On April 9, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada spoke to reporters at Miyagi Prefectural Offices in Sendai City, following a meeting with Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai. Asked for his impressions following their discussions, Okada said, “Murai is exercising leadership in trying to overcome difficult circumstances. I would like both the party and the government to support him and to work together in recovery efforts. I have reaffirmed our commitment to this structure.”

Okada had earlier visited parts of Miyagi Prefecture that had been devastated by the disaster including Kesennuma City, Minamisanriku Town and Sendai airport. He said, “I was moved by the efforts of survivors to remain cheerful under such difficult conditions.” He stressed that the government, in addition to making every effort to construct the temporary housing for which there is a particularly strong demand, would also endeavour to provide children with a stable environment for their studies.

Asked why he had chosen to write the Chinese character for “hope” when asked by a victim of the disaster for his autograph on a visit to an evacuation centre, Okada replied, “It encapsulated my feeling that it is important not only for the victims of the disaster but for Japan as a whole to face these difficulties with hope in our hearts.”

Okada was asked for the detailed image behind his vision for creating a new Tohoku. After making the caveat that this would be the subject of detailed discussions from now on, Okada said that his vision was “To realise in Tohoku a prototype for the path that Japan will take in the 21st century. Tohuku is particularly rich in primary industries, and so I would like to create new-style agriculture and fishing industries. Not to return to the old ways, but for example, in terms of the fishing industry, to create marine products that can be sold to Asia and to the world. For that we need software and hardware suitable for such a task, and so we will need to focus on developing such [infrastructure]. Furthermore, in terms of energy, it will be important to set up a supply structure that will emphasise new energies such as biomass, wind power and solar power. I think that we need to establish a number of core policies that will also include realizing new-style local communities in the Tohoku region, and local municipalities will form the basis for realising such policies, in cooperation with prefectural and central governments.”