Interview with Deputy Director-General for the Economic Affairs Bureau and National Y2K Coordinator
2000/1/1 7:25
Interviewer Mr. Peter MARTIN, ABC Radio Australia (Australia)
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: My name is Kaoru Ishikawa and I am the Y2K National Coordinator.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: It is good to talk to you. I am Peter Martin from ABC. I have been in this country as ABC's correspondent for seven days so I am finding my feet. What do you know about what happened in nuclear power plants tonight?
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: Actually, every nuclear power plant is sending regular reports to the central computer and central controllers. In this specific case, we are receiving reports automatically every ten minutes and what happened was that one of those automated reports was skipped at 00:02hrs. It resumed again at 00:12mins so it was just a simple skipping of the reporting system.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: Do we know if it is a Y2K issue?
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: We are checking it. We do not know that yet. It may be a "safe" disturbance. It may be Y2K related, but we do not know yet. The important thing is that the data itself was gathered. It was just an output in the automated reporting system that occurs every ten minutes.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: Did the Prime Minister know of the nuclear incidents or the incidents in nuclear reporting when he gave his statement at 00:50hrs?
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: Personally, I do not know if he knew about it or not. I did not check it.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: When did you become aware of it?
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: Very soon because we have a very automated network system, for example, we receive print outs as well as Internet reports and every report is collected in the Prime Minster's Office. That incident was reported on the Internet very quickly, almost immediately after 00:12mins. Let me say, this kind of report is not obliged in any country, not even in Japan, not in the United States of America and not in any other countries. The instance is so small, but because it is a rollover day we thought it better to report every small incident. I sincerely hope you understand that this is indeed a small incident, but I also understand the reaction because this is a Y2K rollover day. I sincerely hope that there is no misunderstanding whatsoever on that aspect.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: Thank you for your time.
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: Thank you very much indeed for giving me this opportunity actually. You must be having a hard time only being here for seven days over the New Year. Of course, all businesses are closed. We have a centuries long tradition of closing business from 29 December to 4 January.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: Yes, I understand that things will be very quiet or should be very quiet.
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: This year many lights are on around this quarter because of the Y2K, but usually Tokyo is completely deserted.
Mr. Peter Martin, ABC Radio Australia: What do you normally do? What was your earlier job?
Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa: My normal job? I am in the Bureau of Economic Affairs and my main job is to prepare for the coming G8 Okinawa Summit. Thank you very much.
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