participate in press conferences. On March 30, 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a written request to the central government offices, the offices of each prefecture, the police and other bodies, asking them to allow foreign reporters to participate in press conferences. On March 14, 2006, due to the harsh financial circumstances it was facing, the Hokkaidō government decided to request payments for lighting, heating, water and other costs, totaling approximately 2.5 million yen, from the , starting from the new financial year. One of the biggest moves against the kisha clubs came in the autumn of 2009, when the opposition Democratic Party (Japan, 1998) took power from the long-governing LDP. The new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, opened press conferences at the Prime Minister's Office to non-kisha club reporters from domestic and foreign media, declaring he would "make press conferences more open to everyone." Press conferences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also opened to non-kisha club members of the press. However, when the new financial services minister, Shizuka Kamei, tried to open press conferences at his agency, the Financial Services Agency, the kisha club resisted so ferociously that he was forced to compromise. In an odd arrangement, he gave two back-to-back press conferences, one to the kisha club, and one open to all other journalists. "Japan’s news media are closed," Kamei said during one of the non-kisha club press conferences. “They think they are the only real journalists, but they are wrong.” Nagano Prefecture's "Declaration of the End of Our Kisha Club System" On May 15, 2001, former Mayor of Nagano, Yasuo Tanaka, announced a "Declaration of the End of Our Kisha Club System". He closed the three kisha clubs within the prefectural offices, and opened a press center which anyone could use, called the . The purpose of this was to end the monopoly of the large media companies on information; however, it was fiercely criticized by these companies, and it is reported that this action has resulted in a feud with large media companies both inside and outside the prefecture. On October 3, 2006, the current mayor, Hitoshi Murai, announced that the "Expression Center" would be renamed the . In the same way as Tanaka, he allowed members of the public to participate in conferences, subject to submitting an application. Major kisha clubs In addition to the kisha clubs listed below, there are clubs for