Japanese Minister in Spotlight with Puzzling Remarks

November 23, 2018

Tokyo--Yoshitaka Sakurada, Japanese minister for cybersecurity and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, who recently surprised the world by confessing that he does not use a personal computer, repeatedly made remarks again that bewildered those attending a parliamentary meeting on Thursday.

At the day's meeting of the Cabinet Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, Sakurada faced his first question-and-answer session on a bill to revise the basic law on cybersecurity.

"I use a smartphone many times a day because it's very useful," Sakurada, who took up his current post in a cabinet reshuffle in early October, said, while noting, "I've never felt any inconvenience for not being able to type by myself."

At a meeting of the same Lower House committee on Nov. 14, Sakurada, 68, said, "I don't use a personal computer," attracting surprising reactions from the opposition camp. An opposition lawmaker said, "It's incredible that a person who has never used a PC is in charge of cybersecurity policies."

This surprising remark by Sakurada that suggested his computer illiteracy also drew attention from foreign media.

At Thursday's committee meeting, Sakurada said, "I myself is not that familiar with" cybersecurity matters.

"My biggest job (as cabinet minister) is to read out written replies (prepared by bureaucrats) without making any mistakes," he said.

During the meeting, however, there were times when Sakurada failed to read such documents correctly. He also misunderstood questions from member lawmakers of the committee and made inappropriate answers.

An opposition lawmaker criticized Sakurada, saying that he could cause a loss to the Japanese economy.

In reply, Sakurada said, "I'm here because a cabinet minister is needed."

The cybersecurity law amendment was approved by a majority vote with support mainly from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc.

The bill calls for, among other things, establishing a council for facilitating information sharing between the public and private sectors in a bid to strengthen measures against possible cyberattacks ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics. Jiji Press