Japanese → English transcript

It's really difficult—if I start talking there's no end to it, but for example,

I do not accept any donations at all, and I do not hold political fundraising parties.

I don't hold parties. We have a modest office, but still…

If you accept favors to some extent from certain companies or certain religious groups…

If you accept a large donation from a particular organization, you can end up with strings attached.

That can happen. For example, I'm not going to name any religion—

but suppose there's a Japanese person who follows religion A and a foreigner who follows religion B.

If the B-religion people are Japanese, and someone of a different religion says, "This is right,"

and a foreigner of the same religion asks them, "Please do this for us,"

when those interests conflict, which way will they side?

That's what really worries me, and in that moment, if their religion differs from mine,

I can't trust someone unless they can immediately answer, "I am a Japanese citizen."

In that sense, when asking what you're doing it for, I always think of Japan—

and I want to consider the national interest of the country and its people, so I don't want weaknesses to be held over me or to be tied to anyone.

I dislike that. However, I receive every single vote from the people,

and yes, that is a kind of attachment, but it also means carrying diverse opinions.

Because of that, I choose among those opinions, and I don't want policies to be taken hostage.

I don't want to do that. I simply want to pursue the national interest.