Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa, speaking at a lecture in Tokyo on the 6th, stressed that physical AI is "undoubtedly Japan's winning path, and if we play our cards right, we can have the field to ourselves." While acknowledging that in AI development itself Japan "for now cannot hold a candle" to the United States and China, he said Japan has "some of the world's leading manufacturing sites and the world's only decommissioning sites," expressing the view that leveraging such expertise would become a strength. Akazawa pointed out that while China holds "choke points" in rare earths, "when it comes to the materials and manufacturing equipment needed to produce AI and semiconductors, Japan holds considerable choking points," adding that "it is only natural to maintain them firmly and use them as a Japanese strength." He also said that in the AI era "the probability of startup success may rise dramatically," and that "I want to fundamentally and powerfully review our policies for promoting startups in Japan once again, from scratch." The ministry announced the same day that it would implement additional export bans on goods contributing to industrial base strengthening as additional sanctions against Russia. Regarding Sakhalin 2, Akazawa explained that "properly maintaining Japan's interests is a fairly high-priority issue" and that "we do not currently have any particular problem with Russia." On slowing the pace of AI development, he said it "would not be very effective unless both China and the United States agree."