Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:I will first report on the appointment of a new minister. Today, House of Representatives member Yukio Edano was appointed to the posts of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Minister for Nuclear Incident Economic Countermeasures. The attestation ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Imperial Palace today from 8:00pm, and a letter of appointed will be issued after the ceremony around 9:00pm.

Next, I would like to report on the start of the official blog of the Prime Minister's Office, the "Prime Minister NODA's BLOG." The "Prime Minister NODA's BLOG," the official blog of the Prime Minister's Office (the Japanese version of this blog is called the Kantei kawara-ban), has been started with the objective of communicating the Prime Minister's thoughts and the status of efforts concerning important policies advanced by the Noda Cabinet to citizens in an easy-to-understand manner. The Japanese naming, Kawara-ban (bulletin), comes from a practice during the Edo Period, where kawara-ban were distributed throughout cities and used to provide flash reports about various incidents and other news to citizens. Thus far, every morning Prime Minister Noda had distributed a kawara-ban, or news bulletin, made by himself in front of train stations in order to convey his proposals and views to citizens. After his appointment as Prime Minister, he intends to continue this effort to disseminate information to as many citizens as possible through a digital kawara-ban, the "Prime Minister NODA' s BLOG." For more details about this, please forward your inquiries to the Cabinet Public Relations Office.

Q&As

REPORTER:Please comment on the Government's aims for appointing Yukio Edano to the posts.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:It was the result of the Prime Minister giving the issue careful consideration. This is personal conjecture, but I believe that Mr. Edano was chosen for his readily applicable capabilities. Until recently Mr. Edano had assumed this post, Chief Cabinet Secretary, and in particular I think that he was chosen because he has been deeply involved in wide-ranging issues particularly since the March 11 disaster - not only the issues of recovery and reconstruction, but also issues in Fukushima Prefecture.

(Abridged)

REPORTER:Concerning the appointment of Mr. Edano, Mr. Edano was also involved in energy policy under the Kan administration, where he served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Since the Prime Minister has appointed Mr. Edano to the position of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, does this mean that the Noda administration also intends to adhere to the energy policy of the Kan administration?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:I believe that Prime Minister Noda has basically said that he will be continuing the policy of the Kan administration. However, concerning the individual, more detailed issues, the new Cabinet should advance necessary discussion on each issue. Put in a very broad sense, it will be an extension of the Kan administration's policy.

(Abridged)

REPORTER:If the reason that the Prime Minister selected Mr. Edano was for his readily applicable capabilities, does that mean that he paid significant consideration to the fact that the Diet would be convening from tomorrow?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:I believe that Prime Minister Noda, with his tremendously strong belief that Japan cannot be revitalized without first revitalizing Fukushima, appointed Mr. Edano because of his past performance and for seamlessly dealing with the nuclear power problem. I believe that he paid emphasis to continuing a seamless response as much as possible, more so than the fact that the Diet is convening tomorrow.

(Abridged)