This Friday, the September prefectural assembly session will start. I have prepared the budgets for fulfillment in residents’ life and regional improvements. Concerning the Seoul-Yonago flight route, I will propose in the initial budget the measures for seat occupancy and will additionally propose management assistance as needed. I expect full-fledged debates from the assembly members.
Tomorrow, the Chugoku and Shikoku Regions Summit will be held at foot of Mt. Daisen, Tottori prefecture. Governors or their representatives including economic circles from these regions will exchange views focusing on the promotion of decentralization and the correction of regional gaps. After the summit, I will talk with Mr. Iizumi, Governor of Tokushima prefecture. Since two prefectures have made an agreement of mutual support in the event of a disaster, we will mainly discuss issues on mutual detachment of volunteers and exchange of information together with regional gaps.
Yesterday, I conducted a map disaster drill to share awareness of the present disaster countermeasures. Mr. Nishida, adviser of the Disaster Prevention Bureau in the prefecture, pointed out that females are not included in the members. As I agree that the lack of a female perspective is unreasonable, I will address the imbalance as soon as possible so that female staff members can be added in the bureau. I have also instructed the Disaster Prevention Bureau to review the contingency plans in the event of the collapsing the prefectural office building or flooding from a tsunami.
Relative to the unfair billings of nursing-care benefits by COMSN Inc., I have instructed the Chubu regional office to control such social welfare corporation via administrative guidance.
We are still under close investigation for the aid of their running cost based on a percentage setup.
Since the September assembly session starts on September 7, I do not have enough time to prepare the proposal by then. On September 6, a general meeting of the Sanin International Tourism Association and the executive committee for promoting the use of Asiana Airlines will be specially held. I want to make a decision on the additional budget according to the progress of the meeting where the seat occupancy will surely be discussed.
We are now in the calculation process, comparing the calculation of the economic outcomes of the time this service was launched out. It will be possible to show estimated figures. The propagating effect at the time was calculated to be 300 million yen for the passengers from Japan and 100 million yen for the passengers from South Korea. From these figures, the prediction of economic outcomes at the time surpassed largely the additional aid at this time. I will prepare the data of current status to explain to the residents.
The continuation of the flight route was agreed on through mutual consultations. However, Asiana Airlines is not like they will continue to fly the route. I think it implies that they will change their policy to suspend the route at any time. We need to continuously discuss this issue over the six-month span, and the consultations will still continue every six months. At each stage, I will comprehensively evaluate the aid policy, taking the opinions of the residents, people’s interest in the Asiana flight and the achievement ratio of the seat occupancy into account. Honestly speaking, I must make a tough decision depending on the circumstances.
I have already sent Gangwon-do province’s Governor Kim JinSun my message stating that I want to have direct talks with him about the restart of our exchanges. Fujii will also have a talk with him to convey my intention at the forum of the International Tourism Association held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He will pave the way for the restart. In this late October, Kim JinSun will visit Tottori prefecture to participate in the 11th North East Asia Summit held in Sakaiminato city. Taking this opportunity, I expect to go a step further to realize the restart of our exchanges.
I want to provide for face-to-face meetings with Kim JinSun of Gangwon-do province, South Korea.
I think it is true that our side hasn’t taken a clear action for the restart of the exchanges. Since I took office in this April, I have been thinking to rebuild the relation as was once said a model of Japan-South Korea exchanges. One condition will be to convey our desire for the restart to Gangwon-do province. Our future will depend on the decision of the Korean side.
The existence of the regular international flight services is largely connected to the exchanges. It is because the flight service will allow the two countries to keep closer not only in distance and time, but also psychologically.
My point of view is that Takeshima Island belongs to the territory of Japan. This is however an issue that should be solved on the national level. When considering the sound relations with the East Asian countries as a whole, we must not aggravate exchanges with the neighboring countries due to the interstate confrontation. I want to appeal for an early settlement to the central government. My belief is that solidarity with international municipalities will be linked to the prosperity of the entire East Asia region in the true sense by overcoming the differences in ways of thinking or in what people claim among countries.
The council has various functions. For example, they conduct not only the evaluation of individual companies and bid evaluation, but also bidding system itself. We should afford an opportunity for the people being near the construction site to voice their opinions. In my opinion, participation of the representatives from the construction industry makes sense to me.
If I remember, I already hammered out our strategy in June. For the medical students who are now studying outside the prefecture and plan to return to their hometowns, I have created a system to exempt their scholarship’s return. There is a tension that prefectures must compete with each other to secure as many doctors as possible. Essentially, the number of doctors for the country as a whole is short, especially short for obstetricians and pediatricians. I want to request to the central government to develop strategies from scratch that will be applicable to all the municipalities.
Have you conferred with the Tottori University Faculty of Medicine?
I have not yet conferred on this matter personally with the Tottori University. In its Faculty of Medicine, local graduates and graduates from Shimane prefecture and Tajima area of Hyogo prefecture in the Sanin region are working as doctors. I do not know in detail about the donation by Hyogo prefecture. It might have come about through the past relations with the Tottori University. I want to have an opportunity to discuss with the Tottori University how to secure doctors from various universities and medical institutions. When I have discussions to secure doctors in the Tobu, Chubu and Seibu regions, I will have the Tottori University Faculty of Medicine join the discussions.