Who are the “new Japanese”?
Ladies and gentlemen, Japan has for multiple generations walked a single path, loving freedom and human rights, valuing law and order, abhorring war, and earnestly and determinedly pursuing peace, never wavering in the least. We will continue to walk this same path, unchanged, for generations upon generations to come.
I would like all of you gathered here today to understand that point in a way that is absolutely crystal clear.
Over what is almost now a year and a half, I have worked to the very best of my ability to remake the Japanese economy into an economy that once more grows robustly, abundant with innovations. People call this “Abenomics” and classify it as a type of economic policy.
But for me, it is a mission that goes far beyond economic policy. It is nothing less than an undertaking to foster “new Japanese” who will shoulder the responsibilities of the coming years.And who are these “new Japanese”?
They are Japanese who have lost none of the good qualities of the Japanese of days gone by. Japanese who loathe poverty and believe that universal values are found in the joy of hard work, have, since the days when Asia was still said to be synonymous with being impoverished, have continued to contribute untiringly to the construction of Asia’s economies, in the belief that there is no reason why other Asian countries would be unable to accomplish what the Japanese themselves achieved. |
