A country that sets out a conclusion and takes steps forward

June 30, 2012, in an address delivered at the Yomiuri International Economic Society (YIES) Symposium

"The European crisis is no longer 'someone else's problem.' Yet I think that in Japan the sense of crisis towards that problem is still limited. Recently I went to Mexico for the G20 meeting. That 4-day, 1-night trip was grueling. Even during that single night of the 4-day, 1-night trip, that sense of crisis truly struck home. Every country is striving in earnest regarding how to meet the challenge of the dual issues of growth and fiscal reconstruction. I felt keenly that Japan should be the country that first sets out a conclusion and takes steps forward regarding these issues that each country is now grappling with."