Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� April, 2002

Prime Minister Visits Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Wednesday, April 17, 2002 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a visit to two firms in Tokyo's Ota Ward in order to observe conditions at small and medium-sized enterprises performing well despite the prevailing difficult economic situation. The first firm visited by Prime Minister Koizumi was an enterprise in the metalworking sector. This firm is not only involved in the conventional areas of manufacturing components for lighting devices and decorations, it is also applying experienced craftsmanship techniques for the production of metal components for use in state-of the-art airplane, rocket and medical-related devices and other areas in which preciseness is required. After receiving explanation on the operations from the President of the firm, Prime Minister Koizumi inspected the plant and actually operated a machine tool with a guidance of one of the plant workers in order to produce a pot. The Prime Minister stated, "this work really requires concentration." After completing the pot the Prime Minister signed and presented the finished product. The next firm the Prime Minister visited was one involved in producing metal molds based on advanced information technology (IT) methods. After visiting these two enterprises the Prime Minister stated his thoughts as, " Japan has great latent potential. We should be more confident."