### 1. Promotion of National Land Policy

According to the policy guidelines of comprehensive national development, a comprehensive national land policy is being pushed forward, based on the Plan on National Land Development (nationwide plan) that carries the new national image of “building the nation and enabling the independent development of diversified regions as well as beautiful and comfortable living environments”; and the Plan on the Use of National Land (nationwide plan) that uses the “Sustainable National Management” as the basic policy.

## 1 ) Formulation and promotion of the wide-area region project

The wide-area region project, as a project that embodies the new national land image shown in the national land formation project and summarizes the regional strategies and specific efforts of each wide-area block from Tohoku to Kyushu, was decided by the Minister of MLIT in August 2009 after the discussion in the Regional Plan Council, formed with national local branches, regional public organizations and economic organizations. On the basis of this, numerous prefectures are cooperating to prepare a mechanism to support the basic infrastructure and soft measures necessary for promoting wide-area tourism invigoration and industry vitalization.

## 2 ) Efforts towards the village issue

For regions that are unfavorable for living and production, such as mid-level mountain areas, while there are villages facing problems related to subsistence due to the marked progress of population decline and the aging problem, there are also many citizens who wish to be living there continuously. Therefore, it is a pressing issue to ensure the living safety/security of the people who are now living in those regions. For this problem, it is necessary to (a) ensure basic services for living such as medical care and shopping; (b) sustain livelihood with several additional small-income jobs; (c) implement appropriate measures towards the management of abandoned lands. To realize these, it is important to “prepare the activity environment for talent” and “ensure capital”. From now on, MLIT will review the specific policies by cooperating with related ministries and government offices.

3) Formulation of a new metropolis strategy and construction of systems to inspire the realization of cross-regional strategic targets

The countries to which the remarkable growing metropolises, such as Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Tianjin, Greater Washington belong, are promoting efforts to raise competitiveness. The metropolises of our country must also review the existing metropolis plan thoroughly. While paying attention to opinions on Regional Autonomy Reform, MLIT is continuing its work on newly formulating the Metropolis Strategy from a strategic viewpoint based on international and wide regional viewpoints.

In addition, MLIT is to establish a system aiming at defining a strategic goal for the wide-area regions of our county to transform themselves into a truly independent metropolis with international competitiveness, and also at developing and invigorating the private/academia sector cooperation entities that should be the central figure to achieve the goal.

### 2. Promotion of the $ 2^{nd} $ Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development

The Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development is a plan that incorporates plans from nine business fields, clarifies the performance objectives from the citizen's view and defines the reform policies of social infrastructure development. The objective of the plan is to promote social infrastructure development projects in a focused, effective and efficient manner. In March 2009, a Cabinet meeting decided on the $ 2^{nd} $ Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development with the project period set to be from FY 2009 to FY 2012. The progress of this project in FY 2008 was reported at the $ 10^{th} $ project sectional meeting of the Social Infrastructure Development Council and Transportation Policy Council held in July 2009 and the fact that 71.4% of the measures had shown progress towards the achievement of the goal was appreciated.

In addition, efforts are being made towards reflecting regional opinions on the evaluation and increasing pre-evaluation by third parties for new direct-control projects, etc. at the new project adoption stage, as well as towards moving up the execution time for the evaluation and the release time of the evaluation results from the end of the fiscal year to the end of January, which should improve the transparency of the project management of public works projects.

## Section 3 – Promoting Ocean Policies (An Ocean-oriented Country)

As a country surrounded by ocean, it is highly necessary to perceive the extensive ocean as a frontier and to realize an “Ocean-oriented Country”, beginning with the effective utilization of ocean resources. In order to promote ocean policy, under the “Basic Plan on Ocean Policy” based on the “Basic Act on Ocean Policy”, MLIT is promoting ocean policy and cooperating with the related institutions at the same time.

In June 2009, the Act on Punishment of and Measures against Acts of Piracy was established for the purpose of planning the maintenance of public marine safety and order, which prescribes necessary items for piracy punishment and the appropriate and effective way to deal with piracy. Based on this Act, coast guard officers are aboard the escort ships dispatched to the sea around Somalia/Gulf of Aden so as to effectively execute judicial police activities such as arrests and interrogations when piracy occurs.

Moreover, in December of the same year, the Basic Policy concerning Preservation and Management of Islands for Management of the Sea was approved in the meeting of the Headquarters for Ocean Policy. The policy serves as the guidelines for accurate preservation and management of remote islands under the cooperation of related ministries and government offices in order to apply appropriate