Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� June, 2003

Lion Meeting in Kantei Wednesday, June 25, 2003 Click photographs to enlarge Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi invited readers of the Koizumi Cabinet Mail Magazine to a roundtable discussion at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, or kantei in Japanese. The discussion between Prime Minister Koizumi and the readers, called the "Lion Meeting in Kantei," was held in response to the requests by readers as an event for the 100th centenary edition of the Mail Magazine, which was first published on June 14, 2001. Twenty readers who were selected by lottery from a total of 3,000 applicants directly confronted Prime Minister Koizumi with their everyday questions and opinions. The discussion was chaired by Mr. Shinzo Abe, the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary and editor of the Mail Magazine. The readers asked a wide range of questions from foreign policy, consumption tax, education and expectations of young people to health and fitness, and Prime Minister Koizumi respectfully answered each question, even as the meeting overran the scheduled one hour by more than 30 minutes. Further details are to be posted in the 100th edition of the Mail Magazine.