defend against quake damages in coordination with the efforts to prepare for and reduce the effects of natural disasters.

## (6) Deep underground utilization

Technological studies on smoother reviews are in progress to facilitate the implementation of highly public projects in the three major metropolitan areas based on the “Act on Special Measures concerning Public Use of Deep Underground.” In addition, information about deep underground is exchanged by means of the “Deep Underground Utilization Council” that has been formed of national administrative agencies and prefectures concerned for each of the target areas (Tokyo Metropolitan, Kinki Metropolitan and Chubu Metropolitan Areas).

## 4 Self-Reliance and Revitalization of Wide-Area Blocks, and Formation of National Land

## (1) Self-reliance and revitalization of wide-area blocks

To achieve regional revitalization and sustainable growth, it is important to deploy measures in an integrated manner while drawing out regional wisdom and devices. To this end, the deployment of measures tailored to characteristics of the diverse wide-area blocks has been pursued with a view to shaping a national land in which the wide-area blocks can grow in a self-reliant manner in line with the National Spatial Strategies and Regional Plans. The MLIT also pursues measures to promote the formulation and implementation of strategies by public-private partnership organizations to allow various regional entities to step up the revitalization of their regions by taking advantage of their specific characteristics, to provide governmental aid to these entities and to proceed with community planning by the leaders of a “new standard of publicness.”

### a. Promoting regional self-reliance and revitalization

To implement hardware-software mixes of efforts designed to form self-reliant wide-area blocks and to revitalize the regions through buoyant human or material traffic, the MLIT has granted subsidies to 119 plans on the basis of wide-area regional revitalization infrastructures development plans prepared by prefectures. Of these plans, 44 have been worked out by multiple prefectures working in accord and cooperation in a bid to revitalize even wide areas.

b. Promoting the development of infrastructures for regional revitalization with partnership between the public and private sectors

To facilitate smooth migration of those projects that have been worked out in a partnership between the public and private sectors to contribute to the implementation of wide-area regional strategies for target regions, from the stage of infrastructures development planning into the stage of project implementation smoothly and speedily at the timing of private decision making, a system was inaugurated in FY2011. In FY2013, 6 surveys were supported, including those into the issues of feasibility of introducing renewable energies into public civil-engineering facilities.

### c. Promoting regional planning with diverse entities interworking

To promote self-reliant and sustainable regional planning with diverse entities interworking, the MLIT has compiled:

(a) a scheme of supporting the local circulation of “meanginful funds” to provide regional planners with funds and resources, and

(b) know-how on excellent approaches to be taken by intermediate support groups, etc. and considerations in their implementation into sharable content.

### (2) Promotion, etc. of regional center formation

### a. Developing centers of self-reliant growth of diverse wide-area blocks

The MLIT has promoted development of regional centers as a foothold for the concentration of unique local industrial, cultural and other features in accordance with the “Multi-Polar Patterns National Land Formation Promotion Act.” In addition, the development of Business Core Cities Note as defined in the National Capital Region Development Plan