Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have three items to report to you, the first of which is an overview of the Cabinet meeting that took place today. The meeting approved 14 general and other measures, and also approved the promulgation of legislation, the issuance of Cabinet orders and personnel decisions. There were a number of statements by ministers in the meeting. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice made statements concerning preparations towards the conclusion of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and Prime Minister Kan made a statement concerning a parliamentary secretary to assist the Chief Cabinet Secretary, concerning issues related to the Legislation concerning the Basic Policy and Organizations related to Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

In ministerial roundtable discussions the Minister of Finance made a statement about the Government of Japan having indicated its willingness to host the 67th Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in 2012.

Next, I would like to report on the proceedings of the 17th meeting of the Emergency Disaster Response Headquarters, which was held prior to the Cabinet meeting. In the meeting the Policy for Interim Measures Toward Normalizing People's Lives in the Areas Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake was decided. This policy contains items that need to be implemented over approximately the next three months, until such time as full-fledged reconstruction efforts have begun, and aims to help restore the normality of the lives and livelihoods of disaster victims. Major items in the policy include improvements to evacuation centers and the restoration of essential utilities. Important aspects of these items include improvement to the living environment, clearing of debris and prevention of secondary disasters. For further details please direct your questions to the Minister of State for Disaster Management.

Today the Cabinet meeting approved the formulation of draft legislation that is required to advance preparations towards the conclusion of the Hague Abduction Convention. This Convention is for the purpose of protecting child welfare and from the perspective of implementing the Convention appropriately, the formulation of draft legislation will be initiated with the cooperation of the relevant ministries and agencies, based on the items that were approved at the meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers yesterday, May 19. The items that were approved by Cabinet ministers for incorporation into draft legislation include the tasks to be implemented by a central authority to deal with the issue of child abduction, which is scheduled to be established within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and court procedures to order the return of a child in cases where there has been a refusal to return a child. For further details please refer to the documents that have been distributed to you.

Q&As

REPORTER: Today is the account settlement date for Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Although the company is expected to announce further restructuring policies, what are your expectations for the content of the policies, given your consistent stance of requiring TEPCO to make various restructuring efforts?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I expect that their restructuring policies will be explainable to the many people who have suffered great damage due to the incident and who have been forced to evacuate, although I do not know whether the content will gain their understanding.

REPORTER: What are your criteria for judging that the policies are "explainable?"

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think that "explainable" should mean that the content of the accounts will demonstrate that TEPCO is making maximum efforts to generate all procurable funds, towards the provision of compensation.

REPORTER: I would like to confirm what kind of expectations the Government has communicated to date to TEPCO concerning restructuring policies.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I understand that Minister Kaieda, the Minister for the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Incident has engaged in various direct talks with TEPCO and the points I have just mentioned have been duly conveyed at those times.

REPORTER: It is also expected that the president of TEPCO may be replaced at the same time as the announcement of business results. What are your thoughts on a change in leadership in TEPCO given that the situation at the power station is still not fully under control?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware of the various reports in this morning's papers, but I have not received a report from TEPCO on this matter.

REPORTER: On a related note, it seems that the successor to the president will be chosen from the ranks of TEPCO executives, through an in-house promotion. However, there are those who say it would be better to appoint a person from outside the company as a means of injecting new blood and shaking up the organization. Do you think that an internal promotion is the appropriate choice?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have seen press reports about personnel changes at TEPCO, but I have not heard any concrete reports from TEPCO. At the current point the Government is not funding TEPCO and therefore it is basically an internal matter for TEPCO to decide.

REPORTER: On a different subject, President Obama of the United States has given a speech in which he has stated that the areas under occupation by Israel should be drawn back to their 1967 positions. How does the Government view these remarks and what is the Japanese Government's stance on this issue?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Given the highly sensitive nature of this issue, I believe it would be better to make a comment after having fully understood the context and meaning of President Obama's remarks.

REPORTER: Yesterday the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture stated that he was considering the possibility of rescinding the license granted for landfill operations at the planned location of a new nuclear power station in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The governor stated that behind his considerations was the fact that the Government will be revising the national energy policy. How does the Government view the comments by the governor?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: At the current point I have not received any kind of report from the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Whatever the case, I believe that the basic premise for moving forward, not just for the proposed power station in Yamaguchi Prefecture that you mentioned, is that further safety measures reflecting lessons learned from the recent accident must be implemented, through which the understanding of local residents can be sought.

REPORTER: The issuance of licenses for landfill operations is governed by legally prescribed procedures. Do you think that the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture has the discretionary powers to deny or approve the provision of such licenses?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware of the various press reports on this matter, but I have not received any report or contact from the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Therefore, I repeat what I have just said that it is important to implement safety measures reflecting lessons learned from the recent incident, through which the understanding of local residents can be sought.

REPORTER: Returning to the topic of TEPCO, yesterday Chairman Oku of the Japanese Bankers' Association stated that he currently had no intention to provide TEPCO debt forgiveness or exemption from interest payment on its financing. What are your views on this comment? Also what are your views on Chairman Oku's criticisms directed at you, in which he stated that he did not understand why you would make statements that have repercussions when the compensation scheme for the nuclear power station is in the process of being finalized?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have not heard directly the nuances, intent and context of Mr. Oku's comments and so I would like to refrain from commenting directly. However, it should be understood that the compensation scheme comprises the points that I have raised to date.

REPORTER: What is your perspective on Mr. Oku's comments, given your repeated reference to whether it would be possible to "gain the understanding of the public?"

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think that in the final analysis this is something that will be judged by the public. I have given my views on the subject of public perceptions on numerous occasions.

REPORTER: The ratings agency Moody's Japan has indicated that there is a possibility that if TEPCO is granted debt forgiveness, its long-term credit rating could be further downgraded by seven points on the ratings scale. What are your views on this matter?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have previously stated that it is not the Government's position to make comments on the judgments of private ratings agencies and as TEPCO is still a private company that at the current point has received no public funds it would be even more unsuitable for me to comment.

REPORTER: Countries in Europe and North America have repeatedly called on Japan to accede to the Hague Abduction Convention. What significance will the accession to the Convention have for Government policy and how do you make an appeal on Japan's stance on this matter?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Convention is designed from the perspective of ensuring the welfare of children and my understanding is that the kind of cases it envisages are many and varied, and each case presents difficult issues for the various countries concerned on how best to ensure the welfare of children. This is not just an international issue, as the situation and circumstances surrounding cases of child welfare present difficult issues even within a country. When child welfare cases involve a transnational dimension they become even more difficult and the Hague Abduction Convention was formulated to create a set of criteria for such cases. With Japan's exchanges with the international community becoming ever closer in a variety of senses, it was thought preferable to make our domestic criteria compatible with international criteria to the greatest degree possible. I believe that agreement reached on this occasion is one that at the same time fully ensures the welfare of children.

REPORTER: Related to that, one side of this is that mothers who have brought their children back from overseas have been persistent in stating their discomfort with Japan agreeing to the Convention. How do you think you will reassure this group?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Many different cases exist. For example, there are also cases in which former spouses forcibly take children out of Japan. The convention envisages either case. In light of this, based particularly on the consensus reached this time, we have given due consideration and thought to make sure that there are no negative effects on the welfare of children.

REPORTER: At a press conference after the Cabinet Meeting Minister Yosano commented on debt forgiveness for TEPCO, stating, "I think that it is illogical to make a lender that has given a loan to an organization doing work of a public nature bear that organization's responsibilities." This statement seems critical of your own statements favoring debt forgiveness. I think that as long as there is this kind of inconsistency of opinion within the Cabinet it will be difficult to encourage financial institutions to make such important decisions to forgive TEPCO's debts or even refinance them. What do you think about this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I never said that financial institutions should bear the responsibility for TEPCO's actions. I was asked if I thought that TEPCO could gain the understanding of the people and I gave an answer to that. Some people also pointed out this is purely a matter to be settled between private companies. If TEPCO were to pay out compensation without receiving funding from the Government then it would be a completely private matter, but like I said then, if the company receives funding from the Government it is not merely an issue between private entities.

REPORTER: I have a question about a slightly different subject, a question related to the nuclear power incident, about how the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) data was received by the Prime Minister's Office on March 12. At yesterday evening's press conference, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said that the data was not given to the Prime Minister. In other words, he indicated that this data is not the data which was used when the Prime Minister visited Fukushima. If the data indeed was not handed over to the Prime Minister, then what was the purpose of asking for the data?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have not seen the data either. Nor has Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuyama. Although copies are made of all kinds of information which are sent over from the various ministries and relevant authorities by fax or other means and distributed to senior officials at the Crisis Management Center, the SPEEDI data was not forwarded in such a way. In that respect, this information was not shared at all, at least among senior-level officials within the Crisis Management Center. After seeing news reports on this, I inquired into what was going on and I was told that the data was faxed to the responsible authority at the Prime Minister's Office but that nothing was done from there.

REPORTER: If the data had just stayed at the coordination office or offsite center of the Prime Minister's Office, somewhere lower down, i.e., the Crisis Management Center, why did the Crisis Management Center ask for the data? That is to say, I believe the Government's explanation to date has been that the SPEEDI data could not be used at first because there was a malfunction and the amount of radiation being emitted from the nuclear power station, which is the basis for SPEEDI calculations, was unknown. If SPEEDI was malfunctioning at that point in time, is there any meaning to using its data?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I've said, a few days later when I inquired about this system called SPEEDI and what was going on with it, I was informed that it was not useful since the system assumes we know the amount of radioactive substances which are being emitted. A few days later, I asked if it is possible to do the calculations of the system backwards - that is, since we know the amount of radiation in the surrounding areas, if it is possible to measure the amount of radiation emitted by doing the calculation backwards. I asked if this was a viable approach. Moving forward, we will carefully confirm whether there is consistency between the report I received at that point in time and the fax that was received in the early morning of the second day after the earthquake.

REPORTER: Regarding this data, I believe the Government has taken the stance up to now that it will promptly disclose all information. At the very least, I believe the Government did not disclose SPEEDI's projection map which the Prime Minister's Office supposedly received on March 12. What are your thoughts on the fact that the projection map was not disclosed?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have repeatedly instructed that all information be promptly disclosed, and at the very least I have been disclosing the information which I have in my possession if there were any inquiries. It's very regrettable that the availability of the information itself was not made known to us. However, once we did find out that various estimates were calculated without us knowing, including the projections which are in the news, for example, what would happen if we assume let's say 1Bq was released or what is the likely scenario if about this much was released, we instructed that all estimates be handed over. As a result, this information was distributed to all of you.

REPORTER: I have a related question. As to why the data was not forwarded to the higher levels of Government despite receiving the fax, is it because in the process of aggregating all the information, which I believe neither the Prime Minister nor you can possibly glance through it all, it was determined that this information was not needed? Or was it because there was some sort of mistake?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: We ourselves intend to carefully investigate this matter, and not too long from now, once the Investigation Commission is launched, we would like the Commission to conduct a careful external investigation.

REPORTER: Even if the estimates were indeed based on provisional assumptions, looking back do you believe these estimate findings would have been useful if the Prime Minister or yourself had taken a look at them before the Prime Minister made his visit? Do you believe there was a need to take a look at these findings?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: At the very least, I believe it would have served some purpose if such information was available when we gave out the order on the evacuation zone, etc.

REPORTER: While you may not have been aware about the existence of SPEEDI, surely the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) or those who are in a position to advise the Prime Minister must have known about it. Even with such people around the Prime Minister, no one thought to think such a system existed?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Since I was not always at the side of NSC Chair Haruki Madarame, for example, I am not aware of whether or not such discussions took place.

REPORTER: Changing the subject, in the Cabinet meeting this morning concerning Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), the Prime Minister expressed the intention to enter into negotiations with the European Union (EU). I would like to hear your thoughts on what the Japanese Government's expectations for negotiations are.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As indicated in the guidelines published a few days ago, concerning overarching, comprehensive economic partnerships, although our basic ideas have not changed, in light of the earthquake we will be discussing the timeframe for making decisions on entering negotiations. Meanwhile, for bilateral agreements, for example, we are proceeding forward with what we can while considering a number of domestic issues. Concerning our relations with the European Union in particular, it is important to take careful approaches considering the impact of the disaster particularly in the field of agriculture, while there are a number of issues and directly affected by the quake. I think we need to take these into account as we move toward negotiations.

REPORTER: I have another question on a different topic. Since yesterday President of the House of Councillors Takeo Nishioka has been repeatedly calling for the Prime Minister to resign. What is your opinion on the situation that President of the House of Councillors, the leader of one of the three branches of Government, repeatedly calling for the Prime Minister's resignation?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I commented on this yesterday as well. Because we are of course talking about politicians, it is only natural that they should have a lot to say about a number of issues. Since we are talking about the leader of the legislature in particular, in consideration of the separation of powers as laid out in the Constitution, I think that I had best avoid making a direct comment on this.

REPORTER: I believe that you met with Governor Murai of Miyagi Prefecture this morning, and I think that Mr. Murai in particular requested that the Government implement a state-run project to build a facility for the disposal of debris. I would like to know how you would respond to this request for one thing. In addition, I have heard that the Prime Minister said that he would like to work as quickly as possible to formulate a new budget for items that cannot be sufficiently addressed by the first supplementary budget. Is the Government planning to consider requests like the one from the Governor before starting discussion on a large-scale budget to be implemented from the summer onward?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I did hear a request from Governor Murai this time about the clearing away of debris. He explained that there are a number of difficulties with the current scheme in terms of the actual procedures for debris removal in the disaster-affected region. I believe that this is something we must all take seriously. We must consider how we can solve these issues. I think that we also need to have a little debate on what the fastest and most appropriate way to resolve these issues is, looking at the situation in Miyagi Prefecture as well as other prefectures, as the conditions in each prefecture differ.

REPORTER: As for budgetary measures, will you consider a kind of 'version 1.5' supplementary budget?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Budgetary measures for the cleaning up of debris have actually already been formulated. The more difficult thing here is actually figuring out a system or a framework, because current administrative procedures did not assume dealing with such widespread damage and the unimaginable amount of debris. Therefore, first and foremost, I think we need to discuss from an institutional perspective what might be the quickest and most appropriate way to clean up such a large amount of debris.

REPORTER: About the cleaning up of debris - I believe that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Sengoku said on a television program once that he would like the national government to handle this. Was this matter discussed after he made that statement? I haven't heard of any talk about this since then.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I explain3ed, we are discussing what the quickest and most appropriate way to do this is, including the request received from Governor Murai. Today Governor Murai explained the details to me the exact procedural difficulties. I hope to feed his comments into the discussion within the national government.

REPORTER: It is being reported that a member of South Korean parliament belonging to the Grand National Party has announced he will visit Kunashiri Island in the Northern Territories around the time of the Japan-China-ROK Summit Meeting. What is your opinion on this? Do you think that it will have any effect on the Japan-ROK Summit Meeting? I would like it if you could comment on these two points.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have heard these reports, but I am now verifying the facts of the matter. If this turned out to be true, it would be regretful for Japan and the Government will make appropriate response.

REPORTER: I would like to ask about the emergency safety measures of nuclear power plants after Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Up until now there has been a lot of talk about tsunami and measures to secure external power supply countermeasures, but no one has really raised the issue of earthquake-resistance measures. However, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has begun an investigation on earthquake-resistance standards, and on May 19, NSC Chair Madarame announced that his organization will be revising the policy for nuclear safety inspections as well. Is the Government currently discussing the revision of earthquake resistance policies or the creation of any additional guidelines on this point?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have heard that basically, Mr. Madarame's comment was made during a discussion on tsunami countermeasures. In any case, the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear incident have made clear some necessary measures, among those measurements and we are implementing what we can immediately apply. We will continue to do so, undertaking any needed actions while taking into account future inspections and focusing constantly on safety.

REPORTER: As a follow-up question to that, it has been reported that the NSA has accepted the emergency safety measures reported by each power company, as they emphasize the safety of the municipalities in which nuclear power stations are located. However, currently many are saying that we need not only new tsunami countermeasures and external power sources but earthquake-resistance measures additionally. Municipalities located near power stations are only growing more anxious and unhappy about this. What is your opinion on this point?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The emergency countermeasures being discussed are intended to prevent tsunamis from causing the complete loss of power sources. It has been reported to me that a certain amount of work is now being done on this. I think that the investigation team will need to work even harder in order to establish thorough measures to ensure safety in light of the latest earthquake and tsunami, and that each power company and NISA should exert further effort to gain the full understanding of local communities in particular for such efforts.