Photo/Illutration Yasuhiro Tsuyuki, National Police Agency commissioner general, right, speaks to reporters on April 4 after inspecting the Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima, the main venue of the Group of Seven summit in May. (Tabito Fukutomi)

HIROSHIMA--To bolster security ahead of the upcoming Group of Seven summit, the National Police Agency commissioner general on April 4 inspected the Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima here, the main venue.

NPA Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki examined the layouts and structures of the restaurants and meeting rooms that could be used as venues for the G-7 leaders’ meetings, as well as guest rooms.

Hiroshima prefectural police chief Yoshiyuki Morimoto and others gave him the information he requested during the inspection.

“I saw the venue with my own eyes and renewed my resolution to successfully accomplish the task of providing security (for the G-7 summit),” Tsuyuki said after the inspection.

The summit will be held from May 19 to May 21.

As it will be held as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other factors are worsening the international security situation, police must securely protect VIPs and put counterterrorism measures in place, observers said.

The challenges for police this time include providing security for the 55-kilometer commute between Hiroshima Airport and the Hiroshima city center that will be made by the G-7 leaders and others.

Restricting traffic in Hiroshima during the summit, a city that is usually bustling with cars, will be another challenge for police.

Police also face the difficult task of providing security at sea, as the hotel is located on an island with a population of a little over 1,000 people.

The island is surrounded by other large and small islands.

Following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July, police are also expected to provide heavier security arrangements to protect VIPs than they did for past international conferences.

Cyberattacks against related facilities are another concern.

Tsuyuki said police will thoroughly prepare for drone attacks during the summit as well.

A meeting regarding the security provisions for the G-7 summit was also held on April 4 at the Hiroshima prefectural police academy in Saka town in Hiroshima Prefecture, during which Tsuyuki gave a speech.

Around 150 attendees included senior officers of the NPA, prefectural police and chiefs of riot police squads from prefectural police departments from across the country, which will dispatch officers to Hiroshima in May to support security provisions for the summit.

Japan held the last three G-7 summits in the country in the Ise-Shima area in Mie Prefecture, the Toyako area in Hokkaido, and Okinawa Prefecture.

It was last held in a major city in Japan in 1993, in Tokyo.

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