Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule June 23-29, 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:05 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:33 Arrive at Haneda Airport
08:03 Depart from Haneda Airport on ANA Flight 125. Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Hasegawa Eiichi accompanies
10:25 Arrive at Naha Airport
10:42 Depart from Naha airport
11:08 Arrive at Peace Memorial Park in Itoman City, offer flowers at National War Dead Peace Mausoleum. Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Nakaima Hirokazu accompanies
11:12 Depart from mausoleum
11:16 Arrive at Okinawa Peace Hall within Peace Memorial Park

11:45 Depart from Okinawa Peace Hall
11:50 Within the Peace Memorial Park, attend memorial service for all dead from the Battle of Okinawa, offer flowers, and deliver address

PM
12:51 Memorial service ends
12:57 Interview open to all media: When asked “By when will the Cabinet make a decision on the right to collective self-defense?” Mr. Abe answers “I want the Cabinet to start deciding when that becomes its political duty.”
01:01 Interview ends
01:04 Depart from Peace Memorial Park
01:31 Arrive at Crowne Plaza ANA Okinawa Harborview Hotel
01:59 Lunch meeting with Mr. Nakaima commences. Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Yamamoto Ichita and Vice Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Takara Kurayoshi also attend
02:51 Lunch meeting ends
02:53 Depart from hotel
03:00 Arrive at Naha Airport cargo terminal in Naha City, view the terminal
03:26 Leave cargo terminal
03:35 Arrive at Naha Airport grounds for planned extension to 2nd runway, view the area
03:44 Leave 2nd runway extension grounds
04:04 Arrive at Naha Airport proper
05:07 Depart from Naha Airport on ANA Flight 132. Mr. Yamamoto accompanies
07:02 Arrive at Haneda Airport
07:25 Depart from Haneda Airport
08:07 Give condolence call in honor of former Cabinet Legislation Bureau Director-General Komatsu Ichiro at his house in Zenbukuji, Tokyo
08:15 Depart from Mr. Komatsu’s house
08:45 Arrive at official residence
08:46 Interview open to all media: When asked “Please give us a single word concerning the news of former Cabinet Legislation Bureau Director-General Komatsu’s death.” Mr. Abe answers “For respect of the way Mr. Komatsu lived his life, I bow my head. I give my thanks to him, and pray for his well-earned happiness in the next world.”
08:47 Interview ends

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:16 Depart from official residence
08:17 Arrive at office
08:23 Council for Science, Technology and Innovation meeting
08:40 Meeting ends
08:42 Headquarters on Creating Dynamism through Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities meeting
08:49 Meeting ends
08:54 Cabinet Meeting begins
09:14 Cabinet Meeting ends
09:27 Depart from office
09:29 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters
09:33 LDP Officers Meeting begins
10:02 Meeting ends
10:03 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters
10:05 Arrive at office
10:16 Depart from office
10:17 Arrive at Diet
10:19 Make rounds to all political parties in the Lower House with Lower House Speaker Ibuki Bunmei and Vice-Speaker Akamatsu Hirotaka
10:46 Finish making rounds in Lower House
10:47 Make rounds to all political parties in the Upper House with President of Upper House Yamazaki Masaki and Vice-President Koshiishi Azuma
11:00 Finish making rounds in Upper House
11:02 Depart from Diet
11:04 Arrive at official residence
11:50 Summit Conference with President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III

PM
12:35 Summit with Mr. Aquino ends
12:36 Working lunch with Mr. Aquino
01:21 Working lunch ends
01:22 Joint press release
01:42 Joint press release ends
01:44 See off Mr. Aquino
01:45 Finish seeing off Mr. Aquino
01:46 Depart from official residence
01:47 Arrive at office
02:34 Exchange of views with Federation of Economic Organizations [Keidanren], Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Japan Association of Corporate Executives
02:51 Exchange ends
04:05 Interview with Bloomberg News
04:19 Interview ends
04:31 Council for Promoting the Alleviation of the Burden of Futenma Air Station meeting
05:05 Meeting ends
05:13 Joint meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy and the Industrial Competitiveness Council
05:35 Joint meeting ends
05:41 Extraordinary Session Cabinet Meeting begins
05:47 Cabinet Meeting ends
06:30 Press conference
06:58 Press conference ends
08:29 Depart from office
08:30 Arrive at official residence
08:33 Filming for TV Tokyo News Program
08:55 Finish filming for TV Tokyo

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitor)
09:01 Depart from official residence
09:02 Arrive at office
09:38 Meet with Minister in charge of Support for Women’s Empowerment and Child Rearing Mori Masako
09:59 End meeting with Ms. Mori

10:00 National Security Council (NSC) Director Yachi Shotaro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Vice-Ministers for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and Sugiyama Shinsuke, and Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Ihara Junichi enter
10:07 Mr. Ihara leaves
10:20 Mr. Sugiyama leaves
10:37 Everyone leaves
10:40 Meet with Minister in charge of Total Reform of Social Security and Tax Amari Akira
10:55 End meeting with Mr. Amari
10:56 Meet with former US National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley
11:36 End meeting with Mr. Hadley

PM
02:00 Interview with journalist Godo Kenji
02:50 Interview ends
02:51 Speak with Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide
03:01 Finish speaking with Mr. Suga
03:02 Meet with Director of Kyoto University Kokoro Research Center Yoshikawa Sakiko
03:32 End meeting with Ms. Yoshikawa
04:56 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru and Mr. Yachi enter
05:06 Mr. Yachi leaves
05:25 Mr. Kitamura leaves
06:00 Summit Conference with President of Paraguay Horacio Cartes
06:32 Summit Conference ends
06:36 Joint press conference
06:47 Joint press conference ends
06:48 Depart from office
06:49 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting hosted by the Prime Minister
08:11 See off Mr. Cartes
08:12 Finish seeing off Mr. Cartes

Thursday, June 26, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:31 Depart from official residence
09:32 Arrive at office
11:30 Meet with of UK-Japan 21sy Century Group’s Japanese-side President and Lower House member Shiozaki Yasuhisa and President of Japan Center for Intercultural Exchange Okawara Akio
11:57 End meeting with Mr. Shiozaki and Mr. Okawara

PM
01:49 Meet with international petrochemical group of companies Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden
02:24 End meeting with Mr. van Beurden
02:25 Meet with Japan Productivity Center incoming Chairman Mogi Yuzaburo and outgoing Chairman Ushio Jiro
02:50 End meeting wit Mr. Mogi and Mr. Ushio
03:07 Meet with President and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine Steve Forbes
03:22 End meeting with Mr. Forbes
03:23 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Vice-Minister of Finance Kinoshita Yasushi, Deputy Vice-Minister of Finance Sato Shinichi, Ministry of Finance’s Budget Bureau Director-General Kagawa Shunsuke and Tax Bureau Director-General Tanaka Kazuho enter
03:59 Mr. Kinoshita, Mr. Sato, Mr. Kagawa, and Mr. Tanaka all leave
04:23 Mr. Aso leaves
04:35 Meet with Chairman of Interchange Association representative office of Japan in Taiwan Ohashi Mitsuo
04:50 End meeting with Mr. Ohashi
04:51 Speak with MOFA’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Ihara Jyunichi
04:54 Finish speaking with Mr. Ihara
05:01 Meet with International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission (for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020) Chairman John D. Coates. Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games President Mori Yoshiro also attends
05:16 Meeting ends
05:21 NSC meeting commences. National Public Safety Commission Chairman Furuya Keiji attends
05:59 Mr. Furuya leaves NSC meeting
06:14 NSC meeting ends
06:41 Depart from office
06:42 Arrive at official residence

Friday, June 27, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:23 Depart from official residence
09:24 Arrive at office
09:46 Headquarters for Promoting Decentralization Reform meeting
09:55 Meeting ends
10:01 Cabinet Meeting begins
10:20 Cabinet Meeting ends
10:37 Meet with Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs José Antonio Meade Kuribreña
10:53 End meeting with Mr. Meade
10:54 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and MOFA’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Ihara Jyunichi
11:25 Meet with Administrative Vice-Minister of Defense Nishi Masanori
11:43 End meeting with Mr. Nishi
11:44 Meet with Chairman of Project Team for nonpartisan Diet Members’ Caucus on Sports Endo Toshiaki. Director-General of Personnel Affairs Bureau Kato Katsunobu attends

PM
12:04 End meeting with Mr. Kato
12:06 Receive courtesy call from a joint group of elementary and middle school students of Great Falls Elementary School in Virginia USA and Eisugakkan Elementary and Middle Schools in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture
12:09 Courtesy call ends
12:10 Speak with Minister in charge of Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues Yamamoto Ichita
12:15 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamamoto
01:19 Meet with Minister in charge of TPP Amari Akira, Deputy Chief Negotiator of Government Headquarters for the TPP Oe Hiroshi, and Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minagawa Yoshitsugu
02:02 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Oe, and Mr. Minagawa
02:03 Meet with Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Okazaki Hiromi
02:32 End meeting with Mr. Okazaki
02:37 Meet with Minister for Reconstruction Nemoto Takumi
03:02 End meeting with Mr. Nemoto
03:53 Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, MOFA’s Director-General of the European Affairs Bureau Kozuki Toyohisa, Director-General of Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau Uemura Tsukasa, and Director-General of the International Legal Affairs Bureau Ishii Masafumi enter
04:23 Mr. Kozuki and Mr. Ishii leave
04:35 Everyone leaves
05:18 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
05:46 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
05:55 Depart from office
06:14 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
06:38 Depart from private residence
08:00 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Isaichugokusaikan Kokyu in Fujikawaguchiko-cho, Yamanashi Prefecture. Dinner with Special Advisor to President of the LDP Hagiuda Koichi and colleagues
10:24 Depart from restaurant
10:35 Arrive at holiday home in Narusawa Village Yamanashi Prefecture
10:42 Mr. Hagiuda enters

Saturday, June 28, 2014

AM
12:00 At holiday home (no new visitors). Mr. Hagiuda stays the night
06:57 Depart from holiday home in Narusawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture
07:01 Arrive at Fujizakura Country Club golf course, play golf with Special Advisor to President of the LDP Hagiuda Kochi and colleagues

PM
02:53 Depart from Fujizakura Country Club
04:20 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
05:48 Depart from private residence
05:59 Arrive at sushi restaurant Sushi Kuon Hanare in Nishihara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Have dinner with mother Kishi Yoko
07:26 Depart from Sushi Kuon Hanare
07:33 Arrive at private residence

Sunday, June 29, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
09:16 Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Nishimura Yasuhiko and Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro enter Mr. Abe’s private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
09:59 Mr. Nishimura and Mr. Yachi leave

PM
Stay at private residence throughout the afternoon, no visitors
06:05 Depart from private residence
06:29 Arrive at Mitsubishi Kaitokaku, former residence of Iwasaki Koyata of Mitsubishi Corporation, in Takanawa, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Keio University emeritus professor Iwasaki Koko
08:38 Depart from Mitsubishi Kaitokaku
09:02 Arrive at private residence

Monday in Washington, DC July 28, 2014

US Congress goes on summer recess at the end of this week.

July 27th is the anniversary of the 1953 Armistice of the Korean War.

July 30th is the anniversary of the 2007 passage of the House Resolution 121 calling on Japan to give an unequivocal apology to the Comfort Women.

FINAL DEAL WITH IRAN: OUTCOMES AND NEXT STEPS. 7/28, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Speakers: Dennis Ross, counselor, Washington Institute for Near East Policy and co-chair, Iran Task Force; Eric Edelman, fellow, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and co-chair, Iran Task Force; Stephen Rademaker, senior adviser, Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy, JINSA; and Ray Takeyh, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations.

CHANGING SECURITY ENVIRONMENT AND GEOPOLITICAL DYNAMICS OF EAST ASIA. 7/28, 1:15-2:45pm. Sponsor: US-Korea Instiute, Johns Hopkins, SAIS; Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS). Keynote Speaker: The Honorable Jung Hoon Kim, ICAS Fellow, Member National Assembly, South Korea; Discussants: Joseph Bosco (ICAS Fellow; Senior Associate CSIS); David Maxwell (ICAS Fellow; Associate Director Security Studies Program Georgetown University); Larry Niksch (ICAS Fellow; Senior Associate CSIS).

NUCLEAR POLITICS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA. 7/28, 3:00-5:15pm. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute (KEI). Speakers: Park Jin, Former Chairman of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Unification Committee, South Korean National Assembly; Donald Manzullo, Korea Economic Institute; Choi Kang, Asan Institute for Policy Studies; Lee Chung-min, Yonsei University; James L. Schoff, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Troy Stangarone, Korea Economic Institute. 

Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule June 16-22, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
09:27 Depart from official residence
09:28 Arrive at office
10:30 Meet with Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji, Director-General for Policy on Cohesive Society Ishii Hiroaki, and Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Director of Employment Security Bureau Okazaki Junichi
10:47 End meeting with Mr. Matsuyama, Mr. Ishii and Mr. Okazaki
10:54 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
11:35 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
11:36 Meet with Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Tatsuoka Tsuneyoshi and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Director-General of Manufacturing Industries Bureau Miyagawa Tadashi
11:57 End meeting with Mr. Tatsuoka and Mr. Miyagawa

PM
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
12:58 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
12:59 Cease speaking with Mr. Aso
01:00 Lower House Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration commences
05:01 Leave seat during committee proceedings
05:03 Enter LDP President’s Room
05:04 LDP Officers Meeting begins
05:19 Meeting ends
05:20 Speak with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko and LDP Secretary-General Ishiba Shigeru
05:24 Cease speaking with Mr. Komura and Mr. Ishiba
05:25 Leave LDP President’s Room
05:26 Enter LDP Secretary-General’s Conference Room
05:27 Endorse candidate for Nagano Prefecture’s gubernatorial election
05:30 Leave room
05:31 Depart from Diet
05:35 Arrive at office
05:42 Industrial Competitiveness Council meeting
06:22 Meeting ends
06:35 Depart from office
06:41 Arrive at Akasaka Estate in Moto-Akasaka, Tokyo, attend Prince Katsura’s wake
07:29 Depart from Akasaka Estate
07:32 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-cho, Tokyo. In hotel guest room have informal talk with AOKI Holdings Chairman Aoki Hironori; Nitori Holdings CEO Nitori Akio; FANCL Corporation Chairman Ikemori Kenji; Doutor Coffee Honorary President Toriba Hiromichi; and Starts Corporation Chairman and CEO Muraishi Hisaji. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends
09:10 Depart from Hotel New Otani
09:27 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
07:17 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:30 Arrive at office
07:35 Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country meeting
07:48 Meeting ends
07:52 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:03 Meeting ends
08:55 Depart from office
09:13 Arrive at Toshimagaoka Imperial Cemetery in Otsuka, Tokyo, attend Prince Katsura’s burial ceremony
10:51 Depart from cemetery
11:06 Arrive at office

PM
01:23 Depart from office
01:25 Arrive at Diet
01:27 Enter Upper House 43rd Member’s Room
01:28 Speak with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Tamura Norihisa
01:33 Finish speaking with Mr. Tamura
01:34 Upper House Committee on Health, Labour, and Welfare commences
03:37 Leave seat during committee proceedings
03:38 Depart from Diet
03:40 Arrive at office
03:41 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka
04:10 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
04:11 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, and Director of Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Shimohira Koji enter
04:25 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Shimohira leave
04:51 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:13 Council on National Strategic Special Zones meeting
05:39 Meeting ends
05:59 Meet with Mr. Saiki
06:11 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
06:19 Depart from office
06:30 Arrive at French restaurant “The Crescent” in Shiba Park, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Mitsui Sumitomo Banking Corporation Deputy-President Takahashi Seiichiro, Kake Educational Institution Board of Trustees Chairman Kake Kotaro, and colleagues
09:05 Depart from “The Crescent”
09:21 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
09:40 Depart from private residence
09:54 Arrive at office
10:05 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
10:15 End meeting with Mr. Kimura
10:48 Meet with Minister of Defense Onodera Itsunori and Ministry of Defense (MOD)’s Vice Chief of Joint Staff Iwata Kiyofumi
11:08 End meeting with Mr. Onodera
11:26 Meet with President of LDP Kinki Bloc Conference of Both Houses of the Diet Nikai Toshihiro, Chairman of LDP Special Committee on Superconducting Maglev Linear Motor-Car Train Takemoto Naokazu, and colleagues. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends
11:47 End meeting with Mr. Nikai, Mr. Takemoto, and colleagues
11:48 Meet with LDP Lower House member Nukaga Fukushiro

PM
12:00 End meeting with Mr. Nukaga
01:18 Meet with President of SoftBank Corporation Son Masayoshi and former US Secretary of State and independent board member of Bloom Energy Corporation Colin Powell
02:10 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun, Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yamanaka Shinichi, and Commissioner of Agency for Cultural Affairs Aoyagi Masanori enter
02:23 Mr. Yamanaka leaves
02:32 Mr. Shimomura and Mr. Aoyagi leave
02:34 National Security Secretariat Advisory Board meeting
03:22 Meeting ends
04:31 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Director of NSC Yachi Shotaro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji, MOD’s Bureau of Defense Policy Director-General Tokuchi Hideshi, and Chief of Staff of Joint Staff Council Iwasaki Shigeru
05:12 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura, Mr. Yachi, Mr. Hiramatsu, Mr. Tokuchi, and Mr. Iwasaki
06:45 Depart from office
06:56 Arrive at Teppanyaki restaurant Ginza Ukai-tei in Ginza, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with President of Jiji Press Ltd. Nishizawa Yukata, Commentary Committee member Tazaki Shiro, Editor for Political News Desk Watanabe Yuji, and colleagues
09:09 Depart from Ginza Ukai-tei
09:29 Arrive at private residence

Thursday, June 19, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:10 Depart from private residence
09:11 Arrive at money handling machine company GLORY manufacturing plant in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, view the plant
09:40 Depart from GLORY manufacturing plant
10:47 Arrive at Narihira Home nursing home in Sumida district, Tokyo
10:48 View and personally test out nursing care robot. Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Matsushima Midori accompanies
11:12 Finish testing out robot
11:13 Interview open to all media: When asked “what were your thoughts viewing the nursing care robots?” Mr. Abe answers “I am convinced that use of these robots has the potential to greatly change quality of life [for those in the robots’ care].”
11:16 Interview ends
11:19 Depart from Narihira Home
11:40 Arrive at office

PM
12:29 Party-Leader Conference with Representative of New Komeito Yamaguchi Natsuo
01:29 Conference with Mr. Yamaguchi ends
03:00 Meet with Chairman of LDP International Intelligence Investigative Committee Harada Yoshiaki and colleagues
03:18 End meeting with Mr. Harada
03:39 Meet with Chairman of New Japan-China Friendship Committee for the 21st Century Nishimuro Taizo, and committee members Asada Jiro and Takahara Akio. MOFA’s Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Jyunichi also attends
04:10 End meeting with Mr. Nishimura, Mr. Asada, Mr. Takahara, and Mr. Ihara
04:28 Meet with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun
05:06 End meeting with Mr. Shimomura
05:17 Education Rebuilding Implementation Council meeting
05:38 Meeting ends
05:45 Depart from Diet
05:53 Arrive at traditional Japanese restaurant Kioicho Kissho in Kioi-cho, Tokyo. Informal talk with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, LDP Lower House member Suzuki Keisuke, LDP Upper House member Oie Satoshi, and colleagues
06:27 Depart from Kioicho Kissho
06:35 Arrive at official residence, dinner meeting with Chairman of Lower House Budget Committee Nikai Toshihiro and Director Hayashi Moto
08:29 Mr. Nikai and Mr. Hayashi leave

Friday, June 20, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:53 Depart from official residence
07:54 Arrive at office
08:02 Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters meeting
08:07 Meeting ends
08:13 Cabinet Meeting begins
08:29 Cabinet Meeting ends
08:30 Meet with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motegi Toshimitsu
08:34 End meeting with Mr. Motegi
08:35 Speak with Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy Yamamoto Ichita
08:40 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamamoto
08:49 Speak with Minister for Reconstruction Nemoto Takumi
08:59 Finish speaking with Mr. Nemoto
09:02 Speak with Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform Inada Tomomi and Director-General of Cabinet Personnel Affairs Bureau Kato Katsunobu
09:13 Finish speaking with Ms. Inada and Mr. Kato
09:22 Speak with Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Kazaoka Noriyuki
09:35 Finish speaking with Mr. Kazaoka
09:36 Meet with Ministry of Finance’s Senior Deputy Director-General of International Bureau Yamasaki Tatsuo
09:57 End meeting with Mr. Yamasaki
11:00 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and MOFA’s Director-General of Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau Uemura Tsukasa
11:15 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Uemura
11:30 Speak with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro
11:33 Finish speaking with Mr. Kimura

PM
01:16 Depart from office
01:18 Arrive at Diet
01:19 Enter Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall, attend Lower House Plenary Session
02:34 Speak with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko, Secretary-General Ishiba Shigeru, and Chairperson of General Council Noda Seiko
02:36 Finish speaking with Mr. Komura, Mr. Ishiba and Ms. Noda
02:51 Lower House Plenary Session recess
02:52 Leave Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
02:53 Depart from Diet
02:55 Arrive at office
03:11 Depart from office
03:20 Arrive at Federation of Economic Organizations [Keidanren] Assembly Hall in Otemachi, Tokyo. Attend convention for all credit unions in Japan, deliver address
03:43 Depart from assembly hall
03:52 Arrive at office
04:13 Meet with MOFA’s Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau Tomita Koji and MOD’s Bureau of Defense Policy Deputy Director-General Manabe Ro
04:28 End meeting with Mr. Tomita and Mr. Manabe
05:17 Ministerial Council on Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues meeting
05:31 Meeting ends
05:34 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
06:03 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
06:05 Depart from office
06:15 Arrive at Palace Hotel Tokyo in Marunouchi, Tokyo. In banquet hall Aoi, attend a gathering to Express Gratitude for the Enhancement of Policies for the Promotion of Small-Sized Enterprises, deliver address
06:27 Depart from hotel
06:37 Arrive at office
06:53 Depart from office
06:55 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters. Attend general meeting of LDP Internet Supporters Club [ネットサポーターズクラブ], deliver address
07:04 Depart from headquarters
07:09 Arrive at Ark Mori Building in Akasaka, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with President of Kyodo News Service Fukuyama Masaki and press colleagues
09:50 Depart from Ark Mori Building
10:09 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Saturday, June 21, 2014
AM
12:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stays at private residence throughout the morning (no visitors)

PM
02:09 Depart from private residence
02:21 Arrive at hotel Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, Tokyo. Exercise at NAGOMI Spa and Fitness
05:40 Depart from hotel
06:06 Arrive at private residence
06:07 Interview open to all media: When asked about “the decision to register Tomioka Silk Mill as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” Mr. Abe answers “I expect that many people will come to see Tomioka Silk Mill from all across the world.”
06:08 Interview ends

Sunday, June 22, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
10:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
Stays at private residence throughout the morning (no visitors)

PM
Stays at private residence throughout the afternoon and evening (no visitors)

Monday in Washington, July 21, 2014

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: AN UNEASY COALITION AND THE THREAT OF ISIS. 7/21, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Lukman Faily, ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq to the United States; Frederic Hof, senior fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council; Bilal Saab, senior fellow for Middle East Security, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Atlantic Council; Michael Singh, managing director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Matthew Spence, deputy assistant secretary, Defense for Middle East Policy, US Department of Defense; and Barry Pavel, vice president and director, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Atlantic Council.

THE AIR FORCE RESERVE AT A CROSSROADS. 7/21, 9:30-10:30am. Sponsor: Air Force Association's (AFA) Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Speaker: Lt. Gen. James "JJ" Jackson, chief of the Air Force Reserve.

ISIS (ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA), IRAQ AND THE GULF STATES. 7/21, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: The Institute for Gulf Affairs. Speakers: Shireen Hunter, visiting professor at Georgetown University; Abbas Kadhim, senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies' Foreign Policy Institute; Kadhim Al-Waeli, Iraq military analyst; and Ali AlAhmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs.

PAKISTAN'S VISION FOR REGIONAL PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 7/21, 10:30am-Noon. Sponsor: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). Speakers: Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the prime minister of Pakistan; and Frederic Grare, director of the South Asia Program at CEIP.

IRAN'S NUCLEAR CHESS: CALCULATING AMERICA'S MOVES. 7/21, Noon-1:15pm. Sponsor: The Woodrow Wilson Center's (WWC) Middle East Program. Speakers: Mitchell Reiss, president of Washington College; David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent at The New York Times; Robert Litwak, director of international security studies at WWC; and Haleh Esfandiari, director of the WWC Middle East Program.

LESSONS FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH FROM THE U.S. AND THE WORLD. 7/21, 1:00-2:00pm. Sponsor: World Bank. Speakers: Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman; and Kaushik Basu, senior vice president and chief economist at the World Bank.

OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY AND THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST. 7/21, 2:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: Middle East Policy Council. Speakers: Kenneth Pollack, senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution; Paul Pillar, nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University; Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East studies at Marine Corps University; Charles Freeman, chair of Projects International Inc.; and Thomas Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council.

LIVING WITH CYBER INSECURITY: REDUCING THE NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS OF AMERICA'S CYBER DEPENDENCIES. 7/21, 4:00-5:30pm. Sponsor: The Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Speakers: Dan Kaufman, director of the Information Innovation Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Mike Walker, program manager at the DARPA Information Innovation Office; Melissa Hathaway, president of Hathaway Global Strategies LLC, former cyber coordination executive and director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force and former acting senior director for cyberspace at the National Security Council; Gary McGraw, CTO of Cigital; and Ben FitzGerald, director of the Technology & National Security Program at CNAS.


THE NEXT ECONOMIC DISASTER: WHY IT'S COMING AND HOW TO AVOID IT. 7/21, 5:00-7:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: New America Foundation. Speakers: Steve Clemons, Washington Editor, The Atlantic, Senior Fellow, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; Sherle R. Schwenninger, Director, Economic Growth Program, New America Foundation; and Richard Vague, Author, The Next Economic Disaster: Why It's Coming and How to Avoid It.

Louis Zamperini Unbroken

On July 3rd, Louis Zamperini died. He had faced death many times as a young man. And defied the "odds" many more. As a POW of Japan he was beaten, starved, experimented upon, and dehumanized. It was with God's grace that he survived to be 97. You can sign the guest book HERE.

The video documentary is an excellent snapshot of Zamperini's life as portrayed in the still, after four years, best-seller Unbroken.

It is hoped that the movie will inspire the many, still-existing Japanese corporations that used and abused the POWs they requested from Imperial Japan's Army Ministry to finally acknowledge how they treated POWs and to offer an apology. Zamperini, like all POW slave laborers, was tormented by Japanese corporate employees as much as by Japanese soldiers.

In Japan, after a brutal interrogation at the infamous Naval Interrogation Center in Ofuna in Kamakura, Zamperini was sent to Tokyo Base Camp # 1 Omori. There he was a slave laborer for Nippon Express. In March 1945, Zamperini was sent north to Niigata to Tokyo-04-Branch Camp where he was a slave laborer for ShinEtsu Chemical and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Corp. Naoetsu (NSSC, formerly Nippon Stainless). Although Bird was a military POW guard, his job was to ensure discipline among the POW laborers for the company and it is possible that he was paid by the company and not the government as many were. 

To date, no Japanese company has formally, officially acknowledged or offered an apology for their use and abuse of Allied POW slave labor. Two current Abe Cabinet members, ASO Taro (Finance) and HAYASHI Yoshimasa (Agriculture) have direct family ties and stock holdings in companies that used POW slave labor. 

At both the Omori and Naeotsu POW slave labor camps, Zamperini was singled out for special torture by Mutsuhiro Watanabe, know as "The Bird." In explicably, he followed Zamperini to Naeotsu. Although, both Japanese guards and POWs acknowledged that Watanabe as a cruel psychopath, no superior ever tried to stop him. As Watanabe observes, he was not given any military orders on how to treat the POWs. Yet, as you see below, Zamperini found it possible to forgive him. Watanabe refused to meet with Zamperini and felt it only natural to beat and kick POWs. In the interview above, Watanabe brushes off his cruelty as simply the judgement of Westerners.

Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security

This article on the first international Ulaanbaatar Dialogue was published in The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 11 Issue: 126 on July 11, 2014.

On June 17, the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mongolia’s Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) organized an international seminar entitled “Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asia.” The brainchild of Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, this new security dialogue mechanism was announced in 2013 at the VII Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies. At that time Elbegdorj proclaimed the conference goal was to assist and facilitate a peaceful solution to the confrontation on the Korean peninsula, therefore “Mongolia is willing to open up new gateways for the issues at a standstill” (infomongolia.mn, April 29, 2013). Speakers included researchers from nine nations (Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, US, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom) and among the more than 100 attendees were diplomats, military specialists and academics. The unusual mix of participants led the Mongols to dub the meeting a “Track 1.5” gathering.

At the outset ISS officials announced that there would be a first-ever trilateral summit in late August between Elbegdorj, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (infomongolia.com, May 26). The Ulaanbaatar Dialogue came on the heels of a secret “Track 1.5” meeting that took place in Ulaanbaatar on May 21 between North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and three former US officials: Robert Einhorn, former Obama administration Special Advisor for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control at the US Department of State; Joel Witt, former State Department official who is now Director of the SAIS/Johns Hopkins’ US–Korea Institute; and Robert Carlin, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst (hani.co.kr, May 22; voanews.com, May 28).

At the June 17 conference, keynote speaker Migeddorj Batchimeg, a Mongolian parliamentarian and member of the ISS policy council, emphasized Mongolia’s belief that there is no single formal mechanism for the Six Party Talks—aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program—and the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue should been seen as just one venue: “Solutions to big problems do not have to start big.” The other keynote speaker, ISS Director Damba Ganbat, outlined how Mongolia seeks to build a regional security platform. Conference discussion was focused on the present Northeast Asia security situation, the reasons for the absence of a regional security mechanism, the role of economic and environmental factors in promoting regional cooperation and confidence as well as suggestions on how to promote trust and closer regional cooperation.

The major surprise at the conference was that more than half of the time was devoted to historical Asian disputes, including heated exchanges involving Chinese and Japanese speakers, instead of nuclear proliferation and increasing militarization of the Korean peninsula. General Huang Baifu, Vice Chairman of China Institute for International Strategic Studies, harshly criticized the Japanese for WWII atrocities and defended the policies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Qu Xing, President of the China Institute for International Studies, claimed that Northeast Asia had the largest amount of conventional and nuclear weapons in the world and the situation was complicated by the presence of US alliances, which made it counterproductive for China to end its protective relationship with North Korea.

One highlight of the discussion was the participation of a North Korean official, Lee Yong Phil, former researcher at the country’s Institute for Peace and Disarmament, who is presently a diplomat assigned to Ulaanbaatar. His presentation attacked the US for ‘hegemonism’ and asserted that tension and instability on the peninsula was rooted in the American attempt to create a NATO-like system in the Asian region through the US—South Korea—Japan alliance. He said that since the US was not an Asian country, it did not have the right to speak on Korean issues, but nevertheless asked for a positive signal from Washington, such as stopping military exercises in the region and normalizing relations with North Korea. Despite his pointed criticisms, Lee Yong Phil supported the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue mechanism and was eager to engage US presenters in private conversations. He also publicly announced that he would convey to his government the idea of working on small, clearly defined economic cooperation projects as a way to ease regional tensions.

On the Americans side, speeches were made by Dr. Alicia Campi, President of The Mongolia Society; Dr. Kent Calder, Director of the Reischauer Center at SAIS/Johns Hopkins; Dr. T.J. Pempel of the University of California Berkeley; and Peter Beck of the Asia Foundation in Seoul. All the Americans except for Beck were upbeat about the possibilities of small inter-regional economic projects as a first step in building infrastructure and confidence between the Northeast Asian states. The Russian delegation consisted of two well-known Mongolian specialists from the Institute of Oriental Studies in the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and two professors from Ulan Ude’s Buriat State University. Delegation head Vladimir Grayvoronskiy suggested the Mongols were moving from bilateral to trilateral strategic partnerships such as Russia–China–Mongolia and maintained that the stagnation in Russian–Mongolian relations had ended with the beginning of a “new wave” of cooperation.

Notable for their reluctance to overtly support the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue was the South Korean delegation. The representatives from the South Korean Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) were particularly pessimistic about any Mongolian contribution to Northeast Asia’s security and warned that serious territorial disputes in the region are creating the danger of hyper-nationalism. General Ki-Duk Lee, General Director of the INSS Research Planning and Administration, noted the paradox that now there is more instability in the region, even though there is more economic integration. Calling for patience and a step-by-step approach, he suggested working on non-traditional security issues first and then creating a multilateral security consultation body. On the second day of the conference, the international presenters had a photo opportunity with President Elbegdorj and visited a Chinggis Khaan statue and museum complex in the countryside.

While the harsh tone of some of the conference rhetoric discomforted many recipients, the Mongolian side was pleased with the results and even saw the angry exchanges as a positive development. The new Mongolian activism toward the Korean peninsula was generally supported by the international researchers in attendance. Officially, the Mongolian government continued to emphasize that the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue “is not a single action, but a mechanism of trilateral or multilateral dialogue depending on the agenda” (The Mongol Messenger, June 19) and announced that the conference will be organized regularly in the future.

Monday in Washington, July 14, 2014

Bastille Day!

ENDING WARS TO BUILD PEACE. 7/14, 8:30am-12:45pm. Sponsors: United States Institute of Peace (USIP); Rand Arroyo Center; and Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations, U.S. Military Academy. Speakers: Gideon Rose, Author, How Wars End; Lt. Gen. Robert Caslenl, Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy; Jim Jeffery, Former United States Ambassador to Iraq; James Kunder, Former Deputy Administrator, United States Agency for International Development; Army Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, Commander, U.S. Army III Corps; Rick Brennan, Senior Political Scientist, RAND; and Tara Sonenshine, Distinguished Fellow, George Washington University. Location: USIP, 2301 Constitution Ave., NW. Contact:

2014 EIA ENERGY CONFERENCE. 7/14-7/15. Sponsor: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy. Speakers: John Auers, Turner Mason; Justin Baca, Solar Energy Industries Association; Bill Booth, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Jason Bordoff, Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy; Gwen Bredehoeft, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Sam Brooks, ClearRock; Beth Calabotta, Monsanto; José Manuel Carrera Panizzo, PMI Comercio Internacional; Jim Diefenderfer, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Jacob Dweck, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP; Ramón Espinasa, Inter-American Development Bank; Mindi Farber-DeAnda, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Samuel Gorgen, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Susan Grissom, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Sidhant Gupta, Microsoft Research; Antoine Halff, International Energy Agency; Gustavo Hernández-García, Pemex; Trisha Hutchins, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Valerie Karplus, MIT China Energy and Climate Project; Robert Kleinberg, Schlumberger; Tom Leckey, U.S. Energy Information Administration; John Maples, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Silvia de Marucci, Panama Canal Authority; Brewster McCracken, Pecan Street Inc.; Nancy McGuckin, Travel Behavior Associates; Pamela Morgan, Graceful Systems LLC; Chris Namovicz, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Shirley Neff, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Don Pickrell, Volpe; Edward Randolph, California Public Utilities Commission; Joanne Shore, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers; Eric Slifka, Global Partners LP; Paul Sotkiewicz, PMJ Interconnection; John Staub, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Jim Turnure, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Fred Upton, House Energy and Commerce Committee; Maria van der Hoeven, International Energy Agency; Jamie Webster, IHS; William Woebkenberg, Daimler; Jonathan Woetzel, McKinsey & Company; Lynn Westfall, U.S. Energy Information Administration; Xiaojie Xu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Daniel Yergin, IHS; Nancy Young, Airlines for America.

UKRAINE: THE MAIDAN AND BEYOND. 7/14, Noon-2:00pm. Sponsor: National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Speakers: Anders Aslund, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Serhiy Kudelia, Professor Of Political Science, Baylor University; Lucan Way, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto; Nadia Diuk, Vice President for Europe, Eurasia, Africa and Latin America, NED; and Marc Plattner, Co-Editor, Journal of Democracy.

WEBCAST: EMERGING INTERNET TRENDS THAT WILL SHAPE THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. 7/14, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: World Bank. Speakers: Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google; and Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank Group.

WHEN IS FOREIGN INTERNAL DEFENSE (FID) A SMART POLICY TOOL FOR WASHINGTON? 7/14, 11:00am-12:30pm. Sponsor: Cato. Speakers: David S. Maxwell, Associate Director, Center for Security Studies & Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; Sean McFate, Senior Fellow, Africa Center, Atlantic Council; Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings; James B. Story, Director, Office of Western Hemisphere Programs, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State; and Jennifer Keister, Visiting Research Fellow, Cato. 

THE EICHMANN TRIAL. 7/14, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: Program for Jewish Civilization, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Speaker: Deborah Lipstadt, author, Dorot Associate Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University. 

POST-CRISIS FISCAL POLICY. 7/14, 12:15pm. Sponsor: Peterson Institute for International Economics (IIE). Speakers: Philip Gerson, deputy director, European Department, IMF; Abdelhak Senjadji, assistant director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF; Carlo Cottarelli, Italian Commissioner of Public Spending; Vitor Gaspar, director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF; Maya MacGuineas, president, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; and Adam Posen, president, IIE.

THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ROADMAP THAT WILL LEAD TO THE DISCOVERY OF POTENTIALLY HABITABLE WORLDS AMONG THE STARS. 7/14, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Speakers: Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator; Ellen Stofan, Chief Scientist, NASA; John Grunsfeld, Astronaut And Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA; John Mather, Senior Project Scientist, Webb Telescope, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Sara Seager, Professor Of Planetary Science And Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dave Gallagher, Director Of Astronomy And Physics, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Matt Mountain, Director, Space Telescope Science Institute.

WOMEN OF WASHINGTON. 7/14, 4:30-5:30pm. Sponsor: The Atlantic. Speakers: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL; and Steve Clemons, Editor-At-Large, The Atlantic.

Japan and the art of un-apologising

Japan and the art of un-apologising is an Op Ed published first in The Canberra Times, June 29, 2014 By Dr. Tessa Morris-Suzuki, APP member and an Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific Japanese history professor and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.

The Japanese government has long had difficulties coming up with effective apologies for the wartime misdeeds of the country’s military.

For decades, while many ordinary Japanese grassroots groups worked tirelessly to right the wrongs of the past, the silence from the corridors of power in Tokyo was deafening.

But then in the 1990s all that changed, and the Japanese government issued a series of statements on the events of the war. Like official apologies elsewhere, these were not perfect. Turning words into deeds proved to be a challenge. But the apologies enhanced Japan's standing in the eyes of the world; above all, they made a very big difference to many of the surviving victims.

Now the world is confronted with the spectacle of a Japanese government caught up in a contorted process of un-apologising; and a very strange and disturbing spectacle it is too.

The issue at stake is the Kono Declaration of 1993, an apology issued by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono to the so-called "comfort women", women who suffered terrible sexual and other abuse in an empire-wide network of wartime military brothels.

Sexual violence in war is not a problem unique to Japan. Many countries have ugly stains on their history. But the "comfort station" system was remarkable in its size – tens of thousands of women were recruited. And there is abundant testimony from victims and others that many of the women were recruited by force or trickery.

The 1993 Kono Declaration was a forthright apology for these events. Though it focused particularly on Korean women, it was also addressed to former "comfort women" in other countries including Australia. It admitted that they were "recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, and so on" and "lived in misery at comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere". It went on to promise that Japan would "forever engrave such issues in our memories through the study and teaching of history".

The Japanese government refused to provide direct monetary compensation to former "comfort women". But, following the Kono Declaration, it did offer welfare and medical support, while "atonement money" was paid from a non-governmental fund. This response, sadly, created divisions among the survivors: some welcomed the payments; others rejected them on the grounds that the Japanese state should pay direct compensation itself.

During the late 1990s, some Japanese history texts were extended to include a very brief mention of the "comfort women" issue, but this aroused the ire of Japanese nationalists, who launched a fierce campaign for more "patriotic" history education. All mention of the issue has now disappeared from textbooks, and the promise to engrave the issue in public memory has simply not been kept.

Meanwhile, the "comfort women" issue had become a political football in both Japan and Korea, being used by nationalists on both sides to enhance their popularity. In Japan some prominent conservative politicians launched fierce attacks on the Kono Declaration, which they regarded as an insult to the memory of Japan's war dead.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has always been uncomfortable with the declaration's references to coercion. But Abe is also an eager supporter of Japan's alliance with the US; and the US government, concerned to maintain good relations between Japan and South Korea, insists that Japan stand by the declaration.

This left the government with a dilemma: how to undo the words of the Kono Declaration without officially withdrawing the declaration. Here is the solution.

Step one: create a committee to "re-examine" the process by which the apology was put together. This, not surprisingly, finds evidence that the Japanese and Korean governments negotiated about the wording of the apology before it was released. Now the apology can be presented, not as a truly Japanese document, but as a compromise worked out by a Japanese government that lacked the will to stand up to pressure from the Koreans.

Step two: cast doubt on the veracity of victims. The Japanese committee's "re-examination" of the Kono Declaration does this by stressing the fact that some of the former comfort women whose testimony was collected had "quite confused memories", and that the Japanese government did not fact-check their stories.

Step three: define the word "force" extremely narrowly, so that it applies only to situations where women were marched out of their homes at gunpoint by members of the Japanese military. This allows your committee to inform the world that, according to the studies conducted by Japan, it is, after all, "not possible to confirm that women were 'forcefully recruited'".

The result is the un-apology that you make when you are not un-apologising. Now the Japanese government can truthfully insist that it has not withdrawn the Kono Declaration; all it has done is very effectively to demolish its credibility.

Prime Minister Abe has repeatedly stated that the "comfort women" issue should be left to the scholarly judgment of historians, but the government's committee contained just one historian, Ikuhiko Hata, who had been campaigning for years to have the Kono Declaration rewritten.

Hata, who has also made an art form of combing through the testimony of former "comfort women" for any inconsistency that may cast doubt on their truthfulness, publicly predicts that the committee's report is likely to make some Japanese people "so enraged that their hair will stand on end" and "conclude that Japan was duped by Korea". "Maybe," he adds, "a new public view will emerge that the Kono Declaration should be withdrawn."

The next step, foreshadowed by the prime minister's key political confidant Koichi Hagiuda, may be official tours to countries including Australia to present them with the "facts" revealed by the new committee report.

How Prime Minister Abe handles this issue on his impending visit to Australia will be watched with great interest – and at least some discomfort.

Asia in Washington this Week

FILM SCREENING: AI WEIWEI: THE FAKE CASE. 7/8, 7:30pm. Sponsor: Freedom House. Speaker: Dr. Daniel Calingaert, executive vice president at Freedom House.

PARK-XI: THE POST SUMMIT ASSESSMENT. 7/9, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsors: Korea Chair; and Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS. Speakers: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, CSIS and Christopher Johnson, Senior Adviser and Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS. 

ASIA IN WASHINGTON. 7/9, Noon-2:00pm.. Sponsor: Japan Commerce Association of Washington DC (JCAW). Speaker: Kent E. Calder, author, Director, Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, SAIS, Johns Hopkins.

BUILDING A NEW MODEL OF MAJOR COUNTRY RELATIONS. 7/10, 4:00pm-5:30pm. Sponsor: Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS. Speakers: Zha Peixin, Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, and Former Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom; Li Fenglin, Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, and Former Chinese Ambassador to Russia; Zhu Yinghuan, Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, China Daily Newspaper Group, and Vice Chairman of All-China Translators’ Association; and Christopher Johnson, Senior Adviser and Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS. Location: 1st Floor Conference Room, CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW. Contact:

GENERATION PRAGUE 2014: INNOVATION IN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY. 7/10, 8:45am-4:30pm. Sponsor: Department of State. Speakers: Rose Gottemoeller, Undersecretary of State; Chris Murphy, Senator; Andrew Weber, Assistant Defense Secretary; Tom Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State; and Laura Holgate, Senior Director, National Security Council; Frank Klotz, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration; and Doug Frantz, Assistant Secretary of State.

RECENT TRENDS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA AND U.S. POLICY. 7/10-7/11. Sponsor: Southeast Asia Studies, CSIS. Speakers: Ernest Z. Bower, CSIS; Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Murray Hiebert, CSIS; Patrick M. Cronin, Center for New American Security; Tran Truong Thuy, Foundation for East Sea Studies, Vietnam; Alan Dupont, University of New South Wales, Australia; Christopher Johnson, CSIS; Ernest Z. Bower, CSIS; Phillip C. Saunders, U.S. National Defense University; Carlyle A. Thayer, University of New South Wales, Australia; Christian Le Mière, IISS, UK; Shahriman Lockman, ISIS, Malaysia; Paul F. Zukunft, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; Jonathan G. Odom, Office of the Secretary of Defense; Vu Hai Dang, Vietnam Lawyers Association; Bing Bing Jia, Tsinghua University, China; Henry Bensurto, Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippines; Christopher Johnson, CSIS; Michael J. Green, CSIS; Andrew Shapiro, Beacon Global Strategies; Wallace C. Gregson, Center for National Interest; Robert Suettinger, Stimson Center; Michael Fuchs, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategy and Multilateral Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Paul Reichler, Attorney, Legal Adviser on Philippines Tribunal Case; Bonnie S. Glaser, CSIS; Chu Shulong, Tsinghua University; Yoji Koda, Harvard University; Charmaine Misalucha, De La Salle University; Arif Havas Oegroseno, Ambassador of Indonesia to the EU; James Manicom, CIGI, Canada; Jerome Cohen, New York University; Alice Ba, University of Delaware; and Euan Graham, Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Location: CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW. Contact:

ROOM FOR MANEUVER: SOCIAL SECTOR POLICY REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES. 7/10, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsors: Asia Foundation and Embassy of Australia. Speakers: Jaime Faustino, Director of Economic Programs, Asia Foundation, Manila; and Gerald Hyman, Senior Adviser and President, Hills Program on Governance, CSIS.

JAPAN'S NEW SECURITY AND DEFENSE POLICY: AN ENDURING PARTNERSHIP IN THE U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE. 7/11, 4:30-5:30pm. Sponsor: CSIS, Toyota Japan Chair. Speaker: His Excellency Itsunori Onodera, Minister of Defense of Japan; Moderated by: Michael J. Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Toyota Japan Chair, CSIS. 

Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule June 9-15, 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

PM Abe visits Shimane

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)

08:01 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
08:14 Arrive at office
08:15 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:52 End meeting with Mr. Seko
08:53 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
08:58 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
08:59 End meeting with Mr. Aso
09:00 Upper House Audit Committee commences
11:55 Upper House Audit Committee recess
11:56 Leave Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
11:58 Depart from Diet

PM
12:00 Arrive at office
12:41 Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira, Cabinet Office Vice-Minister Matsuyama Kenji and Director-General for Policy on Cohesive Society Ishii Hiroaki enter
12:47 Mr. Matsuyama and Mr. Ishii leave
12:48 Mr. Amari leaves
12:54 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Upper House Audit Committee recommences
05:04 Leave while Committee is in progress
05:05 Enter LDP President’s Room
05:07 LDP Officers’ Meeting
05:20 Meeting ends
05:21 Meet with LDP Vice President Komura Masahiko
05:22 End meeting with Mr. Komura
05:23 Meet with LDP Executive Acting Secretary-General Hosoda Hiroyuki
05:24 End meeting with Mr. Hosoda
05:25 Leave LDP President’s Room
05:26 Arrive at Diet
05:28 Arrive at office
06:02 Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy commences
07:03 Council meeting ends
07:04 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr. Aso
07:14 End meeting with Mr. Aso
07:16 Depart from office
07:29 Arrive at Steakhouse Yamaguchi in Tsukishima, Tokyo. Dinner with wife Akie and others
10:29 Depart from restaurant
10:54 Arrive at private residence

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:59 Depart from private residence
09:12 Arrive at office
09:17 Cabinet meeting
09:32 Cabinet meeting ends
09:33 Meet with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Tamura Norihisa and Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Inada Tomomi
09:35 End meeting with Mr. Tamura and Ms. Inada
09:36 Meet with Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira
09:42 End meeting with Mr. Amari
10:47 Depart from office
10:54 Arrive at Toranomon Hills [虎ノ門ヒルズ] in Toranomon, Tokyo. Attend opening ceremony of the skyscraper complex, give greeting
11:16 Depart from Toranomon Hills
11:25 Arrive at Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
11:27 View photo exhibition on Korean abduction victims guided by Yokota Megumi’s parents, Shigeru and Sakie, and give greeting at opening event. Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue Furuya Keiji and his colleagues also attend

PM
12:02 Leave exhibition
12:03 Depart from Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
12:05 Arrive at office
01:02 Meet with Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yamanaka Shinichi
01:14 Meet with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko
01:47 End meeting with Mr. Komura
01:49 Depart from office
01:58 Arrive at Keio University Hospital in Shinanomachi, Tokyo. View operating room and discuss opinions with Keio University Hospital Director Takeuchi Tsutomu and colleagues
02:49 Interview open to all media: When asked about his “impressions when viewing” the operating room, Mr. Abe answered “while considering the cost of these things, any hesitance I had was stemmed by the firm thought of advanced medical treatment that people can receive”
02:54 Depart from Keio University Hospital
03:03 Arrive at office
03:04 MOFA’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and MOFA Intelligence and Analysis Service Director-General Matsutomi Shigeo enter
03:27 Mr. Matsutomi leaves
03:50 Mr. Saiki leaves
03:52 Receive courtesy call from youth group badminton team members of 5 Asian countries, come to Japan as part of MOFA’s youth exchange program JENESYS2.0
04:01 Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Director of National Security Council (NSC) Yachi Shotaro, and Ministry of Defense’s Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters Kinomura Kenichi enter
04:17 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Kinomura leave
04:34 Mr. Kitamura leaves
04:35 Meet with Minister of Defense Onodera Itsunori
04:59 End meeting with Mr. Onodera
05:00 Meet with Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs Furusawa Mitsuhiro and Ministry of Finance’s Senior Deputy Director General of International Bureau Yamasaki Tatsuo
05:04 End meeting with Mr. Furusawa and Mr. Yamasaki
05:09 Industrial Competitiveness Council meeting
05:56 Industrial Competitiveness Council meeting ends
06:06 Attend “Discover the Treasures of Farming, Mountain and Fishing Villages” cultural exchange gathering for authorized business personnel, deliver address
06:37 Wrap up affairs at cultural exchange gathering
06:38 Depart from office
06:42 Arrive at ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo in Akasaka, Tokyo. In banquet hall Prominence, attend party held by LDP group Yurinkai [有隣会] lead by LDP Minister of Justice Tanigaki Sadakazu, deliver address
06:51 Depart from hotel
07:02 Arrive at Tokyo Kaikan in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Have dinner at French restaurant Prunier with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro and New Komeito’s 1st-time elected Lower House members
08:57 Enter members-only Union Club inside Tokyo Kaikan. Informal talk with LDP Lower House members Kiuchi Minoru and Saito Ken, and JR Tokai Chairman Kasai Yoshiyuki
09:33 Depart from Tokyo Kaikan
09:49 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:50 Depart from private residence
09:03 Arrive at office
09:05 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
09:45 End meeting with Mr. Seko
09:52 Depart from office
09:53 Arrive at Diet
09:54 Enter Upper House President’s Reception Room
09:57 Leave room and enter Upper House Plenary Meeting Hall
09:58 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
10:00 End meeting with Mr. Aso
10:01 Upper House Plenary Session commences
10:51 Leave Upper House Plenary Session during proceedings
10:52 Leave Diet
10:54 Arrive at office

PM
02:53 Depart from office
02:55 Arrive at Diet
02:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
03:00 Party Leaders’ Debate commences
03:48 Party Leaders’ Debate closes
03:49 Leave Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
03:50 Meet with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun
03:51 End meeting with Mr. Shimomura
03:52 Depart from Diet
03:53 Arrive at office
04:42 Meet with Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and Minister for Defence David Johnston
05:00 End meeting with Ms. Bishop and Mr. Johnston
05:01 22nd Meeting of the Education Rebuilding Implementation Council
05:27 Meeting ends
05:28 Meet with Mr. Aso; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)’s Minister of Finance Kinoshita Yasushi; Ministry of Finance’s Budget Bureau Director-General Kagawa Shunsuke and Tax Bureau Director-General Tanaka Kazuho
06:01 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Kinoshita, Mr. Kagawa and Mr. Tanaka
06:04 The Forum for Consultations between the National and Regional Governments
06:10 Forum ends
06:12 Depart from Diet
06:17 Arrive at Hotel New Otani in Kioi-cho, Tokyo. Attend joint meeting of multiparty Diet Members’ Group for Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership in banquet hall Fuyo
06:37 Depart from Hotel New Otani
06:44 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting with Mr. Shimomura and New Renaissance Party Representative Arai Hiroyuki
08:22 Mr. Shimomura leaves
08:32 Mr. Arai leaves

Thursday, June 12, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:00 At official residence (no morning visitors)
08:26 Depart from official residence
08:28 Arrive at office
08:31 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
09:23 End meeting with Mr. Seko
09:46 Speak with LDP Policy Research Council Acting Chairman Shiozaki Yasuhisa
09:56 Finish speaking with Mr. Shiozaki
10:58 Speak with Council for Ainu Policy Promotion Acting Chairman Yoshikawa Takamori
11:08 Finish speaking with Mr. Yoshikawa
11:21 Speak with incoming Federation of Economic Organizations Presidents Sakakibara Sadayuki and Yonekura Hiromasa
11:35 Finish speaking with Mr. Yonekura
11:36 Meet with Mr. Sakakibara, Japan Chamber or Commerce and Industry Chairman Mimura Akio, and Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) Chairman Hasegawa Yasuchika
11:55 End meeting with Mr. Sakakibara, Mr. Mimura, and Mr. Hasegawa
11:56 Speak with Governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture Muraoka Tsugumasa and Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly President Yanai Shungaku

PM
12:10 Finish speaking with Mr. Muraoka and Mr. Yanai
12:53 Depart from office
12:55 Arrive at Diet
12:56 Enter Upper House 32nd Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Upper House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries commences
02:04 Leave seat during Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries proceedings
02:05 Depart from Diet
02:07 Arrive at office
02:23 Depart from office
02:25 Arrive at Diet
02:26 Enter Upper House 22nd Committee Members’ Room
02:30 Attend Upper House Committee on Culture, Education and Science meeting
03:31 Leave seat during committee proceedings
03:32 Depart from Diet
03:34 Arrive at office
03:43 Speak with Minister in charge of Intellectual Property Strategy Yamamoto Ichita
03:56 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamamoto
03:59 Meet with Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Inada Tomomi
04:17 End meeting with Ms. Inada
04:33 Receive courtesy call from Ms. Baba Fuyuka and others of the Miss Plum Girls. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige also attends
04:41 Courtesy call ends
04:44 Meet with Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Shindo Yoshitaka
05:08 End meeting with Mr. Shindo
05:13 Liaison Council of Government and Ruling and Opposition Parties Institutions for Measures against Abduction Issue
05:28 Council meeting ends
05:33 Four Ministers’ Group of NSC meets. Minister of Culture, Education, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motegi Toshimitsu also attend
06:18 Four Ministers’ Group meeting ends
06:25 Depart from office
06:32 Arrive at Chianti Restaurant & Shop in Abazudai, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio, Minister for Reconstruction Nemoto Takumi, Chairperson of LDP General Council Noda Seiko, and colleagues
08:43 Depart from Chianti
09:02 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Friday, June 13, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no morning visitors)
08:34 Depart from private residence
08:49 Arrive at office
08:56 Regulatory Reform Council meeting
09:15 Meeting ends
09:21 Cabinet Meeting
09:31 Cabinet Meeting ends
09:38 Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Amari Akira and Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office Matsuyama Kenji enter
09:54 Mr. Matsuyama leaves. Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau Director-General Sugahara Ikuro joins
09:59 Mr. Sugahara leaves
10:01 Mr. Amari leaves
10:02 Meet with LDP Lower House member Yamamoto Yuji
10:29 End meeting with Mr. Yamamoto
10:30 Meet with LDP Lower House member Imamura Masahiro. Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro also attends
10:50 End meeting with Mr. Imamura
10:51 Meet with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru
11:16 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura
11:27 Meet with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko and LDP Secretary-General Ishiba Shigeru. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends

PM
12:07 End meeting with Mr. Komura and Mr. Ishiba
12:08 Lunch meeting with Chairman of Yomiuri Group, Inc. Watanabe Tsuneo
01:10 Lunch meeting ends
01:11 Meet with South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Byung-kee. MOFA’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director-General Ihara Jyunichi also attends
01:30 End meeting with Mr. Lee
01:54 MOFA’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, Deputy Ministers for Foreign Affairs Sugiyama Shinsuke and Nagamine Yasumasa, and MOFA Intelligence and Analysis Service Director-General Matsutomi Shigeo enter
02:12 Mr. Matsutomi leaves
02:33 Everyone leaves
02:36 Meeting of Japanese Ambassadors to Middle East and North Africa
02:57 Meeting ends
02:58 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Mr. Amari, Chairman of LDP Research Commission on the Tax System Noda Takeshi. Mr. Suga also attends
03:30 End meeting with Mr. Aso, Mr. Amari and Mr. Noda
03:40 Interview open to all media: Mr. Abe states “I am aiming to lower the corporate tax rate to 20% over the next several years”
03:43 Interview ends
03:44 Meet with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Japanese Olympic Committee President Takeda Tsunekazu
04:15 End meeting with Mr. Bach and Mr. Takeda
04:22 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawai Katsuyuki
04:38 End meeting with Mr. Kawai
04:39 Meet with Mr. Saiki
05:01 End meeting with Mr. Saiki
05:03 Depart from office
05:09 Arrive at Hotel Okura in Toranomon, Tokyo. Attend party to honor the appointment of incoming Chairman of Japan Productivity Center Mogi Yuzaburo in banquet hall Maple Room, deliver address
05:28 Depart from Hotel Okura
05:33 Arrive at office
05:37 Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy meeting
06:21 Council meeting ends
06:33 Depart from office
06:34 Arrive at official residence. Dinner meeting with Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea [救う会：Sukuukai] Chairman Nishioka Tsutomu and Kyoto University emeritus professor Nakanishi Terumasa. Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Eto Seiichi also attends
08:10 Depart from official residence
08:20 Arrive at private residence

Saturday, June 14, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
06:45 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:14 Arrive at Haneda Airport
07:41 Depart from airport on Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 1663
08:45 Arrive at Izumo Airport
08:54 Depart from airport
09:11 Arrive at Daifuku Corporation’s industrial waste processing plant Hikawa Recycling Center in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, view interior of the plant. LDP Upper House member Aoki Kazuhiko, Governor of Shimane Prefecture Mizoguchi Zenbe, and Mayor of Izumo City Nagamine Yasumasa accompany
09:26 Depart from Hikawa Recycling Center
09:55 Arrive at Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo in Izumo City. Deliberate with regional revitalization cooperation group [地域おこし協力隊] in lecture hall
10:24 Depart from museum
10:28 Arrive at Izumo Oyashiro shrine in Izumo City, conduct shrine visit
10:46 Depart from shrine
10:50 Arrive at soba restaurant “Heiwa Soba” in Izumo City. Lunch meeting with Mr. Aoki and colleagues
11:29 Depart from “Heiwa Soba”

PM
12:48 Arrive at Kumezakura Sake Brewery Restaurant in Hoki-cho, Tottori Prefecture, sample sausage and seedless watermelon. LDP Lower House member Azakawa Ryusei, LDP Upper House member Maitachi Shoji, Governor of Tottori Prefecture Hirai Shinji, and Mayor of Hoki-cho Moriyasu Tamotsu accompany
01:08 Depart from restaurant
02:00 Arrive at Yume Minato Tower in Sakaiminato City, Tottori Prefecture. From inside, view Minatomachi shopping district. Mayor of Sakaiminato City Nakamura Katsuji accompanies
02:41 Interview open to all media: When Mr. Abe is asked about “how he plans to make the most of a growth strategy from here on, after viewing [the shopping district],” he replies “I want to establish local creation headquarter offices and put directors at as their heads, to begin moving toward regional revitalization policies.”
02:46 Interview ends
02:51 Depart from Yume Minato Tower
03:02 Arrive at Yonago Airport
04:12 Depart from airport on Skymark Flight 224
05:11 Arrive at Haneda Airport
05:26 Depart from Haneda Airport
05:56 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Turandot [Turandot臥龍居] in Akasaka, Tokyo. Dinner with mother Kishi Yoko
09:35 Depart from restaurant
09:48 Arrive at private residence

Sunday, June 15, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence (no visitors)
08:41 Depart from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
08:52 Arrive at Hilton Tokyo hotel in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo. Hair cut at Barber Shop Muragi
09:54 Depart from Hilton Tokyo
10:03 Arrive at official residence

PM
Stay at official residence throughout the afternoon (no visitors)