One month later, Minister Sekiyama requested a meeting with the Secretariat to review the results. Mr. Yoneda, Permanent Secretary, Mr. Yamamoto, Director-General, and Mr. Yasukawa, Director were to be present. Mr. Sakai attended the meeting as an assistant should the minister request further details about these foreign pension systems.
The Director-General gave the main brief. Minister Sekiyama followed up with several questions. Mr. Yamamoto answered promptly and correctly when the questions were non-threatening to the secretariat. When the questions had a negative tone against present practices, however, it appeared to Mr. Sakai that he dodged around them without giving straight answers.
Following the presentation on the system and practices in Japan, that for foreign countries began. Minister Sekiyama asked about systems in other countries not mentioned in the paper and the rates of return on the pension funds in each country. Mr. Sakai waited in suspense as to how Mr. Yamamoto would answer. He explained quite simply, that the secretariat didn't have information on the systems and practices in other countries and couldn't calculate accurate rates of return in each country due to technical reasons.
At the end of the meeting, the minister issued no further instructions as to changes in the present system. In the corridor on the way back from the Minister's office, Mr. Sakai overheard Mr. Yamamoto say to Mr. Yasukawa, "Well done. The Minister won't pursue this issue any further. It was purely a publicity stunt anyway. His only real intent was to raise his popularity among the public by increasing the pension benefit. Under the present circumstances, facing a financial crisis in the government budget and a rapidly aging society, we can't afford to blindly accept this form of publicity mongering policy." Mr. Sakai felt somewhat uneasy with this stance.
Minister Sekiyama didn't pursue reform measures any further and as Mr. Yasukawa had predicted, he was replaced in the following reshuffle of cabinet members.
(Discussion Point)
・What do you think about the actions of Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Yasukawa ?
