Top > What's up around the Prime Minister > April, 2005

Prime Minister Koizumi Attends the Grand Opening Ceremony of the State Guest House in Kyoto Sunday, April 17, 2005 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the grand opening ceremony of the State Guest House in Kyoto. The Guest House consists of a ground floor and a basement floor, with floor space of approximately 16,000 square meters in total. It also has a Japanese garden with a pond situated in its center and an exterior in the style of a tea-ceremony house with a half-hipped roof. Upon constructing this Guest House, traditional techniques such as tea-ceremony house carpentry, plastering and garden designing were utilized, taking advantage of the skills of Kyoto's renowned traditional craftsmen. As for furnished goods, it has furniture which incorporate nishijin-brocade, lacquered goods and Japanese lacquer made with traditional techniques. Prime Minister Koizumi, Mr. Yohei Kono, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ms. Chikage Ogi, the President of the House of Councillors, and Mr. Akira Machida, the Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court, took part in the tape-cutting ceremony commemorating the grand opening of the State Guest House in Kyoto. Following the tape-cutting, approximately 70 people including successive prime ministers after the Murayama Cabinet, which gave Diet approval for the construction of the Guest House, as well as members of political parties, attended the ceremony commemorating the completion of the building. Prime Minister Koizumi said, "It is very gratifying that this kind of fabulous facility has been constructed in Kyoto, a city that represents Japan. I hope that as many foreign guests as possible will use this facility, despite being a state or official guest." The State Guest House in Kyoto is scheduled to be utilized as a place to welcome state and official guests, together with the western-style State Guest House in Akasaka, Tokyo. It will be first used on the occasion of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the beginning of May.