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Spread across the south side of the first floor
of the Kantei were the Large Dining Room, the Smoking Room and the Small
Dining Room.
In this section, we introduce the Large Dining Room, which was used for luncheons,
dinners and various receptions for foreign guests. In fact, despite its name the
room was also used for meetings on a daily basis. Examples of such meetings included
meetings of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, meetings of the IT Strategic
Headquarters, the Senior Vice-Minister meetings and meetings of Administrative
Senior Vice-Minister.
It was somewhat mystifying as to why a room used for important meetings should
be known as the Large Dining Room.
If we delve into history, we see that in 1956 a banquet was indeed held in the
room to celebrate Japan's admission to the United Nations. It was also this room
in which a 1993 Tokyo Summit working dinner was held.
It is due to the fact that the Kantei had few meeting rooms that the Large
Dining Room was effectively used as a meeting room. |
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