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Reorganized Gov't Bodies To Put up New Signs Sat.
KYODO NEWS - January 04, 2001 20:31
TOKYO, Jan. 5 (Kyodo) -- When the government reorganization of its ministries and agencies goes into effect Saturday, the most visible change will be new signs in front of the buildings to be unveiled on the day, some of them written by the heads of the new entities.
New Conservative Party leader Chikage Ogi, who will become the first minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, wrote the ministry's name on paper with a brush and ink, and this was used to make a wooden sign measuring 160 centimeters in length and 40 cm high, an aide to Ogi said.
The sign will be displayed at the front entrance of the ministry building in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district. The mammoth ministry is to be created by merging the Construction and Transport ministries and the National Land and Hokkaido Development agencies.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori wrote the name of the Cabinet Office, which merges four government offices including the Prime Minister's Office, while International Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma did the same for the new Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, government officials said.
The streamlining of government offices is part of the government's effort for administrative reform, cutting the number of government ministries and agencies to 13 from the current 23. Eight of the 13 will have new names.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology asked calligraphy master Ryosetsu Imai, a professor emeritus at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture, to write the ministry's name for its signboard.
The Finance Ministry, which will change its name in Japanese from ''Okurasho'' to ''Zaimusho,'' used computers to write the new name for its sign.
Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa is regarded as one of the most accomplished calligraphers in the political world, but he declined to write the new ministry's name for the board, ministry officials said.
Miyazawa, however, judged the seven patterns submitted, picking one written in what Vice Finance Minister Toshiro Muto described as ''strong and good characters.''
2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945
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