Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday visited the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where decommissioning work is taking place.
The day trip is Suga's first since he replaced former leader Shinzo Abe, who stepped down for health reasons, and is aimed at demonstrating the government's continued commitment to rebuilding areas of Tohoku affected by the massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis.
While the Abe administration's set of basic policies included the pillar of disaster recovery from its inception in 2012, Suga's Cabinet platform, adopted at its first meeting on Sept. 16, made no mention of the disasters that left nearly 15,900 people dead and more than 2,500 unaccounted for.
Suga said during a Friday meeting on the rebuilding of the region that he will "inherit the policy" from the previous administration and keep pushing reconstruction forward.
His trip also includes a visit to a museum on the disaster and a meeting with students from local junior and senior high schools.
