Prime Minister Naoto Kan received a courtesy call from groups of junior reporters from Okinawa and Hakodate at the Prime Minister's Office.

Selected from the pool of elementary and junior high school students in Okinawa Prefecture, the Okinawan junior reporters are actively promoting youth exchanges, connecting Okinawa and the mainland through news gathering activities in various regions on the mainland. Their news gathering activities in Tokyo have been joined by junior reporters from Hakodate since 1992, after exchange activities began when the group of junior reporters from Okinawa visited Hakodate on their way back home from news gathering activities on the Northern Territories. This time also, the groups of junior reporters jointly paid the courtesy call.

Welcoming the junior reporters, Prime Minister Kan said, "Your activity of observing events in various regions and writing them down with your pens to share with friends in Okinawa and Hakodate is deeply impressive. Write also articles on your visit to the Prime Minister's Office and share them with your friends in the southernmost Okinawa, and Hakodate in Hokkaido. Don't let this hot summer beat you -- I hope that you will continue to do your best as junior reporters. Play well, study hard. From my heart, I am full of anticipation as you great youths embark upon your lives."