Prime Minister Naoto Kan held the first meeting of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Council is established with the purpose of deliberating on a reconstruction plan to formulate guidelines for reconstructing the regions affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, based on the request by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister handed a request for consultation entitled, "On a Reconstruction Plan to Formulate Guidelines for Reconstructing the Regions Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake" to Dr. Makoto Iokibe, Chair of the Council, after which discussion took place on the procedures of the Council meeting and other matters.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "The Great East Japan Earthquake was the greatest crisis for Japan in 65 years after the war. Today's discussion will mark the start of our efforts to overcome this crisis and reviving the Tohoku Region and Japan at large. Here, under Council Chair Iokibe, I would like to hear your open and frank opinions free of any restraint, and see a certain direction presented in the end. I am looking forward to seeing a proposal with a vision to recreate Japan, so that the later generations will see the Great East Japan Earthquake as a kind of major turning point for revitalizing Japan and building a better society for the people of Japan."