I hereby give My sanction to the Imperial Ordinance fixing the date of the enforcement of the Statistics Law and cause the same to be promulgated. Signed: HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor This twenty-eighth day of the fourth month of the twenty-second year of Showa (April 28, 1947) Countersigned: Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru Minister of Justice KIMURA Tokutaro Minister of Communications HITOTSUMATSU Sadayoshi Minister of Welfare KAWAI Yoshinari Minister for Home Affairs UEHARA Etsujiro Minister of Finance ISHIBASHI Tanzan Minister of Transportation MASUDA Kaneshichi Minister of Commerce and Industry ISHII Mitsujiro Minister of Education TAKAHASHI Seiichiro Minister of Agriculture and Forestry KIMURA Kozaemon Imperial Ordinance No. 163 The Statistics Law shall come into force as from May 1, 1947.