Under normal circumstances, I should be standing here before you to deliver a speech celebrating the coming of the New Year and of spring. However, yesterday, an exceptional situation arose, with the arrest of Tomohiro Ishikawa, a Diet member belonging to the Democratic Party of Japan, on the eve of this party convention and of the ordinary Diet session. As party President, I would like to express my sincere regrets to the Japanese people for any inconvenience and concern which have been caused in relation to these circumstances. I will touch on this issue again later in my speech.

As I am sure you are aware, a major earthquake has occurred in Haiti, leading to a massive disaster in which, according to media reports, more than one hundred thousand people have lost their lives, and many more are missing. On behalf of Japan and the Japanese people, I would like to express our profound condolences, as well as our hopes for the speedy recovery of those injured. Our country has already dispatched an assessment team to the region, and in addition I would like to express our readiness to undertake relief assistance by providing material aid, and if asked to do so, humanitarian assistance. Furthermore, as DPJ President, I would like us to send an aid needs assessment mission to Haiti, other than the government team, at the earliest possible opportunity. I would like them to find out what role Japan can play and, as a Japanese citizen, I vow that we will provide the utmost assistance possible. I would like to dispatch such an assessment mission [from the DPJ].

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Social Democratic Party Leader Mizuho Fukushima, People窶冱 New Party Leader Shizuka Kamei, New Party Nippon Captain Yasuo Tanaka, and New Party Daichi Leader Muneo Suzuki for taking time out of their busy schedules to give such warm words of encouragement on this occasion.

Moreover, I would like to thank Shinseido Co., Ltd. Advisor Morio Ikeda and Japanese Trade Union Confederation President Nobuaki Koga for their extremely kind words.

Many people, including representatives from allied organizations, and from various professional fields, as well as members of the diplomatic corps, have taken the trouble to participate in our convention today and I would also like to thank them sincerely for this.

This convention is the first to be held since we achieved a change of government in the general election held last year. I would like first of all to take the opportunity of this annual party convention to once more express my gratitude to the people of Japan for having had the courage to choose a DPJ-led government.

Moreover, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the members of local governments, who exerted every effort at the local level, to our party members and supporters nationwide, and to all those who gave their support to the DPJ. Thank you very much.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, the public prosecutors are currently investigating DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa窶冱 political fund organization. However, the Secretary General states he has not committed any act that infringes the law. As DPJ President, I believe him. I believe that the DPJ should focus on clearly fulfilling our responsibilities as the ruling party of the Japanese people. Of course it goes without saying that these responsibilities include the task of establishing political morality. I call on Secretary General Ozawa to explain the facts without concealing anything, and to devote his entire strength to the execution of his role [as Secretary General]. I ask the Japanese people, the DPJ Diet members gathered here today, and all our party members and supporters to watch over the developments in the investigation and to make their judgement in a cool-headed manner.

It was the experience of all our party members last year that even in the face of difficulties, the DPJ was able to unite as a party, call on the people to bring about a change of government, and to achieve that goal. What we are being called to do here today is to fully realize the weight of the responsibility of the four-year term entrusted in us by the people, and to overcome these difficulties. I would like to ask for the indulgence of the convention Chairs in taking this opportunity to repeat my vow that the DPJ will not under any circumstances be discouraged. We will not yield, but will unite together and exert all our strength to respond to public expectations.

Furthermore, I must report to you regarding the issue of the political fundraising reports of my political fund organization, which has caused a great deal of inconvenience and anxiety. It is up to the Japanese people to decide for themselves regarding this issue, but all details have been made clear as a result of the prosecutors窶 investigation, and matters have basically been concluded with the relevant penalty being decided. Following the conclusion of the prosecutors窶 investigations and apportioning of the penalty, I held a press conference last year, in which I apologized to the public and any one who had been inconvenienced, and explained matters to the best of my ability.

There are things that I myself have to reflect on seriously. I will engage in a thorough revision of those items that need to be changed, and make every effort to carry out the mission that I have been entrusted with, working myself to the bone in order to obtain your understanding and support. As party President and head of the coalition government I will make every effort to proceed with reforms, and I would like to express my sincere desire for your understanding and cooperation in this regard.

It is four months today since the change of government took place. Those of you gathered here today, do you remember, during that hot summer last year, that we made a promise to the people of Japan to create a mode of government that would put people窶冱 lives first? The public are currently beset by anxiety and dissatisfaction. At the end of last year, the new DPJ-led coalition government, in order to fulfill our mission, drew up, with our own hands, a supplementary budget and the budget for fiscal 2010. Our mission and the reason for our existence, is nothing more than to give hope and dreams and security to the lives of each and every one of the people as soon as possible. Let窶冱 take this opportunity to unite as a party toward the realization of a genuine 窶徘olitics that puts people窶冱 lives first窶?

For the DPJ, while we realize the full weight of the responsibility invested in the administration, every day has been a day in which we experience situations we have never experienced before. In the first four months since we were entrusted with a four-year term of office, we have engaged in economic recovery measures, aimed to secure people窶冱 livelihoods, and have succeeded in breaking away from a mode of government which leaves everything in the hands of bureaucrats. I don窶冲 feel that I can say that we have always been fully prepared, or that I would give full marks to our performance. However, I am proud of the fact that we have set our feet firmly on the path to reform.

We have only just begun to tackle the filth and dust that has accumulated over the many years of LDP government. The DPJ has been granted 308 seats in the House of Representatives. We have received calls from the public asking why, despite this fact, we have been so slow to act. However, what the DPJ and the coalition government are trying to achieve are not purely superficial reforms that take place on top of the old system of politics and governance. What is called for is drastic reform, which involves not only eliminating bureaucraticism and groupism, but in totally transforming administrative and budgetary systems, the relationship between central and local government, and the entire government mechanism into a mode of governance that puts the lives of the people first.

I will not deny that huge shortfalls in tax revenues which we did not envisage when creating our manifesto have had a big impact. In addition, our efforts to eliminate wasteful uses of tax money have only just begun. Considering these circumstances, in implementing our manifesto, we have been forced to postpone a part of the spend set out in the process chart. However, I would like to reaffirm our determination of carrying out these items also. I believe that it is from now on that we will be called upon to show our true colours as a national government.

The ordinary Diet session is soon to be convened. The mission of this Diet is first of all to pass the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009, which contains measures amounting to 24 trillion yen. Nearly a year has passed since what was described as a one-in-a-century economic crisis, and the economy seems to have recovered slightly. But even though we are told that this is the case, there is still no knowing what will happen next with regard to the severe economic and employment conditions, as well as the strong yen and deflation. This supplementary budget is intended to provide emergency measures to deal with the economic and employment issues we face, and to prevent the economy hitting a second bottom, and I would like to make every effort, together with the coalition government, to ensure that it passes the Diet as soon as possible.

Following the supplementary budget, I am determined that the budget for fiscal 2010 should be passed as soon as possible. In order make the first step toward providing security and vitality to people窶冱 lives, we have drafted this budget to be 窶彗 budget that protects lives窶? that embraces the concept 窶彷rom concrete to human beings窶? and addresses issues such as childrearing, employment, healthcare, and the environment.

The budget includes funding for many new policies, such as the establishment of a child allowance; making attendance at state schools free in principle and providing assistance to students attending private high schools; measures to protect more that two million jobs; the regeneration of medical and nursing care; and the introduction of an individual household income support system for farmers. In addition, we will actively support citizens and NPOs engaged in activities closely related to our daily lives, such as childrearing, education and nursing care, as proponents of a 窶從ew type of public service窶? If these policies are implemented, then I believe that the majority of the public will definitely feel that politics has really changed. With regard to the formation of the budget, I feel that the government and the ruling parties cooperated as one, as well as lending an ear to the opinions of the public in aiming to achieve a successful budget, and even considering the constraints of resources and time, we were able to produce the budget for the first fiscal year since the change of government by the end of last year, a budget that has sown many new seeds and put forth shoots. By implementing the supplementary budget and the budget for fiscal 2010 without a break, I would like to urgently pursue measures for the protection of people窶冱 lives, and economic and employment measures.

Furthermore, I intend to create a new growth strategy for Japan which would have the environment, health, and Asia as key concepts, as well as continuing to engage in pension and medical reform.

I will strengthen efforts toward reforming the national government and creating a new Japan.

Since the inauguration of our administration, we have aimed for 窶彗 mode of government in which the people are the main actors窶? rather than following the practice of past administrations who left everything up to the bureaucrats, and have promoted reforming the way in which the nation is administered by shifting to a mode of government led by politicians and the people. In order to achieve further progress in this, during the ordinary Diet session, in addition to revising the Diet Law, we will promote measures to establish politician-led government, such as increasing the numbers of Vice Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, and legally consolidating the National Policy Unit and the Government Revitalization Unit.

We will also make steady progress toward the establishment of regional sovereignty. We will aim to establish a forum for discussions between central government and the regions, and a fiscal relationship between central and local government that revitalizes the regions. Furthermore, in relation to the issue of giving foreign nationals residing in Japan the right to vote in local elections, the government is considering submitting a bill regarding this, but I would like to gain the agreement of the coalition government for this bill as legislation that aims to make Japan窶冱 democracy more mature, and to enhance coexistence and cooperation with the citizens of other countries.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Japan-US alliance, and I believe that the transfer of the facilities at Futenma base will be a catalyst for a deepening in our relationship. Great changes take time. The three parties in the coalition government will work together in selecting an appropriate destination for the transfer, and negotiating with the US government, and engage actively in efforts and discussions. In addition to deepening the Japan-US alliance, I believe strongly in the significance of moving toward the vision of an East-Asia Community. This is because I am convinced that, in a multi-cultural Asia, deepening a whole variety of exchanges both vertically and horizontally will create something new that is of enormous value and vitality.

A system for moving toward the 窶彳limination of wasteful use of tax money窶 that is one focus of our new government has only just started.

Last year, we successfully implemented a review of individual project funding under the authority of the National Revitalization Unit. In order to respond even more fully to the expectations of the Japanese people, we will continue to disclose in an comprehensible way projects and funding that are shrouded in mystery and not easily recognizable by the public, such as those relating to public-interest corporations, independently-administered corporations and special accounts, and will make every effort to move toward the 窶彳limination of wasteful use of tax money窶?

This summer窶冱 House of Councillors election will take place in light of the progress made by the coalition government in implementing policies. In order to strengthen the foundations of the administration, and implement even more forcibly reforms that aim for a mode of government in which the people play a leading role, and which puts people窶冱 lives first, we must receive a strong boost from the Japanese people. Let窶冱 unite as a party, and gain victory in the House of Councillors election, aiming for an outright DPJ majority and an increase in the number of seats held by the coalition government.

In closing, I ask you to bear in mind the enormous responsibility that the DPJ carries in working together with the people to change politics, and in implementing a politics of fraternity that put people窶冱 livelihoods first, thereby creating a new Japan. I would like to reaffirm my resolve to ensure that the party is even more strongly and firmly united toward this important mission, and to lead all the DPJ Diet members in making every effort to respond to public expectations. Thank you very much for your attention.