Top > What's up around the Prime Minister > July, 2006

5th Anniversary of the Town Meetings Town Meeting in Tokyo Monday, July 24, 2006 JAPANESE Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the 5th Anniversary of the Town Meetings: Town Meeting in Tokyo held at AKIBA _SQUARE, along with Mr. Shinzo Abe, the Chief Cabinet Secretary; Ms.Yuriko Koike, the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, and the Minister in Charge of Global Environmental Problems; Ms. Kuniko Inoguchi, the Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs; as well as Mr. Takeshi Yoro, Emeritus Professor at the University of Tokyo. Discussions with the participants were held mainly on the three themes of the Environment and Economy, a Society with Diverse Opportunities, and the Decreasing Birth Rate and the Structure of Society. In closing Prime Minister Koizumi delivered an address, in which he said, "What is important in society is to try to change challenges to opportunities and turn negative events into positive ones," "Whatever happens, it is neither all positive nor all negative. I think it is important in life to move beyond emotions that every human being has such as distress, joy, anger, and sorrow."