Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� February, 2004

Town Meeting at Kantei and Tohno Saturday, February 28, 2004 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the "Town Meeting at Kantei and Tohno" held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, commonly referred to "Kantei" in Japanese." The town meeting was first held in June 2001 with the objective of promoting direct dialogues between the Koizumi Cabinet and the people of Japan. It has been hosted in every prefecture thereafter and marked its 100th meeting in December 2003. In commemoration of exceeding the 100th meeting, 11 participants from the previous meetings were invited to hold talks directly with Prime Minister Koizumi. The meeting was held simultaneously at Tohno City, Iwate Prefecture which was broadcasted for Prime Minister Koizumi to hold talks with the participants from Tohno City. Prime Minister Koizumi said, "Politics should not be conducted by a small group of people alone, but instead with everybody. I would like to draw upon the various opinions raised at town meetings and reflect them in the governmental policies to advance reforms. I would like to continue to receive positive opinions from everyone."