incentives and so on, in addition to the support measures already available to an Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Area. The International Competition Base City Development Project has also been launched to provide prioritized, concentrated support to the development of urban center infrastructures in accordance with development plans.

In FY2014, financial support (mezzanine support services Note) that is extended by MINT (Organization for Promoting Urban Development) to private projects that develop functionalities for augmenting the international centripetal force of foreign language-ready medical care facilities and the like was enhanced to support the formation of global business and livig

environments. At the same time, “Project Supporting the Improvement of International Business Environments, etc. and City Sales” was inaugurated to provide comprehensive support, in terms of both non-structural and structural measures, to the betterment to urban facilities that make for better international business environments, etc. and to city sales.

As of the end of March 2015, a total of 62 Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Areas were registered in government-ordinance-designated cities and prefectural capitals, including Tokyo and Osaka, hosting a variety of urban development projects by private sectors in steady progress. Mezzanine support services supporting the procurement of middle-risk funds are carried out by MINT.

(2) Status of application of the measures to support urban reconstruction projects

### a. Zoning for Special Urban Reconstruction Districts

A Special Urban Reconstruction District is a new concept of urban district, with greater latitude of zoning, that is exempt from existing zoning restrictions. A total of 73 Special Urban Reconstruction Districts were zoned as of the end of March 2015, 50 of which had been proposed by private entrepreneurs, etc.

### b. Accreditation of private urban reconstruction project plan

Private urban reconstruction project plans accredited by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (74 plans as of the end of March 2015) are financially supported by the Organization for Promoting Urban Development or granted tax incentives.

## (3) Promoting the formation of larger blocks

Since many of the central areas of Japan’s major cities have been organized into blocks through the implementation of postwar reconstruction land adjustment projects, etc., the scales of these blocks, with the structure of the local streets, are not fully responsive to the prevailing needs, etc. for land usage, transport infrastructures and disaster preparedness. To reinforce the international competitiveness of the big cities, revitalize local cities and seek advanced and effective land usage to fill present-day needs, the MLIT promotes the aggregation of land that has been segmented into multiple blocks, the consolidated usage of sites and restructuring of public facilities in accordance with Guidelines for Formation of Larger Blocks and also with Working Reference on Utilization of Larger Blocks for Promoting Community planning.

Note A mezzanine support service is defined as “Among all services that involve the development of public facilities with environmentally friendly architectural structures and sites, those that are accredited by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and that are entitled to the procurement of a middle-risk fund (such as a loan granted with an option to leave principal and interest subordinated) by MINT are defined as “mezzanine support services.”