Provisional

Agenda for the Evolution of the Growth Strategy
January 29, 2015
Decided by the Council for Industrial CompetitivenessAs a result of the “three-arrow” economic policy, a virtuous
economic circle has begun to turn, as corporate profits haverecovered, leading to expanded employment and wage hikes,
which in turn is contributing to a further economic recovery
through increases in consumption and investments.
In order to make the virtuous economic cycle robust andput the Japanese economy on a full-blown growth path,companies and individual people must take full advantage of
their potential for developing domestic and overseas markets toimprove the Japanese economy’s earning power.
Reform for a future society is indispensable for theJapanese economy to maintain its competitiveness in the face ofintensifying international competition.
As corporate and individual behaviors dramatically change
along with the diffusion of the Internet, the emergence of a big
data society and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, acompetitive society beyond traditional business models is
emerging. It is necessary to promptly respond to such change.
In order to achieve and accelerate these reforms onschedule, it is effective to take advantage of momentum which
involves the whole of Japan and has the deadline effect. In thissense, it is important to set the year 2020, when the Tokyo
Olympics and Paralympics will be held attracting international
attention, as momentum for reform.
Recognizing the above, the Industrial CompetitivenessCouncil will examine specific measures from the following three
viewpoints:- Strengthening of Japan’s growth potential- Reform for the future society- Momentum toward reform1

【Strengthening of Japan’s growth potential】
The growth strategies (Japan Revitalization Strategy, June
2013, and Japan Revitalization Strategy Revised in 2014, June2014) have proceeded with structural reform to mobilize humanresources, goods and capital. Further enhancement of Japan’s
growth potential necessitates the acceleration of the structuralreform in the areas of capital, labor and productivity
enhancement and the development of a business environment
backing up the enhancement of international competitiveness.
Specifically, the government will change the quality andbehavior of companies as the driver of “earning power” andpromote investment for companies’ growth and business model
reform.
The government will also take full advantage of humanpotential by developing an environment to cultivate various
human resources in response to economic and social structurechanges with flexibility.
Furthermore, the government will develop an environment
to attract domestic and overseas human resources, goods andcapital, and will promote regulatory and institutional reform tocreate new markets and explore overseas growing markets.
《Major measures for examination》
・Establishing “earning power”(Promotion of “proactive management,” vitalization of theservices industry and productivity enhancement, enhancementof “earning power” of small and medium-sized enterprises)
・Developing an environment for cultivating human resources(Promotion of the participation of women and foreign humanresources)
・Developing domestic business environments(National Strategic Special Zones, foreign direct investment,
energy)・Creating growing markets(Healthcare services, agriculture, tourism, PPP/PFI)・Exploring overseas growing markets(Export of infrastructure and systems, Cool Japan, economic
partnership)2

【Reform for the future society】
It is important to enhance the creation capacity ofinnovation bringing about changes toward a future society madeby big data and artificial intelligence.
Specifically, the government will build a system tocontinuously create “innovations” in pursuit of the mostinnovative country in the world, and nurture human resources
bringing higher added value. To this end, the government willreform advanced education institutions including universities andsenior high schools and support workers’ career development.
In order to realize the world’s most advanced utilization ofIT, it is necessary to build a network society where IT is utilized
as a general rule in principle.
Industry is expected to fundamentally change as theutilization of data and networking makes progress in
product/service development and production processes and as theutilization of robots is integrated with big data analyses andartificial intelligence. In the face of the coming of a new economic
society, the development of a common understanding and thepresentation of specific measures are required with regard to how
companies and individual people should take on challenges andhow the government should support them.
《Major measures for examination》
・Realization of a national system of innovation (university reform,
etc.)
・Enhancing human resources for the future (support for workers’
career development, etc.)
・ Fundamental reform of IT utilization (reform of
regulations/system,
information
andcommunication
environment development)
・ Industrial structure reform through big data, artificial
intelligence, IoT (Internet of Things), etc.
【Momentum toward reform】
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will bring3

global attention to Japan and attracts great domestic interests,
leading to the largest momentum for Japan’s growth for the time
being. Therefore, the government will accelerate reform bymaking use of the chance of “the year 2020” and demonstrate a
new Japan to the world. Furthermore, reform achievements
should be carried over to the next generation to promote further
reform.
《Major measures for examination》
・Developing “Reform 2020”【Revising growth strategy】
The Industrial Competitiveness Council has promoted thesteady implementation and realization of measures in the growthstrategy. In order to further advance the growth strategy, the“Agenda for the Evolution of the Growth Strategy” presents
measures to be examined.
Based on this Agenda, the Industrial CompetitivenessCouncil and the Examination/Realization Check Meeting and theWorking Groups will examine specific measures. The Council will
work together with the Council for Regulatory Reform, theCouncil for Science, Technology and Innovation, theHeadquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing
Local Economy in Japan, the Council on National StrategicSpecial Zones and other relevant panels.
The growth strategy aims to achieve economic growththrough structural reform including regulatory and institutional
reform. Measures consistent with this aim will be incorporated in
the revision of the growth strategy planned in the middle of this
year.

4

I Strengthening Japan’s growth potential
In order to escape from deflation and realize economic revitalization, it isnecessary to make robust the improvement of corporate earnings and theemployment situation. To put the Japanese economy on a steady growth path, it
is essential that the government develops an environment in which Japanesecompanies and individual workers further develop and fulfill their potential.
A report by the “Committee for Japan’s Future” (November 2014) states:“For the economy, we should aim to maintain GDP growth at around 1.5 to 2.0
percent in real terms even 50 years from now. We anticipate downward pressure
on the economy in the 2030s and 2040s as working generation populations will
start declining at a faster pace. A decreasing population and consequent
stagnation of the economy would send it into negative growth in the 2040s, asituation we might find difficult to get out of once having fallen into it. What is
critical here is to make the economy more resilient to such downward pressure bydelivering innovations and enhancing potential for growth by the 2020s.”
Therefore, the Government will attempt to realize the improvement of
productivity by promoting initiatives to enhance Japan’s “earning power” as citedin the growth strategy. An environment where workers can fulfill their potential
will be developed to cultivate human resources.
The National Strategic Special Zone and other initiatives will be utilized
to develop an environment to attract human resources, goods and capital. In thisprocess, the Government will try to develop healthcare services, agriculture,
tourism and other sectors into growth industries and open public organizations’business areas to the private sector. The government will take maximum
advantage of Japan’s strength to expand into overseas markets and benefit fromtheir growth.
At the same time, the Government will attempt to enhance potential inrural areas facing severe population declines by promoting local economic
structure reform in line with local Comprehensive Strategies.

51. Establishing “earning power”(1) Promotion of “proactive management” to improve profitability
In order to prevent the robust corporate profits at present
from ending up as only temporary and to sustain the
improvement of profitability, companies must makeforward-looking, proactive investment in human resources,
equipment, and research and development, as well as
implement bold business realignment. To this end, we willconsider further measures for encouraging corporate
managers to promote “proactive management” throughcourageous decisions and for developing an institutional
environment to support “proactive business decisions”
intended to improve profitability, including a system thatencourages investors to evaluate corporate management
proactively.
In order to promote improvements in business quality andbusiness/corporate
restructuringforenhancingtheproductivity of companies including local enterprises, thegovernment will consider how best to further promote
supervision, inspection and other measures to encourage
financial institutions to proactively fulfill their financing andconsulting functions taking well into consideration the growthpotential of debtor’s business.
(2) Vitalization of the services industry and productivity
enhancement
The government will further consider the establishment oftargets for the services sector and sector-wide horizontal
measures including the prioritization and packaging of
measures for small and medium-sized enterprises in service
industry, the development of human resources and IT
utilization, as well as the establishment of targets by service
category and measures concerning how to create new demandand improve value added and business flow, and othermeasures in line with the actual state of respective service
categories and their problems, and compile these measures asa “program for vitalizing the services sector and enhancing its
productivity (as tentatively named).” In this process, thegovernment will also consider how to diffuse productivity
6enhancement measures nationwide and the PDCA
(plan-do-check-act) cycle to ensure the effectiveness of the
program.
(3) Enhancing “earning power” among mid-ranking companies,
SMEs and micro enterprises
In order to spread the improvement of corporate profits toregional economies, the government will further consider
measures for enhancing the “earning power” of mid-ranking
companies, SMEs and micro enterprises and for vitalizingthem based on specific cases, and consider support systems toeffectively and efficiently use these measures.
2. Developing an environment for cultivating human resources(1) Promoting further social participation by women(i) Implementing measures securely to “eliminate childcare
waiting lists”
The Plan to Accelerate the Elimination of Childcare
Waiting Lists and the Plan for Securing Nursery Teachers will
be securely implemented. To this end, the government willcontinuously review the adoption of the number of nurseryteachers secured as a new KPI (key performance indicator)and other relevant measures in the PDCA cycle and consider
additional measures as necessary.
(ii) Promoting enterprises’ initiatives to correct long working
hours and introduce flexible working styles
Working styles to allow both men and women to balance
work and life according to childcare, nursing and other life
stages should be realized urgently to promote women’s furthersocial participation. It is important to improve workplaces toreduce working hours and allow women workers without
overtime work to develop careers in the same way as men.
With this in mind, the government will comprehensively
consider measures to promote enterprises’ initiatives to correct
long working hours and introduce flexible working styles, andtheir utilization of relevant systems and cooperation withthese measures until the middle of this year.
7

(iii) Measures for men to leave jobs to implement childcare or
nursing care of family members
In order to develop an environment in which men andwomen can work while taking care of children, thegovernment will consider effective measures for increasing the
low rate of men taking childcare leave and encourage men to
take care of children. At the same time, the government willconsider measures for a large number of workers who areforced to leave jobs for nursing care of their family members.
(2) Developing an environment for promoting foreign humanresources’ social participation(i) Promoting acceptance of highly skilled foreign professionals
The government will flesh out detailed plans for attracting
highly skilled foreign professionals through proactive
public-private PR initiatives and the development of acomprehensive environment for their living, education, etc.
Universities should clarify the admission policy for accepting
foreign students and promote continuous measures forrecruiting students from strategically important regions andfor supporting their job placement. The government will
constantly revise the scope of “professional and technical fields”
from a wide perspective in order to flexibly respond to newchanges in foreign human resources’ needs such as an increasein the number of foreign visitors to Japan.
(ii) Approaches for utilizing foreign human resources in themedium- to long-term
The government will comprehensively and concretely
consider approaches for utilizing foreign human resources in
the medium- to long-term focusing on the fields where they are
truly necessary for securing the sustainability of economic andsocial infrastructure, while taking care to ensure that this is
not misconstrued as an immigration policy, seeking to shape
the national consensus.
3. Developing domestic business environments(1) Accelerated promotion of National Strategic Special Zones
As for the National Strategic Special Zones, the8government will open the way to reform of the bedrock ofJapan’s regulatory regime in general within the remaining
period of one and a half years until the end of FY2015 which
has been designated as a period of intensive initiatives. In theprocess, the government will proceed with consideration basedon the Schedule for Reforms of the Bedrock of Japan’s
Regulatory Regime (the Priority Issues and Reform Schedulethrough the End of the Next Fiscal Year) submitted byprivate-sector experts at the eighth meeting of the National
Strategic Special Zone Advisory Council (on September 30,2014).
In order to accelerate reform, the government will
specifically consider the addition of bolder regulatory reforms
in the National Strategic Special Zone Act, etc. as well as“Regional Vitalization Special Zones” for “ambitious,
motivated local governments” to realize regional vitalization
through regulatory reforms, and “institutional constraint
reforms and bold regulatory reforms” for realizing near-futuretechnology demonstration projects including remote medical
treatment and pilotless planes.
(2) Developing business environments for promoting inward FDI
The Council for Promotion of Foreign Direct Investment inJapan should lead, as the headquarters, the prompt
implementation of regulatory reforms contributing to
improving environments for inward FDI, based on the needs offoreign companies investing in Japan. To this end, thegovernment will promptly identify cross-ministerial priorities
for the immediate future and consider specific measures thatshould be taken.
The government will consider reinforcement of the function
to invite inward FDI through cooperation between relevant
ministries, organizations and local governments, as well as
promotion of the intensive invitation of investment in areas
where further growth and revitalization of domestic markets
are expected.

9(3) Improving business environments through stable energy
supply and cost reduction
The government will promote integrated energy supply
structure reform, including electricity and gas system reform,
and promptly consider and propose the energy mix.
In order to hold down energy costs and greenhouse gas
emissions as far as possible and enhance stable energy supply
arrangements irrespective of peacetime or crisis, thegovernment will implement measures for promoting thoroughenergy conservation, utilizing nuclear power plants reaffirmed
as safe, diversifying resources supply sources and stabilizing
resources supply based on the fourth basic energy plan.
Particularly, the government will proactively promote theintroduction of renewable energy and consider the
feed-in-tariff system and other measures with a view to both
holding down the public financial burden and stabilizing
electricity supply.
The government will also proceed with institutional reform
and technology development to step up social application ofhydrogen to realize a hydrogen society from the viewpoint ofpromoting innovation in the energy field.
4. Creating growing markets(1) Securing sustainability of social security and developing
high-quality healthcare services into a growth industry(i) Promoting international (outbound and inbound) expansion ofhealthcare
The government will cooperate with Medical Excellence
Japan and other relevant organizations to help emerging anddeveloping countries nurture doctors, nurses and other
healthcare human resources, develop public health insurance
systems and expand medical equipment, technology andservices. In addition, the government will promoteinternational joint clinical research and trials, and simplify
licensing procedures in foreign countries for drugs and medical
equipment approved in Japan.
The government will also consider a scheme for certifying
companies responsible for integrated inbound healthcare
services (including acceptance of foreign patients) as
10

“healthcare visit support companies (as tentatively named)”
and measures for selling domestic healthcare organizations
providing cancer treatment, regenerative medicine and otherservices rated top in the world as a virtual “Japan international
hospital (as tentatively named),” attempting to develop an
environment for healthcare organizations’ acceptance of foreign
patients.
(ii) Helping create the health industry
The government will accelerate the establishment of a“regional Next-generation Health Industry Council (astentatively named),” assistance including investment byhealthcare funds formed by the Regional Economy Vitalization
Corporation of Japan and local financial institutions, thecreation of new healthcare services using regional agriculture,
food and tourism resources, the promotion of human resources
utilization, and the development and commercialization of
medical equipment using a “medical equipment development
support network.” The government will also implement theinternational expansion of local health and prevention
services.
In order to establish qualitative infrastructure for thehealth industry, the government will consider support for using
information and communications technology to acquire andaccumulate scientific grounds for the effects of services andsystems for the collection and industrial utilization of healthand prevention information such as vital signs, amounts ofactivities, contents of meals, etc.
The government will also consider specific measures topromote arrangements for companies’ healthy business
management (including the establishment of a chief healthofficer) and their information disclosure and diffuse thesearrangements among small and medium-sized enterprises.
(iii) Creating a system for rating nursing care service quality
The government will announce the results of a “survey andresearch project for rating the quality of nursing careinsurance services” within the current fiscal year and considera system for rating nursing care service quality based on the11results.
(iv) Considering using a numbering system in healthcare-related
areas
Based on an “interim report by a research panel on using a
numbering system in healthcare-related areas,” thegovernment will consider the early introduction of an online
system for identifying health insurance eligibility.
Regarding the numbering system for integrating
information in healthcare-related areas, the government willconsider an information integration system where safetyincluding the protection of personal information will be
secured along with efficiency and convenience, using
infrastructure for the online eligibility identification system.
(v) Developing digital infrastructure for healthcare, nursing careand health areas
Based on the consideration of digital infrastructure by a
“Next-generation Healthcare ICT Infrastructure Council,” thegovernment will develop a system to implement advanced
digitization of healthcare, nursing care and health areas,collect available data from service fronts and promote theirutilization regarding large-scale accumulation and smooth,affordable distribution while securing interoperability andtransferability of data.
(2) Reform to develop agriculture, forestry and fisheries into
growth industry(i) Promoting structural reform of rice farming
The government will promote improvement of theenvironment so that producers, etc. can undertake riceproduction in response to demand, based on their own
management decisions without relying on production volume
targets set by the government from 2018 and will consider thepresentation of supply and demand outlooks for crops,
vitalization of the private rice market, improvement of
productivity for crops other than table rice (including feed rice),clarification of model rice farmers, incorporation of farms,
promotion of exports through the organization of exporters,
12and other measures to restructure rice farming. The
government will compile these measures into a package andmake a schedule for their implementation.
(ii) Consolidating farmland through Regional government
supported institutions (Farmland consolidation banks)
Regarding the Regional government supported institution,
the government will grasp, verify and assess the performanceof farmland consolidation and new entry of farmers including
corporations into the agricultural sector in the spring (toward
April) of 2015. Later, the government will consider necessary
measures.
(iii) Promoting exports
In order to promote the export of Japan-brand foodproducts, the government will forward the establishment of
the nation-wide export promotion institutions for fisheryproducts and others as early as possible in 2015 in addition toexisting ones for rice and rice products, beef and Japanese tea.
The government will consider how to promote initiatives topublicize the attractions of Japanese culinary culture forpromoting branding of Japanese foods. The government will
also consider creating international food standards based on
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and GAP(Good Agricultural Practice) systems to improve the safety ofJapanese agricultural products and the competitiveness of theJapanese food industry. The government will work out arelevant schedule as well.
(3) Promoting tourism to produce economic effects
To achieve the target of increasing the number of annual
foreign visitors to Japan to more than 20 million by 2020 andmore than 30 million by 2030, with the wide-ranging spillover
effects and significance of tourism in mind, the government
should expand tourism by addressing various challenges
including the securing of accommodation facilities andtransportation systems, the proactive invitation and hosting of
MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions)
events, cooperation with the Cool Japan initiative and the13overseas expansion of broadcasting contents. The government
will also have to enhance the promotion of domestic tours.
To this end, the government will consider the future
direction of and plans for the further relaxation or eliminationof visa requirements for countries already subject to relaxed
requirements, and for the relaxation of visa requirements forother countries under the precondition of sufficient security
consideration.
From the viewpoint of improving environments for
accepting foreign visitors, the government will consider
revising the regulation of the Licensed Guide Interpreter witha view to reforming it thoroughly.
In addition, the government will consider measures toenhance external communications, to secure accommodation
facilities based on demand, to expand functions of airports,
ports, roadside stations and other transportation bases andthe capacity and networks of various transportation systems,
to increase multilanguage support, to brush up tourism
resource under local initiatives and to promote Tourism-Based
Community Development initiatives.
The government will also consider setting a new KPI to
identify the economic effects of tourism as policy effects.
After the consideration, the Ministerial Council on the
Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country will
discuss issues and additional measures in a bid to expand orrevise the “Action Program toward the Realization of Japan asa Tourism-Oriented Country 2014".
(4) Promoting the creation of PFI concession projects
As for PFI concession projects, the government will
promote the creation of projects to achieve a numerical target
for the priority areas (six airport, six water supply, six sewage
and one road projects) and a total project target worth 2-3
trillion yen through the end of FY2016, based on the Policy on
Initiatives during the Intensive Implementation Period of the
Action Plan toward the Fundamental Reform of PPP/PFI.
The government will identify the needs of local
governments ambitious to create projects, conduct research on
the measures taken for public facility development in foreign
14

countries and consider how to promote further relevant
initiatives.
In cooperation with the Headquarters for Overcoming
Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan,
the measures will be studied to promote local governments’asset management through effective utilization of PRE (public
real estate), utilization of PFI concession projects anddevelopment of property ledgers by standard development
procedures, etc.
5. Exploring overseas growing markets(1) Expanding infrastructure system exports through overall
overseas urban development
The government will take advantage of Japan’s strength to
implement overseas overall urban development projects.
To this end, the government will identify and consider
urban development needs and types of development projects tobe undertaken by Japan; risks and other conditions to beconsidered for the selection of projects; specific methods for
exploring and materializing development projects in which the
projects are actively created and led by Japan; cross-sectorial
promotion systems involving relevant public and private
sectors; and other relevant matters.
(2) Enhancing strategic overseas public awareness of the CoolJapan initiative through Japanese contents
With a view to linking the promotion of the Cool Japan
initiative to substantial economic growth, it is important to
identify projects having greater economic spillover effects andstrategically create them while also taking into account theirfeasibility and profitability.
To this end, the government will particularly consider
systems to comprehensively promote, through public-private
cooperation, the continuous broadcasting of Japanese contents,
and the creation of projects for earning profit overseas throughcollaboration between various contents and peripheralindustries.
The government will also consider setting and managing
new KPIs in order to comprehensively verify economic effects
15

of relevant measures and to clarify their progress.
(3) Promoting strategic economic partnership negotiations
It is essential for Japan to actively expand into
fast-growing external markets, especially those of emerging
countries, and to benefit from world economic growth. To thisend, the government will push forward to achieve earlyconclusion of the TPP negotiations in a way that maximizes
Japan’s national interests and will promote strategic andprompt negotiations on other EPAs including RCEP, theJapan-China-Republic of Korea FTA and the Japan-EU EPA inorder to enhance Japan’s external economic relations and topromote domestic structural reforms through progress inglobal rule-making concerning trade and investment.

16

II Reform for the future society
As data distribution volume increases explosively,
utilization of big data and artificial intelligence haveaccelerated. Various countries are creating new businessmodels responding to such change. The new trend is expected
to produce a new competitive environment beyond traditional
industrial structure and business model concepts.
To respond flexibly to such environmental changes,
Japan should continuously produce high value added goods
and services without sticking to traditional business models.
Therefore, the government will pave the way for Japan
to continuously produce innovations and thoroughly promotereform of regulations/systems on precondition of IT utilization.
Changes in industrial structure will greatly affect personal
working styles. The government will develop an environment
for workers to be conscious of their careers, learn necessary
knowledge in a timely manner and achieve highly productive
working styles to respond flexibly to changes.
The government will consider measures to promotereform of industrial structure over a medium to long term in
anticipation of dramatic socio-economic and competitiveenvironment changes represented by big data, artificial
intelligence and IoT (Internet of Things) systems and thewider utilization of robots in the economic society and theintegration of robots and IT.
1. Achievement of an innovative national system(1) Accelerating university reform, etc.
The government will consider introducing a system forproviding support primarily to reform-implementing
universities to vitalize university functions. The government
will reach some conclusions and publish them by the middle of2015 to smoothly implement the system when it starts thethird medium-term objectives period of national universities(from FY2016).
(i) Realizing assessment and distribution of resources based on17

objective indicators
The government will establish budgetary frameworks fornational universities, one which is subject to primary support
for local vitalization and enhanced research in specific areas
and the other subject to primary support for realizing theworld’s most advanced education and research, andimplement transparent assessment of national universities
under objective indicators for each framework. Based on theassessment, the government will consider reflecting
assessment results in distributing subsidies for the operationof national university corporations. Particularly foruniversities to play a core role in local vitalization, thegovernment will attempt to enhance the education andresearch environments in these universities contributing tolocal societies in line with “the Comprehensive Strategy for
Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy
in Japan.”(ii) Developing systems for Japan to survive global competition
The government will consider creating an Excellent
Graduate School system which includes attractive education
and research environments and serves as a hub for nurturing
excellent human resources as the key to innovation and for
promoting exchange and joint research between researchersand students, an Excellent Researcher system which makes
research jobs an attractive career path for young researchers,
and a Specific Research University system which aims at theworld’s top level.
(iii) Reforming competitive funds
The government will consider how competitive funds
should be (e.g., how direct and indirect expenses should be)from the viewpoint of enhancing support for excellent
researchers and developing research cores leading to excellent
achievements.
(2) Promoting local innovation
The government will promote strengthening “bridging”
functions of local innovative technology seeds to18

commercialization on a nationwide level (cooperation between
local universities, research institutes, public research anddevelopment institutes, and enterprises). The government will
also promote strengthening the support system to strategicallyutilize and standardize intellectual property rights of small
and medium-sized enterprises in cooperation with universities
and large companies.
Furthermore, the government will attempt to enhance thenationwide matching functions by discerning experts andindustry experts in strategic fields to match university
research achievements and private enterprise needs. (Theenhancement of such functions includes nurturing discerning
experts.)
The government will also promote the development ofinnovation-creating centers where universities, researchorganizations and enterprises get together around coreresearch facilities under local future visions based on local
characteristics.
2. Reinforcing human resources capabilities to support the future(1) Developing an environment for companies’ career
management
Given that companies must proactively support theiremployees’ career development to improve the productivity of
the limited labor force and achieve medium to long-term
growth while responding to structural changes in the market
and industry, the government will consider how to encouragecompanies to implement information disclosure, company
certification, leave for educational training, and otherinitiatives to nurture human resources.
(2) Supporting workers’ voluntary efforts to develop their careers
In order to allow workers to voluntarily develop their
vocational capabilities for any workplace while they arealways conscious of their careers, the government willconsider creating regular opportunities to take stock ofpersonal careers, expanding support for companies andindividuals to develop workers’ careers and visualizing
capabilities and careers.
(3) Reforming higher education institutions to develop
19capabilities outside companies
The government will consider the early establishment of a
new higher education institution system for practical
vocational education to nurture high-quality professionals
ready to respond to human resources demand accompanying
social and economic changes by allowing workers to develop
their skills and knowledge inside and outside their companies
and by expanding education for young people’s careerdevelopment before their job searching.
The government will also consider initiatives to develop
and quantitatively expand education programs for senior highschools to cooperate with the industrial world and local
communities. The government will consider the revision,
improvement and expansion of internships for “education
combined with practical company training,” including thedevelopment of a medium to long-term internship system
under cooperation between universities, vocational schools
and other higher education institutions and the industrial
world.
3. Fundamental reform of IT utilization(1) Reform of regulations/systems for building an IT Utilization
Society
In order to realize the utilization of IT at the world’s top
level, improve the convenience for the people and promoteeconomic activities, the government will push throughregulatory reform and make new rules to achieve IT utilizing
administrative procedures as a rule in principle.
Specifically, the government will review regulatory
institutions and administrative procedures that requireface-to-face communications and documentation and impede
the IT utilization promotion and will examine further
promotion of the development of environments to utilize
personal data.
The government will accelerate the examination for the
purpose of expanding the scope for the utilization of the My
Number system, utilizing public personal identification
services and electronic post-office boxes upon the operational
start of the My Number system and realizing electronic
20

applications and other one-stop services across the border
between the public and private sectors.
With regard to corporate ID numbers, the government willconsider materializing such utilization measures as Corporate
Portal and Procurement Portal.
(2) Developing information and communications environments assource of industrial competitiveness
For IT utilization to induce innovation and contribute toeconomic revitalization and social problem solutions, thegovernment will promote the development of information andcommunications environments and the seamless utilization of
IT in such fields as agriculture, medical services, education,
employment and disaster prevention.
To improve Japan’s industrial competitiveness before andafter the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and promote
an IT-oriented society for sustainable growth, the government
will consider promoting competition and developing
IT-utilizing environments in mobile communications andother telecommunications fields, leading to new businesses
and comfortable, high-quality and affordable services, promote
the optimum allocation of frequency bands for the effective
utilization of limited resources, support the development ofworld-leading 4K/8K television technology, back up IT
utilization and investment to improve industrial andadministrative efficiency, and establish cyber security.
4. Reforming industrial structure with big data, artificial
intelligence and IoT systems
In order to address the realization of a Robot Revolution
through the promotion of regulatory/systematic reform under
the New Robot Strategy and industrial structure changes
through the rapid development of big data, artificial
intelligence and IoT systems in production, distribution,
sales, transportation, health and healthcare services, public
services and other areas, the government will consider
cross-industry challenges and solutions anticipating futurebusiness models and accelerate the development ofenvironments for human resources development, security
measures and international standardization designed for21

global markets.
The government will also make consideration from new
viewpoints including how to take advantage of Japan’s
strength to induce such economic and social structure changes,
and promote industry-academia-government initiatives.

22III Momentum toward reform (“Reform 2020”)
It is important to accelerate reforms and innovation by using“the year 2020” as momentum, when Japan will attract global
attention with the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics andwelcome a large number of foreign visitors.
The government will accelerate the growth strategy by using
the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics as leverage and selectcore projects including institutional reforms that Japan
should implement by 2020, and that the next generation ofJapan should inherit as a legacy. The government will
formulate an action plan “Reform 2020” which consists of theselected projects and its implementation schedule.
○ With a view to taking maximum advantage of suchopportunities as the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
utilizing the National Strategic Special Zones and promoting
regional vitalization, the government will strictly selectprojects in the following priority policy areas that (1) can
produce higher policy effects focusing on a rise in global
attention on Japan and (2) can socially implement, showcaseand demonstrate Japan’s strength, and that will lead to later
economic growth, frommeasuresinto “the Japan
Revitalization Strategy” and “the Japan Revitalization
Strategy Revised in 2014”. The government will also consider
how to showcase these selected projects in 2020, identify
institutional reforms and other environmental improvements
for these projects and work out how to implement the
projects by 2020.
<Priority policy areas>(i) Technology-using solutions to social problems and export ofsystem solution technologies
The government will marshal technology-using solutions tosocial problems including the realization of automatic driving
and a hydrogen-based society, the utilization of carbon fibers
and other new materials, and others that will be able to be
showcased by 2020 and expanded overseas later.
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(ii) Deepening the Cool Japan initiative andpromoting global
awareness
The government will marshal projects that contribute topromoting the Japan Brand, enhancing functions of strategic
external communications, international expansion ofJapanese contents, foods fashions, etc.
(iii) Developing an environment to increase the number of foreign
tourists to JapanThe government will marshal projects that can contributeto accelerating and facilitating immigration procedures,increasing the number of tax-free shops and improving theconvenience of their users, facilitating the utilization of public
transportation systems, developing free public wireless LAN
networks and multilanguage support, utilizing IT andpromoting functional barrier-free facilities.
(iv) Expanding foreign direct investment in Japan and improving
business environments and so on
The government will marshal measures to improve andupgrade business environments in Japan and consider how to
invite foreign investment in order to expand foreign direct
investment in Japan.

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