Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

• An overview of the Cabinet Meeting
• The Cabinet Secretariat and Cabinet Office personnel decisions approved at the Cabinet Meeting
• The holding of the Energy and Environment Council

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Firstly I would like to give an overview of the Cabinet Meeting. The meeting approved seven written answers in response to letters of questions by Diet members, and also included some personnel decisions. With regard to statements by ministers, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications made a statement concerning the allocation of fiscal 2012 special tax grants for reconstruction for September. The Prime Minister also made a statement concerning acting Ministers while Ministers in charge are away on an overseas visit.

I would like to speak on the Cabinet Secretariat and Cabinet Office personnel decisions approved at the Cabinet Meeting. First, at the Cabinet Secretariat, Director-General of the Cabinet Affairs Office, Katsunori Hara, will be assigned to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as of September 10. He will be replaced by the Councillor of the Cabinet Affairs Office, Kawachi Takashi. Secondly, at the Cabinet Office, the Director General for Policies on Cohesive Society of the Cabinet Office, Atsuko Muraki will be assigned to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as of September 10. She will be replaced by Shiro Yamasaki, the director of the Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

I would also like to announce that the Energy and Environment Council was held following the cabinet meeting. With regard to the formulation of Innovative Strategy for Energy and the Environment, Minister Furukawa reported the results of the review meeting on the latest national debates. On the same topic Minister Edano reported on matters to be considered when developing strategy. These included the challenges Japan would face if nuclear power dependency was reduced to zero, and potential solutions to the problems posed by renewable energy and energy conservation. These reports were then followed by discussions. Minister Furukawa will address this topic in detail at a later time. Moving forward, the Government will take today's discussions into consideration when finalizing strategy details and will strive to responsibly complete strategy formulation as soon as possible.

Q&As

(Abridged)