Government Response to Economic Challenges

- Good morning.

Good morning.

Now, regarding the opening press conference,

- I would like to ask a question.

Yes, excuse me.

At the outset,

I would like to state that, regarding the

response to PHP vulnerabilities,

as for the situation at these financial institutions,

based on notices

and warnings from NCO and others,

at many, many financial institutions,

preventive system shutdowns and other measures

were carried out.

This is because,

since April, the Financial Services Agency has continuously addressed the AI threat

issue,

and since April, has established a public-private council

for cooperation. Then, in May,

when the need arose to apply patches,

proactive system

shutdowns

were included from the outset as one

possible option,

and we discussed and decided

what to do in different situations,

so that short-term responses

could be made,

and we also requested that financial institutions

take such measures,

so that they could respond

quickly

and efficiently,

and I believe that the considerable work

we have done

may have paid off this time.

The response was relatively smooth,

with batch processing completed yesterday morning

as well,

and there were many cases where

the situation was already visible,

so I think that

had some significance to a certain extent.

I think there was also value in

conducting an early rehearsal.

That said,

with something that is used so widely

as this, there are certainly situations where

a response is necessary,

and the risk going forward

is expected to increase

even further,

so while coordinating with the relevant organizations,

we would like to further encourage financial institutions to take

the necessary measures

going forward.

Incidentally, our home

page was also restored relatively early.

Quite a few members of the Diet

also

became temporarily inaccessible due to

IP address issues,

but

I have heard that almost all of them have been restored,

though

ours was restored as well.

- Yes.

Thank you.

Now, from Kaisha Digital Communications, one...

May I ask a question?

The government is reportedly considering

subsidies for winter electricity and gas bills, gasoline,

electricity and gas subsidies, and

continuing gasoline subsidies.

It is considering this,

reports say.

Including the funding sources,

including funding sources and the start date,

I would like to ask about the current state

of deliberations.

Also, if gasoline subsidies are

continued,

about 170 yen per liter

being the current cap under the subsidy

system, what are your thoughts

on this

as well?

- Could you tell us? Yes.

This was in response to

the Gulf crisis at the end of February,

and, by the prime minister's decision, it began

early in March,

and I believe it has been

very effective.

So this time as well, if the prime minister

issues some kind of

policy or instruction, I assume there

will be one,

that is what I believe.

In that case, of course,

it would be natural for us

to respond accordingly, but regarding

that policy, I do not believe a decision

has been made,

so there is nothing I can

answer here,

but in any case, while looking at the various

aspects of people's lives,

so that there is no impact

on economic activity,

I think various measures will be

put in place.

- Yes. Thank you very much.

- One final question, please.

- Then, Nikkei. Nikkei

has one question. Regarding the content indus-

try support budget,

I would like to ask.

At yesterday's committee deliberations, based on

the failures of the Cool Japan

Fund, a direction for

budget reform was proposed.

As minister, from the standpoint of advancing a Japanese version

of the CNC,

how will you approach

budget formulation at year-end?

- Please share your thoughts.

Well, you see, from people with all kinds

of opinions throughout Japan,

there is a shared view that

we must reflect on the past,

that this must be taken into account,

and this view has been

expressed unanimously.

But then, what should we do?

The 17 fields of non-

Content is always one of the important

areas, so

various proposals have been

put forward.

There have been proposals from every government office,

and private-sector leaders

have also come to see us,

so we need to pool our wisdom.

As I said when discussing investment amounts

for a strong and prosperous Japan,

I also mentioned the 5Ws, for example, or the fund

and the issues surrounding it,

and our reflections on them,

so taking all of this together,

from the public's perspective,

it has to be something

they can look at and say, “This is it,”

- I believe.

- Thank you. Well then.

- Thank you.

Time is up, so we'll conclude.