enter Japan from overseas.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I would like to check up on this.

REPORTER: From Kyodo, according to a census run by Kyodo News, the support rate for the Cabinet rose to 28% which is a small rise. In any event 50% do positively evaluate the Government response in providing relief to the evacuees. But when it comes to the countermeasures against the nuclear accident, you don’t have a majority support rating. How do you assess this result?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Government is doing its utmost to respond to the nuclear power plant accident, but at the same time we know that we are causing a lot of pain and distress, and also a lot of inconveniences to the people who are living in and around the neighborhood, and also the workers on the site. So I am sure that such criticism will spill out going forward as well. In any event, we would like to humbly continue to provide responses to the people that are being inconvenienced by this incident.

REPORTER: Next question about reconstruction. In that survey, about 67% of the respondents said that they would allow a hike in taxes to finance the reconstruction work. How do you view this number?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Those people who are afflicted by the disaster, they are having to endure a very severe livelihood under evacuation, and to provide them with some hope for the future, we should issue some vision or direction toward reconstruction, and I think we are entering a juncture where we must begin to finalize such a vision for the future, but what is important now is to ascertain a master plan for the sort of reconstruction that we will be working toward, and of course that would require financial backing and funding, but I believe that we should create a vision for the reconstruction of the Tohoku area and then try to find some financial backing for this.

REPORTER: Now you talked about having to develop a vision, but how do you intend to go about formulating this vision? Would it be the Government who will be at the core of that? Would it be the DPJ, the ruling party? Or how do you intend to incorporate the comments and views of the opposition parties? Would they be asked to participate in this formulation process?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think in the wider sense, this will not be limited just to the Diet or Diet-related personnel, but the people in the afflicted areas also, people in all walks of life around Japan with expertise in the matter, I think we should muster all of their intellect to bear upon this issue. And so in what way we are going to aggregate all of these views -- we will have to refer back to our experience from the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, I think.

REPORTER: From Mainichi. You referenced during the NHK program this morning, regarding the fact that Fukushima Prefecture asked the farmers to delay sowing seeds for the vegetables in early spring. You made a positive comment of possible compensation. What are your views on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Those people who have damages incurred as a result of the nuclear power station accident, especially those who had to restrict shipment as a result of radioactive contamination of vegetables, would naturally have to be compensated by the Government. But at this point in time without any firm validation I cannot say anything decisive or concerning who would be compensated and how. But the damages incurred as a result of the incident taking place in the nuclear power plant is something that must be implemented. And it is quite natural that compensation be offered. And with regard to the deliberation for the possible compensation I believe our council would have to be established for the nuclear emergency. So with regard to livestock farming and also the farmers of these agricultural produce, maybe temporally payment would be made initially to compensate for any inconveniences on their livelihood and business.

REPORTER: It is reported that contamination level of the stagnant water of Unit 2 is about 10 million times. It may seem to the public that the situation is deteriorating. What is the view of the Government?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Up to now, I believe that the operation has been able to prevent further aggravation of the situation. Under such circumstances, there have been various efforts made to further improve the situation. Such general structure remains unchanged. Without the cooling capacity, the situation would deteriorate. But the cooling function is working properly. Having said so, this does not mean that we can immediately expect dramatic improvement, which I have been referring to repeatedly up to now. And we have anticipated major challenges that we cannot foresee. And I think that this stagnant water of high concentration of radiation is one of them. However, in order to keep the situation under full control, we need to establish a system that can lead to improvement.

REPORTER: In relation to Unit 2, what about the possibility of the fuel rods being breached?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Well, at the moment, cooling is fully secured. Therefore in each reactor unit, in the past, there had been a situation in which cooling was not fully implemented.

So during this period, to what extend have the fuel rods been damaged is a problem. So depending on how the fuel rods are breached or damaged, there may be some molten radioactive substances, Therefore, proper cooling is needed and maintained to bring the situation under control.

REPORTER: In this mornings NHK program, you said that communication to the disaster victims and the stricken areas was not enough and you apologized. In the initial operation of the Cabinet, what do you think were the problems?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Rather than the cause of insufficient communication, in reality, in the periphery of the nuclear power plant, especially the local government and municipalities, we failed to provide appropriate pieces of information in a timely manner, which I very much regret. We are trying to improve the situation.

REPORTER: Currently, the situation is improving. Is that your recognition?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: NISA, to be more specific -- We need to have the NISA deploy liaison in charge of to communicating fully with the local municipalities who can provide technical explanations about the data to the people of the municipalities in a timely manner.

REPORTER: So after a certain while, do you plan to validate and assess the outcome?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I would like to do that as soon as possible.

REPORTER: Noda of Sankei. I believe there is a related note, but regarding the funding for reconstruction, in order to collect from the nation the funding required for reconstruction, do we intend to issue some non-interest-bearing bonds?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Regarding the reconstruction funding I think we must first of all create or set the direction in which way, in what format, we will be reconstructing the country out of this disaster and sharing the vision with the people in affected areas should take precedence. Of course, that should be accompanied with funding, but at this point of time, I think this is not the juncture to talk about it.

REPORTER: Regarding the costs for reconstruction, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) said that he wants to reduce the burden on municipalities to as close as zero. Would that be the national government’s policy?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The minister of MIC I think said, “as much as possible,” I believe. By utilizing various systems and frameworks we have, while putting aside the question whether we can completely negate or reduce their burden to zero, we share the same feeling that the government should at least bring up to zero level the finances of municipalities which are currently in the negative because of this disaster.

Director of the Press Office: Are there any other questions?

 

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Thank you for your attention.