Major overseas visits by the Prime Minister are shown in Table 4-9. Major visits by foreign dignitaries are shown in Table 4-9.

The 45 $ ^{th} $ election of the members of the House of Representatives was held in August 2009. Reflecting the intense build-up of the election campaign of the ruling and opposition parties, many candidates under protection set out on campaign tours across the country. During the campaigning period, Democratic party leader, Yukio Hatoyama (at the time), visited a total of 34 prefectures while Liberal Democratic Party president, Taro Aso, visited a total of 32 prefectures to give public speeches.

In addition, the $ 5^{th} $ Japan-Pacific Islands Forum Summit Meeting was held in Shimukappu, Hokkaido in May, and the Japan-Mekong Countries Summit Meeting was held in Tokyo in November, both with the attendance of a large number of dignitaries from within Japan and abroad.

Table 4-8 Major Overseas Visits by the Prime Minister in 2009

Former-Prime Minister Aso
January	Visit Switzerland to Attend an Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (Davos)
February	Visit the United States of America to Attend Summit Meeting
March	Visit London to Attend Summit on the 2nd Financial Markets and the World Economy (London)
April	Visit Thailand to Attend ASEAN-related Summit Meetings
July	Visit Italy to Attend G8 Summit (L'Aquila)

September	Visit to the United States to Attend a United Nations General Assembly and the 3rd Financial Markets and World Economy
October	Visit Denmark to Attend IOC General Meeting
October	Visit to China to Attend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)

November	Visit to the United States to attend the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy
November	Visit to Singapore to Attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting

Table 4-9 Major Visits by Foreign Dignitaries in 2009

April	Visit by Mr. Nong Duc Manh, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam
May	Visit by Prime Minister Putin of Russia
May	Visit by President Nathan of the Republic of Singapore
June	Visit by President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea
October	Visit by Prime Minister Balkenende of the Netherlands
November	Visit by President Obama of the United States

## (2) Riot Police Activities

## 1 ) Types of Riot Police and Their Functions

In addition to the standing riot police units established in every Prefectural Police to organize a mass security force in case of emergency, there are regional riot police units and secondary riot police units in place, as well as units organized according to function so that police can respond to various cases.

## 2 ) Riot Police Duties and Activities

Riot police form the core of mass security forces for crisis management, and are in charge of various types of security. Furthermore, the units organized according to function are engaged in search and rescue activities utilizing specialist abilities.

## (3) Crowd Security

In events such as festivals and celebrations, where there is fear of accidents caused from the gathering of a large number of people, the police request event organizers and facility managers to take necessary safety measures prior to the events. Besides this, when it is deemed necessary for deployment of police units, they create a crowd security plan, and allocate officers, conduct traffic regulation, and arrange for publicity of areas which are expected to attract a large crowd.

In addition, based on the lessons learned from the incident in July 2001 in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, the police are working to thoroughly review the basic points of consideration and establish a framework to prevent crowd accidents.

Table 4-10 Trends in the State of Crowd Security Implementation (2004-2008)

year category	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Police Officers Mobilised (1,000 persons)	499	501	497	505	514