Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: First I would like to report on the earthquake that occurred off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture last night. The magnitude of the earthquake and other related information has already been announced by the relevant institutions, so I will not repeat this information here; however, I will remind everyone that there remains the possibility that other aftershocks of a size between 5-lower and 6-upper on the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity scale may occur in the future. We ask that everyone continue to prepare for such an event. Within the Government, immediately after the earthquake I, Minister of State for Disaster Management Ryu Matsumoto, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kinya Takino, and an emergency response team made up of the heads of relevant ministries and agencies including the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management gathered at the Prime Minister's Office to respond to the disaster. As to the extent of damage caused by the aftershock, I am sorry to report that one person in Yamagata Prefecture perished. We are working to ascertain further the extent of damage. The aftershock halted thermal power plants and other power sources, leading to continuing power outages over an extended area. I have also received reports that a portion of national highways remain impassable. With regard to the nuclear power plants, it has been reported that a portion of the external electric power sources and cooling lines were cut off, but all these have been repaired and at the current point in time cooling operations remain stable. In addition, no unusual radiation values have been reported by monitoring posts. External electric power sources were cut off from the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, but power is currently being supplied via emergency diesel generators. It has been reported to me that the fuel needed to power these emergency diesel generators has been secured. For further details on this, I ask that you inquire at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).

Next I would like to present a summary of today's Cabinet meeting. Eight general items and cabinet orders, as well as some personnel matters, were decided. As far as statements made by each minister at the meeting, Minister Renho talked about the review of government rules and regulations, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshihiro Katayama talked about the proclamation of special subsidies, Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeaki Matsumoto reported on our relationship with the new administration in the Republic of Niger, Minister for Health, Labour and Welfare Ritsuo Hosokawa talked about the establishment of a donation distribution council, and the Prime Minister talked about who would be responsible for his domestic duties while he is abroad on upcoming trips.

During the Ministerial Consultation meeting, I talked about measures to ensure the safety and peace of mind of those in disaster-stricken regions and asked for a moment of silence for those who have perished in the Great East Japan Earthquake.

I will report a little about the Cabinet decision on the policy regarding the review of government rules and regulations, on which statements were made during the Cabinet meeting. In today's meeting we approved all 135 items within the 10 fields discussed within the Government following debates held by the Government Revitalization Unit of the Cabinet Office since October of last year. In addition to the 66 review measures based on regulation review proposals submitted via the “People's Voice” office which we have already decided upon, a total of 201 reform policies have now been approved. There are many other items which we are continuing to work on. As you are no doubt aware, the earthquake on March 11 made it unfortunately difficult to put aside enough time and energy to work on these issues. For this reason, we are making decisions on what we can, when we can.

Ahead of today's cabinet meeting there was a round robin meeting of the Government Revitalization Unit yesterday. In addition to discussing the review of administrative programs planned for this year and the points for debate regarding the reform of the special account system that we aim to start this spring, in the light of the disaster response situation at each relevant ministry and agency, we decided to review work policies and schedules. I think that considering that the whole Government is working together to respond to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Government Revitalization Unit will be forced to change its initial schedule. Still, the importance of this work does not change―if anything it is greater than ever. As we need to secure a large amount of financial resources for reconstruction, it is indispensable that we work harder to rethink any non-essential or non-urgent budgets or programs. I expect that as we begin to evaluate and verify the incurred of the damage caused by the earthquake this time, we will run into organizational issues and problems regarding the Government's response which are not apparent now. I have consulted with Minister Renho and requested that she keep this in mind and expand the scope of her efforts when resuming the full-fledged work of the Government Revitalization Unit.

Next I would like to report on the cabinet meeting's approval of the FY2011 special subsidies which are one response measure to the Great East Japan Earthquake. The total amount of the subsidies this time is 76.2 billion yen, with 70.4 billion of that going to local governments affected by the disaster and the remaining 5.8 billion going to local governments working to support disaster-affected areas. Special subsidies are usually only given in December and March―their issuance this time is in response to the great disaster we have suffered. The subsidies will be promulgated in early April. I request that you ask Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication Katayama for further details.

Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, a meeting of the headquarters for electric power demand was also held. Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda and Minister for Electricity Conservation Promotion Renho reported on the details of this meeting. Let me briefly explain about it. Planned power outages are a huge inconvenience for everyone, but we are receiving wide-spread cooperation for this. With the weather becoming warmer, we continue to be at a stage where it seems that we will not need to implement planned power outages. However, the arrival of summer will bring with it demand for air conditioning and thus heightened demand for power. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Tohoku Electric Power Company expect that they will be far from able to supply enough power to meet the demand in the areas served by them. We would like to overcome this problem without having to implement temporary or emergency measures such as the planned power outages being discussed recently. Such power outages have a large effect on the lives of the people and the manufacturing economy. We thus have to aim to strike a good balance between supply and demand, and for this reason will be creating a supply and demand countermeasures package within April. Toward the creation of such a package, in addition to deciding on measures to strengthen the recovery of the power supply system today, we have set goals for the amount of power we would like to request heavy users such as factories, buildings, and offices to conserve, as well as the amount we would like others such as general household across the nation to conserve. We created a broad outline of all conceivable measures and approved it. We will begin to set concrete countermeasures in order to kick off discussion on this outline. As I have repeatedly said during these press conferences, we want to first prioritize voluntary initiatives. Particularly within the manufacturing industry, planned outages would have an effect on each enterprise's ability to turn a profit. I believe that the most effective power conservation measures are those for which we can receive everyone's cooperation and those which have the least impacts on industry. I think this is also recognized by many business people and industries. The Government should respond to the voluntary initiatives being undertaken by everyone by offering its own innovative ideas. I think this is a prerequisite for obtaining the cooperation of related industries and business people. Going forward, I would like to continue to communicate with individual and small business operators about any ideas or innovative measures that we can share.

I will now report on the Prime Minister's visit to disaster-stricken areas. On Sunday, April 10, Prime Minister Kan will make a day trip on a U-4 Jet to Miyagi Prefecture to visit evacuation shelters, disaster-stricken areas within Ishinomaki City, and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) Northeastern Army Headquarters in Sendai City, where he will offer the personnel working there a message of encouragement.

Finally, earlier the Governor of Miyagi Prefecture came to Tokyo to meet with the Prime Minister . Many places in Miyagi Prefecture were highly affected by yesterday's aftershock. I have thus heard that, having thoroughly conveyed his requests to the Prime Minister and the Government, the Governor will return to Miyagi after holding a press conference with the Prime Minister. The Governor submitted a detailed list of requests to the Prime Minister, and spoke out about three in particular. The first was that he wants each item requested to be legalized if possible, in the form of special legislation. Second, he noted that many of the local governments presiding over the areas hit by the disaster are relatively weak financially, and thus he requested the Government's financial support for them. His third request was on the need for something to be done to improve the economy of Japan overall in order to revitalize the situation in the disaster-stricken region. He said that the people of Japan should do away with excessive self-restraint and asked the Government to call on the people to take actions to help improve the economy as a whole. These are the three requests he made in this discussion with the Prime Minister. In response to the third request in particular, the Prime Minister said that he would like to ask that everyone take steps to help out the economy of Tohoku, such as purchasing products made in the region.

Q&As

REPORTER: In your opening statement you said that there is still the possibility that there will be another earthquake rated 6-lower or 6-upper. Depending on where the epicenter of such an earthquake is, I think we can expect it to cause a large tsunami which may affect power plants or nuclear power related facilities located on the shoreline of the country. I believe that this is what led to the current incident in which radioactive material is leaking out of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. What measures are you taking to respond to this outlook?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe that this is something that both I and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry reported few days ago. In the wake of the incident at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, instructions have been given to every power company across the country by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and NISA to prepare for such an event as you mentioned.

REPORTER: About the meeting between Prime Minister Kan and Miyagi Prefecture Governor Murai, which you mentioned in your opening statement just now―I have heard that Prime Minister Kan stated that the second supplementary budget will be quite large. Can you tell us about what the feeling in the Government is right now about the scale of this budget?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: No assumptions can be made at the current stage about the exact scale of the budget.

REPORTER: Concerning the nuclear power plant issue, about how long do you expect the repair of the external power supply at Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant to take?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: This basically depends on the restoration of power to the entire Tohoku region following the wide-spread outage. Although I would like for you to ask METI for more details, I will say that I have received a report that the workers at site are doing utmost to repair the area's thermal power plants within today.

REPORTER: Related to that, there were already a few reports but, immediately after the earthquake on March 11 that the water level in Unit 1 had decreased to the point that the fuel rods were about to be exposed. What was the Government's understanding about the truth to these reports?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: You mean at that time?

REPORTER: Yes.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As far as that time is concerned, at the time―wasn't it Unit 2? NISA announced its perspective of the situation at the time. I believe that each opinion and analysis report created by NISA and TEPCO at the time have already been made public.

REPORTER: So with regard to Unit 1…

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: What I mean is that I would like you to confirm that by yourself, as this information has already been made public. Information on the facts of what was reported is available to the public.

REPORTER: I don't think there were any public reports about the state of Unit 1 just after the earthquake or early into the morning on March 12. Did you not receive any reports?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Frankly―and I think that everyone is already aware of this―the conclusive reports containing analyses, that is, the analysis results and predictions about Unit 2 formally reported by NISA or the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) or TEPCO have already been made public. Given the speed at which the issue developed, with the quick halting of the cooling systems, we naturally expected that the fuel rods would be exposed to the air as we are aware of how the system at the power plant works. This is why we demanded a quick response from TEPCO. Everything regarding exactly what happened and at what time has already been made public. Please read them through.

REPORTER: On a related note, I have heard that TEPCO was instructed by the Prime Minister's Office to start ventilation in the very early hours of March 12. Was the instruction given with the knowledge that there was a possibility that the fuel rods in the Unit 1 reactor might be exposed? Do you know anything about this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I have just said, this was based on a prediction by NISA, which had already been reported to us at that time. The prediction said, concerning the Unit 2 reactor, that if the cooling function was stopped the water temperature would increase causing the water to evaporate to a point where there would be no water for cooling. If fuel rods were exposed, the pressure would simultaneously rise. Something therefore needed to be done to bring that pressure down. That the cooling system needed to be recovered quickly has been shared as basic knowledge concerning the situation at the nuclear power plant. The Prime Minister and relevant officials were all working to stop the situation I mentioned from happening, with the intention to do their best. That I think is natural. The specific predictions about what would happen at what place and at what time, which we received from NISA in its report about Unit 2, are currently made public.

REPORTER: Concerning measures to address the gap between power supply and demand, I believe one method is to enforce power usage restrictions on large energy users, but for low energy users and households, are there any effective means to limit power usage such as wisdom and inventive approach or systems?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Even with regard to the large energy users, as I have just mentioned, the content of restrictions may differ by company, industry, or region in some case. Concerning independent efforts by households, as we require the cooperation of the public especially with regard to mitigating the peak-time consumption, the Government will support such efforts as much as possible to encourage people to do what they can before considering formal restrictions. This applies to all small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), households, and individuals. The Government will inform them about specific ways they can contribute to power conservation efforts, and cooperate with them where it can, in order to advance efforts to get through the summer without power outages. This is the kind of basic policy I would like to formulate.

REPORTER: In relation to power saving, certain Cabinet members have argued that electricity rates should be raised. What is your opinion on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: No such decision or even specific consideration has been made by the Government headquarters at this moment.

REPORTER: Concerning the Prime Minister's visit to disaster sites, I understand that he is going to visit Ishinomaki this time. It will be almost a month since the earthquake occurred. I am interested to know the purpose of this visit and the message the Prime Minister intends to give to the people there.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Prime Minister was planning to visit Ishinomaki during his last visit to the disaster-hit areas, but was prevented from doing so due to poor weather. So I believe the Prime Minister needs to visit Ishinomaki at the earliest opportunity possible. Broadly speaking, as I have repeated several times before, although all kinds of information about the disaster-stricken areas are reported to the Prime Minister's Office as needed, it is still necessary to directly see these sites given the scale of the disaster this time. Doing so helps us to have a more realistic grasp of the information we receive indirectly. Also, hearing the voices of the people there―even though we cannot talk to everyone―it is important that we receive direct information to supplement the information we get through reports. Hearing the voices of the people who suffered from the disaster themselves and directly seeing with our own eyes the conditions they are forced to live in is extremely useful for our efforts to respond to their situation.

REPORTER: On a related note, it has been almost been a month since the earthquake. During this time, the Prime Minister and others have been very committed to going to the disaster sites. From the standpoint of political leadership, are there any areas in which you have seen positive achievements or responses to the measures that have been carried out in the last month?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: This is something I have been repeatedly saying, but political leadership does not mean that politicians alone work together to accomplish things. I do not believe that anyone, including myself, has said that this is the case. Everyone who is involved, including those in the bureaucracy, each and every public servant, not only those at the national level but also those at the local level, as well as those at all relevant agencies―everyone must carry out his or her roles and responsibilities to the fullest as servants of the entire nation. I believe that for a long time many of us have been relying on public servants to perform all of the duties of the Government, including those that should actually be carried out by politicians. We must stop doing this. The Government, under the banner of political leadership, has been working to undertake the duties that it should undertake. In a situation such as the recent disaster, the Government truly needs to fulfill its duties, but at the same time, everyone involved is offering his or her cooperation, pushing forward without getting much sleep or rest. Those in the SDF are a great example of this. Also, national government officials are putting forth their unified efforts in their respective posts, as are those not at the local level, such as firefighters. Among those with whom I have been in close contact with are researchers at radiation-related research centers, which are independent administrative institutions. Each entity is exerting its concerted effort to fulfill its individual responsibilities, and therefore, while I would not say that the idea of “political leadership” is completely irrelevant, I also believe that this is not something that should be considered from that standpoint.

REPORTER: Please allow me to double-check with you regarding the statements made at the Cabinet meeting and Ministerial Consultation meeting. Regarding the moment of silence which you asked for, what exactly did that entail? You also spoke about excessive self-restraint. I've heard that the Prime Minister has also referred this, but I would like to hear about the facts of this matter. If he has in fact made comments on this, what specifically did he say?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Regarding my statement, next Monday will mark exactly one month since the earthquake. While the grief of those who have lost their family, relatives and friends is of course not something that can be dealt with in a month, this is a kind of turning point, given we have been through momentous disasters over the past month . To recognize this as a kind of a milestone, all Ministries and Agencies unanimously should offer a moment of silence on Monday at the exact time of the earthquake as a way to extend our condolences and resolve to steadfastly carry out our roles toward reconstruction. I asked all ministers and ministries to take part in this.

The issue of excessive self-restraint was brought up at the Cabinet meeting and Ministerial Consultation meeting as well. Excessive self-restraint will ultimately damage our economy, which in turn will weaken our ability to support reconstruction financially. Some of Cabinet members also pointed this out; that practicing excessive self-restraint may negatively impact our reconstruction efforts. We talked about the need to take this concern into consideration as well as the feelings of the disaster victims and the people who are practicing such restraint. We will decide as a Government how to respond to this situation. So it is true that we did have a discussion about this.

REPORTER: Did the Prime Minister himself make any comment regarding the issue of excessive self-restraint?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As a general rule, we do not specify who said what or how issues were discussed at Cabinet meetings or Ministerial Consultation meetings. As such, I hope you understand that I should say only that on the whole, there were discussions about the topic.

REPORTER: This question is with regard to the large earthquake that hit late at night on the 7th. Three cities, including Ishinomaki, did not get seismic information because their seismometer to measure seismic intensity scales have not yet been repaired. I would like your view on the actions of the JMA, which is alerting about the possibility of aftershocks. How do you evaluate the agency's actions this time given that all other relevant people, including the victims themselves, are desperately working to rebuild their lives?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I intend to carry out a thorough investigation regarding the facts of this issue. Were the circumstances of the disaster areas preventing them from reinstalling the scales, or did they neglect to do so even though they could have? There is a difference between the two. I will look into what the actual facts were.

REPORTER: Regarding the first supplementary budget, I assume you have set a goal of submitting the draft budget to the Diet this month. Given this goal, when do you believe the deadline is for finalizing the content, from the political perspective considering the administrative work that must follow?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Of course we are keeping that in mind as we proceed with our work, but this is also related to how much time it will take to complete administrative work and processing on a best effort basis. Thus it would not be appropriate to state a specific day at this time. We are working on that now with the assumptions that the Ministry of Finance will do the best they can and that we should include all items necessary with as wide a scope as possible.

REPORTER: I would like to ask a question regarding the problem of the donations to the Prime Minister. There have been reports that the Prime Minister received political donations from a foreigner and that they have been returned. What are the facts of this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware of the reports, but I have received no further reports on this topic from the Prime Minister.

REPORTER: Changing the subject, in praise of your hard work following the earthquake, the word “edaru” has emerged on the Internet, with the meanings of “to work with little sleep” and “to be forced to work harder than necessary because of not having a great boss” What are your feelings about this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware of such postings on the Internet. However, I believe, regarding the Government's handling of this disaster, that not only myself but all personnel, and the many other people outside of the Government, have been exercising their abilities to the maximum, and that the effort required has been put forth. Furthermore, from the standpoint of the Government, there are many people who suffered great loss due to the earthquake and tsunami, and also many who have been affected by the nuclear power plant incident, and they are struggling and striving under adverse conditions. As a member of the Government over this past month I've been feeling sorry for the disaster victims, and believe I must continue to work with such a sentiment.

REPORTER: Concerning a topic brought up yesterday, Speaker of the House of Councillors Takeo Nishioka, a member of the Democratic Party of Japan, said at a press conference that “given the current conditions, the Kan Cabinet should not be allowed to lead the Government in the future.” In addition, regarding the Reconstruction Design Council, he has asked, “how many councils does he need to set up to be satisfied?” What are your feelings about this as Chief Cabinet Secretary?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware of these reports, but I have not been told about this directly, so I cannot make a comment.

REPORTER: Earlier, you said that there was a discussion among the Cabinet ministers that the people should refrain from excessive self-restraint. I believe there are a variety of ways in which people may exercise self-restraint, such as refraining from cherry blossom viewing, to give a recent example. From your perspective, what do you consider to be “excessive self-restraint”?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I was noting on the remarks made by Governor Murai and the fact that this topic was raised during the Cabinet meeting and Ministerial Consultation meeting. The Government would like to further examine how it should urge people to do this, or whether it should be urging people at all. Basically, I think this prevailing atmosphere is arising out of the people's respect towards those who suffered from the disaster. I believe the Government needs to think carefully about these issues, including whether or not it is appropriate for the Government to comment. Therefore, I was not making a statement about what the Government thinks. Rather, today, I was presenting objective facts―that the issue of excessive self-restraint was raised from the perspective of its impact on the economy, and that Governor Murai spoke on this matter. As to what the Government thinks, the situation is just what I have told you. After giving some thought, if there is something the Government should be informing the people about, we will be doing so. Please give us some time to review the matter.

REPORTER: On the topic of electricity supply and demand, I believe the Government has been implementing a Cool Biz campaign each year to date. Regarding Cool Biz, does the Government have any plans to start this earlier or modify the temperature setting or take any other reinforcement measures?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: First, today, we decided on a broad policy outline. On the basis of this broad policy outline, we will be asking various parties for their cooperation, and will also be identifying what the Government can do specifically. Naturally, I believe what you just mentioned will be one of the measures which will be considered in this process. Specifically, where things stand is that the Government will be setting out the specifics based on the outline that was approved today.

REPORTER: I have a question regarding reputational damage of Japanese food and other products. It seems that rumors not only in Japan but in overseas as well could cause even further harm, such as import restrictions being considered to place on Japanese products and less people eating at Japanese restaurants. Will the Government be taking any measures against this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: With regard to this issue, first of all, we will continue to appropriately and thoroughly explain the situation to countries from an objective standpoint, either through the foreign embassies in Japan or through Japan's embassies abroad, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. In addition, we will explain to the foreign press in Japan the situation as much detail as possible and carefully. I believe we need to further strengthen these types of efforts. Furthermore, through non-government channels, some in various countries have brought to my attention and others that in a number of cases, foreign media outlets outside of Japan have reported things that are quite contrary to the truth. Regarding this situation, I would like Japanese embassies and consulates abroad to monitor the reports very carefully. I believe the rumors cannot be stopped unless strict measures are taken against foreign media reports which are contrary to the truth. Therefore, I will instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on these measures.