Press Conference by Shizuka Kamei, Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Tuesday, January 12, 2010, from 4:27 p.m. to 4:36 p.m.)

[Opening Remarks by Minister Kamei]

I do not have anything particular to report to you about today's cabinet meeting.

At a subsequent informal meeting of cabinet ministers, which lasted for slightly more than one hour, ministers explained the challenges they face this year in a free-discussion setting. For my part, I argued that although pursuing a welfare-economy approach is naturally the right thing to do for this government, brisk production activity is the prerequisite for that, so it will be necessary to carefully watch the actual state of the people's lives and national economic conditions and take appropriate and bold measures to deal with the situation.

[Questions and Answers]

Q.

Earlier, you said that you talked about matters like that at today's informal meeting of cabinet ministers. Did you mention anything related to the FSA (Financial Services Agency) or financial administration at that meeting?

A.

No, I did not. For the moment, there is not anything for which I need to ask my cabinet colleagues for support, so I did not mention anything related to financial administration.

(End)