I boarded the 2:58pm Nozomi bullet train to Kyoto at Shinagawa Station on May 28. When I arrived at Kyoto Station and called my office to check messages, it turns out I had interview requests from Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, Dow Jones, Deutsche Telekom, Yomiuri Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun and Kyodo. All of them were focused on the suicide of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka.
　　　I tried to call each of the reporters on my cellphone and answer their questions, but I'd like to apologize to those I failed to reach.
　　　As I made my way home from Kyoto on the bullet train, I had calls from the overseas press. As I was responding to the questions, my cellphone lost power. I apologize to all of you who couldn't reach me.
　　　The following morning, I was quoted in the morning editions of the Yomiuri, Mainichi and Tokyo newspapers (Tokyo Shimbun used my words in a pull quote). Here are my comments:

　　　Yomiuri: "The Public Is Not Convinced" ? "It is the responsibility of politicians to clearly address our questions here," says political commentator Minoru Morita. "Agriculture Minister Matsuoka should have either resigned or answered questions as a sworn witness. It's a pity that this incumbent minister who had been elected many times left the world this way, but he shouldn't have committed suicide. Doubts remain, and the public is not convinced ? I worry that this will increase a distrust of politics. To reverse this, the Diet, politicians, the justice system and the media should resist the urge to put a lid on all of this and pursue the story to the end."
　　　Mainichi: "Ungentlemanly Conduct"? "It's the responsibility of politicians to explain this incident to the public. Their neglect has cost the life of one of their own. That is ungentlemanly conduct for a politician," says political commentator Minoru Morita. "At the core of this suicide is the fact that there is no politician to speak clearly and precisely about these things now that the factions are gone. Before, a faction boss would say, "We'll take care of you, so go take responsibility for this." Those bosses don't exist today. The political world has grown cold ? no obligations and no humanity.
First the pension problems, now Minister Matsuoka's suicide ?
distrust of the government will continue to grow. The situation is quite similar to 1989, when the Liberal Democratic Party suffered a crushing House of Councillors election defeat because of the Recruit scandal and attempts to impose the consumption tax. There's no doubt that the ruling coalition's battle for the July upper house vote has become more difficult."
　　　Tokyo: "The Abe Cabinet will be clouded by the dark image that they were helped by Minister Matsuoka's suicide. The truth remains that Prime Minister Abe has escaped his responsibility to explain the doubts surrounding the late minister. There is no one to speak to those doubts. It is hard for the opposition to pursue this, and while the commotion over this problem has reached its peak, it will cast a shadow over the election."

　　　In each interview, I felt comfortable with and trusted the reporters. Lately, reporters at the large dailies and wire services have been faithfully reproducing conversations. That's a good development.
　　　The point I wanted to make was, first and foremost, that politicians shoulder a huge responsibility toward the public, and they should make good on it. Politicians should definitely not try to put a lid on this issue. The foundation of politics consists of trust between the politicians and the citizenry. I would like to see the politicians begin to put the citizens first. On this point, the responses of Prime Minister Abe and former Farm Minister Matsuoka have not been convincing. Abe should be responsible enough to explain this incident to the public.
　　　Another point I wanted to stress is that the doubts surrounding this incident should be put to rest at the ballot box on July 22. The citizenry needs to deliver a resounding "no" to Abe's ruling coalition in the upper house vote.
　　　The country should turn the coming election day into a national day of reflection. We should reflect on the fact that we have trusted former Prime Minister Koizumi and current Prime Minister Abe as well as the LDP and the New Komeito Party. We need to say "no" to all of that. To do this, we must give the opposition a majority of the upper house seats. If we can pull this off, the Japanese people can begin to rebuild their country.