The Reconstruction Agency finally made its official debut Friday, 11 months since the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake, and its mission is to speed up the process of rebuilding the Tohoku region.
Tatsuo Hirano has been appointed as the minister of the agency, which is headquartered in Tokyo but has three bureaus and six branches in the disaster area — Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures — to quickly address the needs of people in the disaster zone.
"I want to take the lead to speed up the process of reconstruction and restoration," Hirano, a native of Iwate, said Friday morning.