Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have one item to report concerning the meeting of the Council to Promote the Development of Globally Competitive Human Resources. Today from 10:00am the first meeting of the Council to Promote the Development of Globally Competitive Human Resources was held, which I chaired in my capacity as Chief Cabinet Secretary. Given the increasingly inward-looking trends today, particularly among young people, and also in view of the impact of the recent disaster, this Council will seek to consider measures to boost the number of Japanese students engaging in study overseas, as well as measures to ensure that once these students return from overseas they can apply their skills and abilities in Japan. The Council will also seek to consider a response to deal with the tendency for overseas students to shy away from Japan, due to the impact of the disaster. Detailed deliberations will be undertaken in the administrative meeting of the Council, which will be jointly co-chaired by Senior Vice Minister Suzuki of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Special Advisor Hosono, with the involvement of senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice ministers from the relevant ministries and agencies and the participation of representatives from the private sector. The Council is expected to compile an interim report by mid-June, and its contents will be duly reflected in the overall image for policy promotion that is planned to be issued mid-year. In particular the Government seeks to gain the cooperation of corporations and also universities and other institutes of learning in facilitating a move away from inward-looking tendencies, and promoting the future development of globally-oriented human resources in a way that transcends the interests of individual companies, as we seek to consider the mid- to long-term development of the Japanese economy and Japanese society as a whole.

Q&As

REPORTER: In today's Okinawa Times there was a report that the United States Department of Defense has issued a request to Japan to consider the "Kadena integration plan" that was proposed recently by the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. Could you tell us the facts surrounding to this report?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am not aware that such a request has been received from the United States Department of Defense.

REPORTER: May we understand that the Japanese Government's position is still one that seeks to steadily implement the agreement reached between Japan and the United States last year?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Yes, that is the case.

REPORTER: Given the lack of progress concerning the proposed base relocation to Henoko, is there no possibility that the Japanese Government would consider the integration proposal?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: While it is the case that various discussions have already taken place and great inconvenience has been caused for the people of Okinawa, the fact of the matter is that an agreement was reached between Japan and the United States in May last year, and basically the Government position, while apologizing to the people of the Okinawa, is to seek their understanding on the basis of the agreement that was reached.

REPORTER: Minister of Economic Affairs, Finances and Industry Christine Lagarde of France has formally announced her candidacy for the post of managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). How does the Government evaluate the abilities of Minister Lagarde? Also, given the possibility that there will be a selection process for the post, at what point does the Government intend to make a decision on which candidate it will support?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The position of managing director of the IMF requires a high degree of expertise and ability and it is therefore important that the most suitable person for the job is selected. The Government believes that the process of selection should consider each applicant's abilities and that procedure should be undertaken in an open and transparent manner. At the current point I would like to refrain from commenting on individual candidates.

REPORTER: With regard to the issue of the injection of seawater at the Unit 1 reactor of the nuclear power station, around what time did the Prime Minister's Office, not the Government as a whole, become aware of the situation?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe that unless this matter is explained carefully and accurately there could be a difference in recognition of the facts, and I think I should have explained the matter a little more clearly before about whether the information received by the Prime Minister's Office was about the preparations for the injection of seawater, or whether it concerned the fact that the injection of seawater had actually been implemented. I believe that this lack of explanation on my part has led to some confusion and misunderstanding. In addition, with regard to the situation at the Prime Minister's Office, immediately after the disaster more than 100 liaison officials from various ministries and agencies had gathered at the crisis management center at the Prime Minister's Office. So, when you refer to the "Prime Minister's Office" at that time unless you define clearly what you mean by the term "Prime Minister's Office" it is easy to invite misunderstanding. I was not present at the meeting held at 6:00pm and received a report afterwards, but if by the "Prime Minister's Office" you are referring to the people there with responsibility for policy making, such as the Prime Minister, Minister Kaieda and Special Advisor Hosono, then it is recognized that at the meeting headed by the Prime Minister that began at around 6:00pm a report was received from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) that preparations were being made to inject seawater but it would take some time to implement. With regard to when a report concerning the actual injection of seawater was received, this is currently being confirmed to ascertain an accurate time, but subsequently, after the situation had settled down, a report was given that "the injection of seawater was started once then halted," as part of a report to the Diet regarding the objective facts of the situation. My understanding is that the people I have just mentioned, including myself, were informed of this at the time of that report to the Diet.

REPORTER: If that is the case, it would imply that once the fax was received by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) from TEPCO, it took several hours for that information to reach the Prime Minister's Office.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: We are currently investigating the details concerning the information that was received by fax by NISA, and how that information was handled. If necessary I believe that this is something that would be investigated by the Nuclear Incident Investigation and Verification Committee. At the current point I am unable to confirm the details.

REPORTER: Given the fact that the initial communication and information sharing between the Prime Minister's Office and TEPCO did not run smoothly, do you not now think that this presents some lessons for the Government, that if the Integrated Response Office had been established sooner, communications would have run more smoothly?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think that the fact that the Prime Minister visited the headquarters of TEPCO concerning the establishment of an Integrated Response Office is something that has been subject to greater criticism, but as I have been involved in this process I think that this should be the subject of an objective third-party evaluation. The Government must earnestly consider the fact that the communication and sharing of information immediately following the incident was insufficient and must also have the Nuclear Incident Investigation and Verification Committee investigate thoroughly the factors behind this insufficient response. In addition, it is also necessary to seriously consider the criticisms, that, with hindsight, given that communication functions improved following the establishment of the Integrated Response Office, such an improvement could have been achieved sooner if the measures to establish the Office had been taken sooner.

REPORTER: There have been a number of critical comments of the Government by former leading figures in the ruling party. Yesterday, former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Mr. Ozawa, stated that the Prime Minister's Office is concealing information and former Prime Minister Hatoyama has also made comments to the effect that the Government is giving information a little at a time.. How does the Government view these kinds of remarks?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I have already said, the Government takes criticism very seriously concerning insufficient communication and sharing of information. However, the information held by leading figures at the Prime Minister's Office, including the Prime Minister and myself, has certainly never been concealed, and nor is it being drip-fed to the public.

REPORTER: I have a question on the residents' temporary reentry into the 20km zone. From today, residents of Namie Town were also allowed to temporarily return home. However, if we look at the example of Minamisoma City, for instance, a number of people have said that although one of the goals of the scheme is to finish one round of the visits by mid-July, the visits will in no way be completed on schedule. Specifically, I understand that there are not enough buses and not enough people at all to carry out the screening work, and therefore, the work is not going very smoothly. From the moment this situation began, has the Government thought to increase assistance, for example, to dispatch personnel or to increase the number of staff for the buses, etc. or to dispatch drivers?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Government intends to provide the maximum amount of assistance to the extent we can. Although there may be obstacles along the way in trying to assemble a group of people who have the necessary skills, for example, the Government would like to do all that it can as often as possible, bearing in mind the requests of the community members as much as possible.

REPORTER: Based on how the work has been going so far, what are your views on the pace of the work and its progress?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: In many instances municipality offices themselves have been forced to relocate or their staff have been forced to evacuate. Under these circumstances, I believe work is being done with the utmost efforts and cooperation of everyone involved. Especially from the perspective of those who wish to return to their homes quickly, I believe it is natural that they are wondering whether the process cannot be sped up with more enhanced assistance from the Government. I believe we have to take that to heart and make a sincere effort.

REPORTER: In yesterday's speech, the Prime Minister unveiled that the target date for achieving 20% renewable energy generation as a percentage of Japan's total power generation will be moved up quite significantly. To this end and in order to cut costs, what sort of programs will the Government implement specifically under the next fiscal year's budget or within this fiscal year's supplementary budget for technological innovation?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I understand that the Prime Minister pledged to increase the share of natural energy to a level that is at least above 20% as early as possible in the 2020s to engage in technological innovation to this end. For this initiative, we will examine what kind of Government assistance mechanism will be the most effective for realizing a variety of technological innovations or what measures are needed to promote natural energy. While the Government has been undertaking measures to promote natural energy for a while, we will examine with greater urgency what the optimal methods are for generating greater outcomes. We will take steps towards achieving our goal as soon as possible within the 2020s. That is our plan at this point in time.