Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As of today it has been one month since the Great East Japan Earthquake. I again offer my heartfelt prayers for those who lost their lives in the earthquake. I also offer my sincere apology to those struggling every day as evacuees. Many continue to put up with the inconvenience of life in evacuation shelters even now. I express my firm resolve to redouble our effort to provide assistance to everyone in need. I reiterate the government's firm resolve to recover from the disaster as early as possible in order for us to move to the next stage of reconstruction, and to put an end to the situation at the nuclear power plant.

Q&As

REPORTER: I have heard that you are in the final stage of making a decision to redefine the boundaries of the evacuation zones. Is there anything you can announce at this moment?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: There are various reports on this in the newspapers, but we haven't made any final decision about it. I would like to make a few points though, since those concerned about the region must be quite anxious about it. As I have repeated in my press conferences, there are two grounds for asking area residents to evacuate. The first is the possibility that the situation at the nuclear power plant may deteriorate, causing an additional, large-scale discharge of radioactive materials. Although this possibility has now become extremely low, it is needless to say that the situation there is completely different from other nuclear power plants that are operating normally right now. Against this possibility, we had to ask those living near the nuclear power plant to evacuate. That said, this risk has been largely reduced compared to the first one or two weeks since the occurrence of the earthquake disaster. Also, even in the unlikely case that the situation deteriorates, we consider the 20km evacuation zone to be sufficient to address contingencies, as we will be monitoring for signs of such an event and reconsidering the conditions behind the current evacuation. Although the level of risk in the 20 to 30km zone is not absolutely zero, based on the aforementioned considerations, we are discussing what to do with people in the zone, whether or not any further steps are necessary from the perspective of safety. We are about to come to a conclusion on this point. To be more precise, it will be enough to just have those still within the 20km zone leave and have those outside of 20km evacuate should the situation get worse with additional emission of radioactive materials. The second reason for the evacuation is the effect of the radioactive materials already emitted by the power plant. Even if there is no additional emission, radioactive materials that come in contact with soil irradiate that soil, causing it to give off radiation. Over the long-term, radiation accumulated by being in these areas may potentially affect human health. Therefore, a separate measure is necessary to ensure safety from accumulated radiation. On this point, we are in the final stage of discussion as to what actions should be taken, based on recent results from radiation monitoring as well as the weather conditions and other conditions particularly at the time radioactive materials were being emitted in large amounts. As you are aware, we are tailoring our response to the situation in each area in question. Based on the result of monitoring, precise analyses are currently being done, based on which we are deciding on what actions to take also in the light of the geography and other conditions of each region. I will repeat that the effect of long-term exposure will better be addressed by considering local conditions and more precise monitoring results. We are right in the middle of such work so as to make a more delicate response.

REPORTER: If that is the case, if the 20km evacuation zone is enough, can we assume that the no-entry zone you are currently considering will not include the 20-30km zone?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: At least, the 20km evacuation zone was established based on the first reason I mentioned, that is, against the possibility that the situation at the nuclear power plant deteriorates rapidly moving forward, causing a significant and sudden emission of radioactive materials. That line of thought is clear, and which is based on expert analyses. Outside of that, I don't think people need to stay indoors all the time even within the 20-30km zone, but we are currently considering what action would be the most rational as a precaution for any major emission of radioactive materials or other contingencies.

REPORTER: Concerning the part about tailoring your response to the situation in each area, thus actions being taken not necessarily in a concentric fashion at this moment is there any monitoring value that you are using as a benchmark and that can act as a basis for the more delicate response you mentioned? I have heard a report that 20mSv will be set as a legal limit?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: We are going to make a decision about this by considering the opinions of experts.

REPORTER: There was an announcement from the Government that municipalities in certain regions outside the 20km zone will be the designated planned evacuation zones. However, a colleague of mine has informed that the people in Iitate Village have already begun evacuating as early as this morning, right after the announcement. What is going on? To begin with, what is the legal basis for the planned evacuation zones?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I stated just now we are beginning to enter into talks with stakeholders in the region based on the results of monitoring. Like I said, the level of radiation depends on things like the geography of the area and the wind direction. We are carrying out thorough consultations in light of these points. When we make requests based on the results of monitoring with regard to accumulated radiation we do so in consideration of half-year or year-long scenarios, and so I would like the people of the concerned areas to understand that if there is a need for concrete instructions we will absolutely issue them, and under such circumstances I would like the public to understand that our instructions need to be followed.

REPORTER: Given the action already being taken by the people in the area, and with the Government being at a stage of final coordination - will you be announcing the instructions today?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I just said, we are responding to the threat of accumulation over half a year or a year. The best course of action is to issue such an instruction after thorough preparation. At the same time, I understand that those in the area want to know our decision as soon as possible. So I think that we are currently carrying out this kind of balancing act between a speedy decision and enough preparation.

REPORTER: I would just like to clarify - you will designate the area within 20km of the plant as a no-entry zone?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: We have not made any final decision yet. I think that when we do actually make a decision, we need to think about needed preparations to carry out that decision. The reality is that most people have left the area in line with our instructions, and those who have not unfortunately refuse to see our way of thinking even after attempts to persuade them by riot police and SDF personnel. Before we designate the area as a non-entry zone, we need to make sure that there are effective measures in place to prevent people from entering again. If that were to happen, there wouldn't be much of a point in making such a declaration.

REPORTER: I have heard that in tomorrow's Cabinet Meeting a decision will be made to establish a Deliberative Panel for Nuclear Emergency Damages Compensation. Is this true? And what role will this council play?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The panel will operate under the Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology based on relevant legislation, and will consider, from a third party and neutral perspective, standards for the donation of compensation to those affected by the nuclear incident. It is regrettable that we have been forced to create such a council. We are now preparing the necessary legislation to create the council. I believe this work should be done soon, and that a Cabinet decision shall be made on this in tomorrow's meeting at the latest. We are undergoing final preparations.

REPORTER: Today marks one month since the earthquake, and the Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Response for the Great East Japan Earthquake as well as the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters are still in operation. What is the agenda for the discussion in these two headquarters? Are you discussing resetting the limits of the evacuation zones?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Yesterday there was a long discussion among each member of the Cabinet and the leaders of each political party, including the People's New Party. With today being one month since the earthquake it is a kind of critical juncture for us. Rather than having just the Government participate in the meeting as was the case yesterday, the headquarters today drew the participation of those actually involved in work on related issues from each ministry and agency. We discussed the results of each meeting thus far and shared our plans for the future. That was the purpose of the meeting today.

REPORTER: I think that you presented two lines of thinking with regard to the evacuation zones. For the latter, you emphasized the need to respond based on the amount of potential accumulated radiation over half a year or one year, but with the 20km evacuation zone already established based on a legal limit for radiation of 50mSv. I think that accumulated levels are what have always mattered inside and outside of the zone, so I am wondering what the significance is of emphasizing accumulated levels so much for the latter perspective now.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: That is actually the result of discussion among those in the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), which is to say, it is the result of discussion among experts. As I have said previously about the need to designate areas in which there is the risk of receiving 50mSv of radiation as evacuation zones, legal limits are based on the supposition that someone may receive a large dose of radiation over one or two days due to the large amount of radiation suddenly released in a short time by the nuclear power plants. This is a common point within the discussion being conducted by experts. It is not a limit that was created based on expectations of long-term accumulation. We are having experts within the NSC discuss whether there is a need to establish a legal limit for long-term accumulation, and if there is a need to give evacuation orders from a safety perspective. At the same time, as it isn't the case that every measurement has been done consistently since March 11, we are having them discuss how we should view accumulated radiation and what the possibilities are of receiving such radiation in the future. The experts are analyzing these points based on the results of monitoring carried out by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and other specialized institutions.

REPORTER: When you speak of long-term, does that mean that evacuations will continue on over the long-term as well?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: That is not what I mean. We are having experts discuss and give us opinions on how radiation is received into the body, what a preferable or appropriate limit is, and if there is a need to consider the matter differently in terms of the large amount of radiation emitted by the nuclear power plant in a short time and the amount of radiation that might be accumulated over a long time. Basically, there is no reason to believe that the same standards can be used for the two situations. We are in the final stage of discussion on this now.

REPORTER: You said that we have approached a one-month milestone. Looking back over the past month, for example, as is being pointed out by the opposition parties, there have been an incredible amount of meetings and the structure of these meetings have been extremely complex. The opposition parties have also questioned whether there isn't a problem with the way the Government shares information. How will the Government change its ways based on these comments from the opposition parties?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The reality is that many people have been forced to live extremely inconvenient lives as evacuees over this past month and the nuclear power plant incident has worried a wide range of people. For these reasons, I believe we must fully listen to every criticism. However, as to the criticism that there have been too many meetings - we needed to create headquarters to work on each issue, and they had to be cross-ministerial. The same goes for livelihood support, and any themes that involve this issue - no one ministry can handle any theme entirely. We needed to create a certain working team for each issue by having the best members sent from each ministry. From this perspective, we need to create headquarters to put these teams to work - we needed to create cross-ministerial working teams, and we needed to create one right after the other. I think that in many cases, creating such teams draws each ministry and agency closer to each other. On the point of information sharing, our basic policy has been to make the information we have completely available to the public. We will continue to maintain this stance. Frankly, particularly in the case of the nuclear incident, at the early stages the situation changed incredibly fast. We had to respond to this quickly changing situation and provide information at the same time. It has been often pointed out that there was a need to provide information quicker and earlier at that time. I think that to an extent it is natural to wonder if the Government, TEPCO, and each government institution such as NSC didn't have the time to come up with some way to share information better. However, at that early stage, given the speed at which the situation changed, we chose to first publicize the information most vital to the public. Since things settled down a little bit, we would like to make further efforts to reduce confusion with the way each relevant organization shares information.

REPORTER: Related to that, the Prime Minister is supposed to announce the formation of the Reconstruction Design Council today. There are many committees and councils already in place such as the reconstruction committee, the joint meeting of the government and ruling and opposition parties, and the headquarters to support disaster victims. I would like to ask about how the tasks of the Reconstruction Design Committee will differ and be separated from the other committees.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Reconstruction Design Council will gather ideas from across Japan on reconstruction, substantiate these ideas, and in doing so, further the concrete work of the Government on reconstruction. I think that the political consultations and cooperation we are undertaking with other political parties is an entirely different matter. The Headquarters for Emergency Disaster Response and the headquarters for livelihood support concern early stage responses such as relief and rescue activities and work to rebuild the disaster-stricken area. The Reconstruction Design Council we are establishing today will thoroughly substantiate ideas toward the coming stage of reconstruction - although there will be time differences regarding when we begin work for each different area.

REPORTER: In your discussion of evacuation orders as they pertain to the amount of accumulated radiation, are you considering issuing orders that differentiate between characteristics like age and gender, or whether a resident is pregnant?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think that we must think about both how much we need to consider these matters from a scientific perspective, and what is best from a societal perspective. I think that most agree that generally, age is not a factor when considering non-internal exposure, or rather, external exposure. However, we also need to consider societal needs when thinking about this. We are in the final stage of discussion on this, and are considering the situation in each region.

REPORTER: When we talk about soil contamination, it feels as if we would, somehow, inevitably also have to think about internal exposure to radiation. Would you say that there is also such a possibility?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: With regard to internal exposure to radiation in the case of soil contamination, internal exposure occurs if the soil enters the mouth, for instance, when dust in the air or on the ground flies around. It depends on the assessment of the extent to which dust may enter the body through inhalation. In that case, at the very minimum, the dosage of external exposure to radiation will increase when the dust rises upward. Therefore, in that regard, we have received the explanation that the attributes would be slightly different from that of food or drink, for instance. I am of the same opinion.

REPORTER: On a different note, I have a question about the nationwide local elections. Yesterday, the first round of the nationwide local elections came to a conclusion, and the Democratic Party of Japan was defeated in both the Tokyo gubernatorial and Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections. While the election period had coincided with the post-disaster response period, what are your honest thoughts on how the party took the defeat, and what the reasons for the defeat were?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: In normal times, as an intermediary for the government, I would probably have to give a certain degree of thought and consideration to activities such as party elections. However, to be honest, this month, the government has been required to do its utmost best in dealing with the post-earthquake situation. I have been in the same position. During the execution of my work, this time, I have trusted in the Secretary General and all the party leaders, so I do not think that it would be appropriate for me to comment on the outcome of the elections.

REPORTER: There have been some opinions, including from within the party, about the sense of responsibility of Prime Minister Kan, as well as concerns for the impact on government administration. What are your views on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Even prior to the earthquake, we were fully aware of the fact that there were various opinions among the people. We listened to them with sincerity, accepted their opinions with humility, and received much from the people. Now, even more than ever, I think that we have to fulfill our responsibility to put our all into handling the crisis at hand.

REPORTER: In relation to that, nationwide local elections notwithstanding, don't you feel that the fact the Government didn't inspire that much confidence might have an adverse effect on future reconstruction efforts?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: To take firm steps - particularly with regard to recovery - I think that it is important to take firm steps in drawing up the recovery measures that are needed or anticipated by the people, and especially by the disaster victims.

REPORTER: In relation to that, opposition parties have also raised their concern that Prime Minister Kan still cannot be trusted with the reconstruction work. What are your expectations of the opposition parties' attitude toward such work?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think it is natural for citizens, respective parties and organizations to have their own opinions. While we will take these opinions seriously, I think that it is important for us to discharge our responsibilities faithfully. I also hope that members of the opposition could assess us based on "what we do, and how we do it," rather than on "who does it." We would like to move forward on drawing up reconstruction policies with their understanding.

REPORTER: This round of nationwide local elections came immediately after the earthquake. Do you think that the Government's handling of the disaster and the nuclear crisis affected the outcome of the elections?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am sorry, but the nature of my current duties are such that I do not have complete information on recent actions and the circumstances pertaining to the elections. I think that it would not be appropriate for me to comment only on the outcome of the elections. I ask that you put your question to a relevant member of the DPJ.

REPORTER: I agree with you on your comment that the assessment should be based on "what should be done, and how it was done," rather than on "who did it." However, on the other hand, doesn't that mean that we will be able to overcome the crisis even if we aren't led by Prime Minister Kan?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Notwithstanding that, based on the current rules of democracy in this country, Prime Minister Kan has been entrusted with the responsibility of serving as Prime Minister under these difficult circumstances. Therefore, I think that it is logical for the Kan Cabinet to put in its utmost efforts into discharge its responsibilities faithfully. It is our responsibility to do so.

REPORTER: I have a related question. Do you believe the election results will have an impact on the future cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe what all parties have been saying since the earthquake is that the country as a whole will work together to get through the disaster regardless of party lines. I am very grateful for this. Thus, in order to ensure that we come up with substantive countermeasures, I believe it is important that we fully take into account the various opinions which are out there.

REPORTER: And sorry, another question. It's been one month since the earthquake disaster. Since then, studies have pointed that because the Government was initially slow to act, relief was slow to arrive to the affected people, or that the damage from the nuclear radiation was increased. What is the Government's response to these views?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: To this day, many people are still faced with very difficult living situations in evacuation shelters. With regards to the nuclear issue, a variety of people are being affected, not only those who have evacuated. This being the circumstances, I believe we need to take seriously the various opinions, and in particular, the criticisms we have received. However, with regards to the provision of relief to those affected by the disaster, as well as the response to the nuclear issue, I believe we did everything we could do under the current system. A great number of people are still in difficult situations, and therefore, I believe it is important that we sincerely accept the views of the people.

REPORTER: If I could ask a question slightly off-topic regarding something on the web - there are rumors on the Internet that you had your family hide overseas after the nuclear accident. Can you confirm if this is true? If it is true, I believe it is a matter that also affects your reputation.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe some of you reporters may have seen them at the Diet Members' Office Building and elsewhere. The whole time since the earthquake, they have been either at the Diet members' dormitory in Tokyo, or since I cannot return there, sometimes they were out on the move, dealing with the local election in Omiya. They have not moved at all otherwise. I myself have not said to the people of Japan or the people of Tokyo that there is anything to worry about. I have been saying the same thing to my family. Today, too, our kindergarten apparently instructed the children to bring water in a water bottle, but I said that it was alright to use tap water.

REPORTER: I have a question on the earlier topic of the national local elections. Even in your election district, which is your number one supporter and is the direct reason why you are in office based on the rules of democracy, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took a painful loss in the prefectural assembly elections in Saitama. Under the current circumstances in which the party has to obtain the support of the people in coping with the earthquake disaster, what kind of impact do you think the election results will have on the future?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: If I may speak about my constituency, although I was not able to contribute to the victories of the four promising DPJ candidates, who are also my colleagues, the DPJ increased its number of seats in the local assembly from five seats before the election to seven seats.