Looking Squarely at the Future
"The comprehensive reform of social security and taxation systems"
"Hepatitis B situation not yet settled"
"My reflections over the past week"
"The comprehensive reform of social security and taxation systems"
The proposal for the comprehensive reform of social security and taxation systems has finally been approved by the Headquarters of the Government and Ruling Parties for Social Security Reform after much heated discussion.
The social security system was first set up in 1946 following its establishment by Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution. Since then, the system has developed into one of the fundamental pillars supporting the people and the Government of Japan. I was born in that same year, and therefore belong to the generation that most benefited from social security.
However, in the past 20 years the environment surrounding social security has changed drastically, mainly due to such issues as declining birthrates, the aging of the population, and increases in informal employment. Anyone can tell that we need a fundamental reform of social security including public finance in order to maintain a system the people can truly feel comfortable with. However, partly due to the unpopularity of financial resources issues during elections, such a major reform has been consistently postponed.
In consideration of this, the fact that the agreement this time among the Government and ruling parties encompasses financial resources issues is of great historical significance. I will present this proposal to the opposition parties, and hope to have in-depth national debate on it in order to realize social security reform by the hands of the people.
"Hepatitis B situation not yet settled"
Yesterday at the Prime Minister's Office, I met with members of a plaintiffs group in lawsuits connected to hepatitis B contraction and I apologized to them on behalf of the government. I heard stories from several patients directly, who spoke of the heartbreak resulting from mother-to-child transmission, the discrimination they had faced in various ways, and so on.
Fifteen years ago, at the time of the issue of AIDS contracted through contaminated blood products, I also apologized to patients as Minister of Health and Welfare. As hepatitis B infection spread as a result of the government not regulating for many years the reuse of vaccination syringes, it has a different cause than that of AIDS contracted through contaminated blood products, but, as the person responsible for the government, the fact that this situation was not avoided makes it a most extremely regrettable matter.
In the case of AIDS caused by contaminated blood products, at the time that the settlement was reached, groundbreaking new drugs that help protect against the onset of the disease were developed, greatly decreasing the number of people dying. At yesterday's meeting as well, I received a strong request from the Hiroshima plaintiffs group for research and development of therapeutic drugs to delay or prevent the onset of hepatitis B. Immediately there at the venue, I strongly instructed the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to take up this matter.
Of course it is impossible to say that a settlement has been reached simply through the signing of a Letter of Understanding for the settling of the lawsuits. When I said yesterday "we are still standing at the starting line for resolving this issue," several of the people sitting in the patients' seats nodded their heads. Starting today, it is the duty of the government to demonstrate these words through concrete actions.
"My reflections over the past week"
During this week in which I had taken a break from updating this blog, I was swamped with the extension of the Diet session, the appointment of new ministers, and so on. What I had on my mind the entirety of that time was that we must not stop our movement forward toward recovery and reconstruction from the earthquake disaster for even a minute, and that we must pave the way for a system to prevent the recurrence of a nuclear accident.
I am truly pleased that Mr. Ryu Matsumoto kindly agreed to take on the job of Minister for Reconstruction in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Since the earthquake disaster occurred, as
the Minister of State for Disaster Management, Minister Matsumoto has continuously devoted the entirety of his time to lead countermeasures for the disaster. Well-familiar with the disaster-stricken areas, he enjoys the trust of people concerned, notably the heads of the areas affected by the disaster. In the future, he will be engaged in full-scale reconstruction efforts still further, formulating guidelines via the Reconstruction Headquarters in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake while giving due regard to the recommendations received from the Reconstruction Design Council on June 25.
As for preventing the recurrence of a nuclear accident, I have appointed Mr. Goshi Hosono as Minister for Conclusion of the Nuclear Incident and Prevention of Recurrence. Since the accident first occurred, Minister Hosono has been devoting his full energy to measures to address the nuclear accident in his capacity as Special Advisor to the Prime Minister upon special assignment from myself, including relations with Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), and foreign countries including the U.S., while also serving as the person responsible for drafting the report to the IAEA, among other tasks. In the course of his activities, he has come to perceive in a most profound way the problems associated with current public administration of nuclear energy. I appointed Mr. Hosono, a young man of 39, to be Minister in expectation of his further efforts, to ensure we create a system that prevents the recurrence of a nuclear accident so that serious problems will never occur again in the future.
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