The Environment Ministry needs to work on making better presentations to the public if it hopes to create greater awareness of environmental issues, according to newly appointed Environment Minister Yuriko Koike.
"Environmental issues are deeply connected to our daily lives," Koike, 51, said. "So if ways can be improved to attract the people's attention, it will be easier (to convince the public to be more aware of environmental problems."
Koike said she needs to learn how to generate greater public interest in her ministry's policies. She noted Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's use of a plastic bottle containing suspended vehicle exhaust particulate drew people's attention to his plan to ban diesel vehicles from the capital's streets.