Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the first meeting of the "Cool Japan" Promotion Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on how the Promotion Council should be carried forward from now on, the operation of the Council, and the establishment of a liaison meeting among relevant ministries and offices.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"Although the tradition and culture of Japan, including healthy Japanese foods, are becoming very popular in the world, the foodstuffs themselves are unfortunately not necessarily going out of Japan. I believe this is the part where strategy is required.
With specific discussions today, it was decided that the bill to create funds to bring out the greatness and attractiveness of Japan, summarized as 'Cool Japan,' overseas, will be submitted to the Diet in the near future by preparing 50 billion yen in the next year's budget. However, although government offices can make such framework when instructed, they do not always know how to best make use of the framework. In bringing out 'Cool Japan,' measures with an official tone led by the government may not necessarily succeed. Thus, we have asked for your participation today.
It is one of the important policy issues for the Abe Cabinet to break through the stagnation that hangs over Japan and to develop the country further from now on,  have the Japanese people feel confident of the greatness of Japan including its tradition and culture, and make all people realize that things from Japan are great, which will also lead to the burgeoning of a sense of respect for Japan.
What we expect from you is not something like summarizing a neat document at the end, but rather to create specific strategies. I would like to sincerely ask for your cooperation so that we can achieve actual results with Japanese contents in three to five years, such as many contents being exported abroad or many people coming to Japan, according to the strategy."