8. In conclusion

Shibusawa Eiichi, who was a dynamic force during the tumultuous time from the final days of the Tokugawa government to the beginning of the Showa era, was concerned about how people were losing their spirit of challenge to achieve greater things in the world due to growing complacency over their new lives brought on by modernization at the end of the Meiji era. He left the following words:
“The society as a whole has lost its spirit and our country’s development is stagnating. Rather than keeping up our work and ensuring that it is done without fail, we must plan bigger things and develop them in order to compete with the world.

We are in the midst of turmoil and chaos with a one-in-a-century disaster causing great social transformation. It is precisely because we are living in such a period that we must take the words of our great forebearer, Shibusawa, to heart and build a society that strikes a balance between maturity and ongoing growth by adopting bold ideas and high ideals without being bound by our conventional ways. Realization of a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 for Tokyo’s evolution into a more resilient and sustainable city is the mission given to all of us living today.

For this reason, we will mobilize all of Tokyo’s resources to overcome this difficult situation by all means. We will then open up a hopeful future. The understanding and cooperation of the members of this Assembly and the citizens of Tokyo shall be greatly appreciated.

This regular session of the Assembly will be the final session in your current 4-year term. Looking back over the last four years, as the era changed from Heisei to Reiwa, we wrestled with various challenges together, including typhoons that brought serious damage around Tokyo, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the rapidly accelerating declining birthrate and aging population, and climate change. The metropolitan administration, through serious discussion in the Assembly, has hammered out concrete solutions to the challenges we face as well as pioneering policies with an eye to the future, to steadily take steps toward the sustainable Future Tokyo. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for your contributions to the development of Tokyo over the last four years.

To members who will be stepping down at the end of this term, on behalf of the people of Tokyo, I would like to express my deep respect for all the hard work you have put in while serving your terms. To members who are running for reelection, I wish you the best.

Including the matters to which I have already referred, a total of 54 bills have been presented to this regular session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, including 3 budget bills and 28 proposed ordinances, to be deliberated among the Assembly members.

This concludes my policy address to the Assembly. Thank you.