(Tokyo Shimbun: February 24, 2016 – p. 6)

 Consumer Affairs Minister Taro Kono is considering whether Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) Secretary General Kumiko Bando can participate in the administrative vice ministers’ liaison meeting via a videoconference system in the test relocation to Tokushima in March. This is part of issues being examined in the plan to relocate to Tokushima. There has been concern about leakage of information.

 The administrative vice ministers’ meeting is held at the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Official Residence) every Friday for the ministries to share information on policy issues. The CAA chief participates in this meeting regularly.

 Bando is scheduled to work from the town of Kamiyama in Tokushima Prefecture for one week from Mar. 13. She will experiment on holding her regular news conference via videoconference and the vice ministers’ meeting is scheduled to be held while she is away.

 Although other officials, such as a bureau chief, can attend the meeting on her behalf, Kono has told his aides that “this does not make sense” [in terms of the relocation experiment], asking for the introduction of a videoconference system. He stated at a meeting in Tokushima City on Feb. 20 that his ministry is studying the introduction of a system that will not result in information leakage.