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On November 22, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Gathering of “Discover the Treasures of Farming, Mountain and Fishing Villages” at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“Thank you very much for coming to this Gathering of ‘Discover the Treasures of Farming, Mountain and Fishing Villages’ today.

There are many treasures in Japan. Along with searching for treasures, many of you are probably also creating new treasures. For example, in tourism, sometimes you find that something, such as a place or a site, you had taken for granted was in fact a wonderful treasure of Japan.

Where I come from, there is a shrine called Motonosumi Inari Shrine. It is a small shrine in a very small town, the former Yuya Town, in Nagato City. There are rows of many red torii gates stretched towards the sea. Since this is my home district, I pass by this shrine frequently. However, I do not have the time to look at the shrine carefully during my usual local activities and had only given it a passing glance. The members of this community also pass by the shrine but hardly ever go in it. The shrine had maybe about 1,000 or fewer visitors per year. However, this shrine was introduced on CNN and, as a result, hundreds of thousands of people, from both Japan and overseas, now visit the shrine annually. Recently, the Shinto priest at this shrine mentioned for the first time to me that it had German visitors. People from all over the world come to visit this shrine. There is a tako-yaki (grilled octopus balls) stand in front of this shrine, and they said they are so busy they have their hands completely full. As in this example, Japan has many hidden beautiful treasures that we may be unaware of.

There are these beautiful treasures in the regions, as well as treasures that have been newly created in the regions as a result of your efforts. You have created new treasures that feature the traditions, culture, or foods of their regions. I imagine they will develop into major attractions.

The number of annual foreign visitors to Japan, which began at 8 million at the start of our administration, has exceeded 24 million, and will likely reach 28 million this year. Many visitors from overseas want to not only visit the usual places such as Tokyo and Kyoto as they did before, but also have more exposure to Japan, its regions and rural areas. Therefore I hope you will continue to steadily attract them.

We are eager to help you attract many visitors, both domestically and internationally, and to spread the word about your wonderful foods and craft products.

I understand that those in attendance today were selected from among 844 applicants. I hope you will take confidence from this and exert even greater efforts going forward.

I would like to work together with you so that we can continue to protect and develop appealing, beautiful regions and villages. Let us work together. My sincere congratulations to you all.”