Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Japanese

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Tomorrow the Act for the Establishment of the Reconstruction Agency will be put into force. I will make a statement on this, as along with the Act entering into force we will now have the establishment of the Reconstruction Agency and there will be personnel matters to attend to from tomorrow for the naming of a Minister for Reconstruction and so forth.

Minister of State Tatsuo Hirano has been named to the post of Minister for Reconstruction. Following that, House of Representatives member Masaharu Nakagawa has been named as Minister of State for Disaster Management, for the New Public Commons, and for Measures for Declining Birthrate, and Gender Equality.

After that, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Tadahiro Matsushita and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Yoshinori Suematsu were both named to the post of Senior Vice Minister for Reconstruction and Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office. Senior Vice Minister Matsushita will handle issues centered on Fukushima ranging from the nuclear accident to reconstruction and rebirth, while Senior Vice Minister Suematsu will handle all other relevant matters.

In addition, as Senior Vice Minister Matsushita is already the Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Parliamentary Secretary of Economy, Trade and Industry Mitsuyoshi Yanagisawa will be assigned to the position of Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. In his place, House of Representatives member Yasuhiro Nakane will be named Parliamentary Secretary of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Furthermore, in Special Advisor Suematsu's position, House of Representatives member Manabu Terada will be named Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and placed in charge of administrative reform and the comprehensive reform of social security and taxation systems.

Next, Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office Kazuko Koori; Parliamentary Secretary of Finance Izumi Yoshida; and Parliamentary Secretary of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Shougo Tsugawa will all be named to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Reconstruction. Parliamentary Secretary Koori will be in charge of the Miyagi Reconstruction Bureau, Parliamentary Secretary Yoshida will be in charge of the Fukushima Reconstruction Bureau and Ibaraki Reconstruction Administration Office, and Parliamentary Secretary Tsugawa will be in charge of the Iwate Reconstruction Bureau and Aomori Reconstruction Administration Office.

Next, currently Senior Vice Minister of Cabinet Office Ikko Nakatsuka and Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office Hiroshi Ogushi are in charge of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Moving forward, this responsibility will be managed by the Reconstruction Agency. For this reason, they have been concurrently named Senior Vice Minister for Reconstruction and Parliamentary Secretary for Reconstruction respectively.

Furthermore, regarding the official appointment of the Minister for Reconstruction as well as Parliamentary Secretaries for Reconstruction Ogushi, Koori, Yoshida and Tsugawa, this is scheduled to occur tomorrow morning after the Cabinet meeting in the Ministers' Room of the House in the Diet Building, while each are scheduled to be officially invested with their office by His Majesty the Emperor at 8:00p.m. tomorrow evening. Minister Nakagawa, Parliamentary Secretary Nakane and Special Advisor Terada will be officially appointed after being invested with their office by the Emperor. The appointment will occur a bit later, at 9:15p.m., at the Prime Minister's Office.

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER: This is not about personnel matters, but since the Reconstruction Agency will be established tomorrow - there are some who have pointed out that the sense of speed regarding measures for reconstruction has been slow. This time it has taken 11 months to establish a one-stop organization. In terms of the sense of speed, do you feel that the Government has met the expectations of the affected area in this regard?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I recognize that there are many opinions from the local areas on recovery and reconstruction, and we have also received the criticism that we are slow. The establishment of the Reconstruction Agency was decided upon at the ruling and opposition parties discussion last year. Reflecting the opinions at that time that the Agency should be established as soon as possible by all means, current Minister Hirano has worked to overcome a number of barriers, enabling us to arrive at tomorrow's establishment. On that point, with the strengthening of our system from tomorrow, we hope to finely pick up the various needs of municipal governments in the affected area related to reconstruction projects and make a one-stop response in the area as much as possible. This is our expectation.

(Abridged)