Januruary 8, 2010: Teleconference with Mr. Souchi Noguchi of ISS

Last night I had the pleasure of taking part in a teleconference with an astronaut, Mr. Souchi Noguchi. He is currently serving a five month long- term mission on the International Space Station with his colleagues from around the world.

There was one question in particular that I wanted to ask him:

If all the Earth's people were living on the space station, do you think there would be conflicts such as they presently occur?

He replied, “On the International Space Station the most important thing is to understand each other.”

After the teleconference, Mr. Noguchi was to make Nanasai-gayu [Ed: Literally translated as“Seven Vegetable Porridge”, a traditional porridge for celebrating the seventh day of the solar year] and pray for world peace with his compatriots on board the International Space Station.

Mr. Noguchi also spoke of writing in space. On account of weightlessness his writing- pad would drift away from him as he tried to write, and he would have trouble trying to ensure the ink would adhere to the paper. These phenomena were novel discoveries for me.

Hearing Mr. Noguchi speak on topics such as these made me feel a proximity to human life in space, leaving a significant impression.

Thank you again to the students of Chigasaki City, Hamasuka Elementary School for taking part in the teleconference. I hope you all have big dreams like Mr. Noguchi.

January 2, 2010: About This Blog

The above photograph was taken by a member of our delegation during my trip to India at the end of this past year. The agenda kept us very busy. However, I was able to duck out to lay wreaths at the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi, after which I returned to official business with a renewed devotion to democracy.

This blog will feature photographs taken by myself as well as those taken by my secretaries. I take full responsibility for the picture of the sky [over the Prime Minister's HQ] from yesterday's entry, taken from my mobile phone. I do wish it came out better. . .

I received many inquiries from all of you about “Hato Cafe” and I would like to address some of those here. A working- group was put together recently by Mr. Oriza Hirata to explore ways in which to “bridge the gap” between the citizenry and government. I began my blogging and tweeting activities in accordance with a proposal from said working- group.

And so it was that this figurative bridge came to be realized through the cooperation of my Cabinet's Public Relations Office. I sincerely thank everybody at the working- group for their fine proposal.

Naturally the substance of what I say on this blog is more important than that it actually exists. Therefore, I hope to maintain this venue through appropriate postings. I welcome your opinions and thoughts in this matter.

I am posting entries two days in a row for practice; but I expect that once we get into the swing of things, new entries will be posted on a weekly basis. (I email the entries to my Public Relations Office, who edit and post the blogs)

Well, I hope you all take care and don't catch a cold, what with this cold front and all.

January 1, 2010: Happy New Year!

To bring myself just a little bit closer to my fellow citizens, in the hopes that we may continue building our country together. This is the ultimate goal for which the commencement of blogging on “Hato Cafe” is but a mere first step. I fear that I will only be able to blog on a weekly basis. However, I value this venue as a means of directly communicating with all of you.

I also begin tweeting today. Right now it is like going on a test drive, but hopefully I will get used to it as time elapses.

Communications concerning policy will continue to be transmitted through the usual channels. This blog “Hato Cafe” will cover my personal happenings and announcements, while I hope to use my twitter account to directly convey snippets of new information and brief updates of status.

Also, I hope to hear from all of you! Please tweet your opinions and thoughts about this blog to @hatoyamayukio. I look forward to reading your tweets on a special- purpose monitor I had set up beside my desk at the Prime Minister's Office.

I also apologize sincerely for the scandal which has indicted some members of my ministerial campaign. I expect that there will continue to be criticism of my Cabinet, but I look forward to throwing all my powers into the job at hand this year while keeping a ear open to the critics.

Now if I may be excused my attendance is requested at the Imperial Castle for the New Year gala.