[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the second meeting of the “Beauty of Japan” Comprehensive Project Advisory Panel at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“Today is the second meeting of this Advisory Panel. I would like to sincerely thank everyone on the Panel for coming to this meeting during this extremely busy month of December.

I want the people of the world to know the arts and culture of Japan, which are steeped in tradition. I also want to thoroughly position cultural diplomacy within summit diplomacy, and promote it strongly. I hope to make this a strength of Japan’s diplomacy. I created this Advisory Panel with this mindset.

During our last meeting, we received many proposals from everyone here, including proposals on the holding of a Japan exposition, developing the global market through Japanese film, and the fostering of personnel to promote Japanese culture.

In particular, the proposal from Chairperson Tsugawa for a Japan exposition would offer a powerful way to promote the charms of Japanese arts and culture and deepen understanding and familiarity toward Japan.

The Japan Festival held in London in 1991 can serve as a reference of a successful example of this.

Today, I would like for you to further deepen discussion toward the realization of the proposals made last time while continuing to propose new ideas.

I would like to continue to actively hear the opinions of this Panel in order to make it possible for us to thoroughly showcase to the world the beauty of Japan.”