PRIME MINISTER’S DIARY

Caption: Prime Minister Kan delivers his policy speech to the Diet on June 11, 2010.
Credit: CABINET PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

Inauguration of the Kan Cabinet

On June 8, 2010, Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party of Japan took office as the 94th prime minister of Japan. Later that day, he began his inaugural press conference by expressing a basic position that politics should seek to eradicate poverty and avoid war, saying, “My belief is that the role of politics should be to minimize the factors that make the people of Japan and the rest of the world unhappy.”

Then, on June 11, Prime Minister Kan gave a policy speech to the 174th Session of the Diet, where he outlined three key items of his policy agenda.

In terms of the first policy challenge, “an exhaustive clean-up of postwar government,” the prime minister said that he would continue the policy agenda of the Hatoyama Cabinet by stamping out waste and scrutinizing public administration, as well as promoting regional sovereignty and postal reform.

The second policy challenge is to “revive the economy, rebuild public finances and turn the social security around in an integral manner.” To achieve these goals, Kan expressed his resolve to (1) achieve a strong economy by promoting a New Growth Strategy, (2) achieve robust public finances by eradicating wasteful spending, preparing budgets which promote economic growth, and conducting a thorough reform of the taxation system, and (3) building a strong social security system by promoting “life innovation” that can bring economic growth, public finances and social security into a win-win relationship, and by reforming the pension and medical systems.

With regard to the third policy challenge, “a foreign policy and national security policy grounded in a sense of responsibility,” Prime Minister Kan declared his intention to reinforce Japan’s partnerships with Asian countries while still keeping the Japan-U.S. alliance as the cornerstone of Japan’s diplomacy, saying “Today, the international society faces major changes that can be likened to a tectonic shift. The changes extend not only to economic but also foreign policy and military fields. In this situation, we must clarify our position [in the international community] and pursue a foreign policy based on ‘balanced pragmatism.’”