Thursday, February 1,2001

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori flagged the improvement of urban infrastructure as a national issue in the policy speech that he delivered upon the opening of the 151st session of the Diet on January 31. In view of this, and upon the request of the Liberal Democratic Party Council on Urban Problems, he inspected a problematic railway crossing near Kamata Station of the Keihin Electric Express Railway, in Ota-ku, Tokyo. This crossing cuts across a major highway, and during peak hours it is shut for up to 38 minutes an hour, tying up traffic for long periods.