Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:

(Abridged)

Q&As

• Japan's future energy policy

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I would like to raise a question about energy. With regard to the future ratio of nuclear power, under the current status of review, what is the approximate timeframe for the Government to arrive at an actual conclusion? There are some reports that say that the early part of the 2030s is the target period for a nuclear-free Japan. I would like to confirm if these reports are based on fact, and that we are in fact headed in such a direction.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: First, I do not know how such reports have emerged. As everyone here is aware of, the basic stance now is to reduce our dependence on nuclear power, and it is sure that the goal is to head toward a direction of reducing dependency on nuclear power in the medium-to-long-term. With regard to specific energy policies including dependency on nuclear power - that is, whether it would be zero nuclear dependency, or whether the figure would be 15%, or 20% to 25% - amidst such discussions, we have also received various opinions from the perspective of how to respond to this issue in reality. Starting tomorrow, we will begin to conduct a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative assessment of such opinions from the citizens, through verification meetings. The Government will decide on a strategy in a responsible manner after the verification process. There is no such fact that the discussions have entered into a review process or the Government has decided or is going to decide on one strategy. As to the talk about when the Government would come to a decision and other speculations, I believe that Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Furukawa, who is in charge of the matter, will make an announcement after tomorrow. At the first meeting tomorrow, opinions will be collected from experts on public opinion polls rather than from members of the energy industry, about the aggregation of the survey results from a fair and neutral perspective. This includes issues such as the range of subjects to be verified and an appropriate method of organizing the survey results. The meeting itself will be an open one. The first meeting will be conducted tomorrow, the second one on the following Monday, while the third and subsequent meetings have not yet been scheduled. Through such verification meetings, the various opinions will be summarized and carefully organized while they are being collected and compiled as soon as possible. While we had initially spoken about the timing by August, which is one of the goals we had set, we are not necessarily taking a rigid stance or setting anything in stone.

(Abridged)