Japan lunches reconstruction agency of earthquake

TOKYO - Japanese government officially lunched on Friday a reconstruction agency to promote the recovery of areas devastated by the March 11th earthquake.    

The reconstruction agency was planed to operate about 10 years until the end of March 2021, mainly dealing with questions about making reconstruction policy, settling down the location of special rebuild area, allotting reconstruction funds, and coordinating with other related departments to promote reconstruction.

"The material of making the wooded tablet outside the reconstruction agency is from the earthquake hit area. We want to take this as a warning that we should always remember the expectations from the residents in earthquake hit area, that's our heavy responsibility," said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda when he attended the lunch ceremony in downtown Tokyo.

The headquarters of the reconstruction agency is located in Akasaka, and there are three local reconstruction bureaus in Morioka, Sendai and Fukushima, the capitals of three worst hit prefectures, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima respectively.

Noda appointed Tatsuo Hirano, the former education, culture, sports, science and technology minister, as head of the reconstruction agency one day ahead.

Last December, Japan's lower house of parliament passed the bill on establishing a new agency to bolster efforts to rebuild areas ravaged by the natural disaster and bring cabinet members to a maximum 18 by adding a new member.