As I mentioned earlier, we will make extensive use of innovative technologies in railway and other businesses of JR East. We will intensively allocate our business resources in this area. Furthermore, we have established the Technology Innovation Development Committee for the purpose of strengthening our R&D activities.

In terms of specific themes, we will develop strategies for conserving energy for JR East. Railways have been said to be an environmentally friendly mode of transportation because they use energy efficiently. However, there has been much progress involving innovative technologies in the automobile industry, such as the development of eco-cars. Railways cannot remain complacent forever with their environmental superiority. We need to identify technologies in the automobile and other industries that can be used in trains and then aggressively utilize these advances. We have already taken many actions. For instance, we introduced energy-conserving railcars, adopted LED lightning, and created an "ecoste" model station incorporating technologies for preserving the environment. Now we must use technologies to continue making progress in creating environmentally friendly railway systems.

In light of the prolonged power shortages after the Great East Japan Earthquake, JR East is examining energy issues from a comprehensive standpoint extending from the supply of energy to its consumption. We are upgrading facilities and increasing power generation efficiency at our own power plants; introducing smart grid technology; and developing a viable catenary and battery-powered hybrid railcar system. We will also study a number of actions from a medium to long-term perspective, too, as we examine the trend in electric power supply and consider increasing the output of our power plants and expanding our power network.

ICT is another key component of technological innovation. The world has seen rapid advances in ICT. By applying cutting-edge ICT to train control and systems for providing information to passengers, among various other fields, I believe we can use ICT to achieve significant advances in safety, the quality of services, operating efficiency and other aspects of our operations.

We are continuing to make progress with further increasing the speed of Shinkansen. By the end of fiscal 2013, we are scheduled to start operating trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line at 320 km/h, the fastest in Japan. And we are planning to raise the maximum speed to 360 km/h. To operate trains faster, we will have to solve a number of issues, such as noise and vibrations. We will continue to conduct R&D activities and resolve these issues.