The new disaster reconstruction minister on Thursday visited areas damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, vowing to restore confidence in the government among those dismayed by his predecessor's gaffes.
"I came here today in the hope of regaining trust," Masayoshi Yoshino, who replaced Masahiro Imamura on Wednesday, told Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori. The prefecture is struggling to rebuild not only from the quake and tsunami but also from the nuclear disaster they triggered.
In remarks made the same morning to the 2011 disaster reconstruction committees of both houses of the Diet, Yoshino vowed to "put myself alongside those affected by the disasters, perform my functions (as minister) and further accelerate recovery."