Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday canceled his planned four-day trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, as Japan stepped up disaster preparedness amid increased risks of a massive earthquake in a vast area along the Pacific coast.
The latest development came a day after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever advisory on a higher-than-usual probability of a megaquake around the Nankai Trough, following a magnitude 7.1 temblor in the country's southwest.
After attending a peace ceremony in Nagasaki marking the 79th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, Kishida said at a press conference in the city that he canceled the foreign trip to "focus on the government's response and information dissemination" regarding the potential megaquake.
"As the top official in charge of the nation's crisis management, I should remain in Japan for at least about a week as an extra precaution," while the weather agency is calling on the public to prepare for such a scenario, Kishida added.
He was set to attend Japan's first-ever summit with the Central Asian nations -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Friday night and issue a joint declaration.
Later on Friday, Kishida held separate phone talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to explain his postponement and promised to "appropriately arrange" a future visit. The two leaders expressed their understanding of the decision, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
In Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar on Monday, the Japanese leader was slated to meet with the country's President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene.
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M7.1 quake hits southwestern Japan, megaquake fear grows
Japan sees higher-than-usual risk of megaquake off Pacific Coast
