In July 2024, the Hokkaido Shimbun reported on a meeting in late May to prepare the governor of Hokkaido for a press conference. The governor said to an official of the agriculture department: Watashi, kore kiite imasen yo. “I have not heard this.”
The paper wrote that officials found it hard to judge how much to explain to the governor in advance, and that some in the prefectural government worried about morale.