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On June 14, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 35th meeting of the Council on National Strategic Special Zones at the Prime Minister's Office.
 
During the meeting, discussions took place on the certification of special zone plans, newly-realized regulatory reform items, evaluation of the designated zones, matters pertaining to national strategic special zones contained in the Investments for the Future Strategy 2018 (provisional), the fourth designation of national strategic special zones, and additional regulatory reform items, among other matters.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we firstly decided on the Government’s response to the proposal at the previous meeting by the Governor of Osaka Prefecture to reduce the number of children on childcare waiting lists.
This will enable local governments to flexibly and appropriately allocate childcare workers based on their ideas and efforts, which was not possible under the existing framework of approved childcare centers.
 
We are achieving bold regulatory reforms that were not possible for many years, one after another, in the national strategic special zones.
 
Furthermore, Mayor Kumagai of Chiba City today proposed the next special zone, aimed at achieving a comprehensive and streamlined online healthcare system, even in urban areas, using smartphones or tablet devices.
 
In addition, we also received a proposal on a new regulatory reform to achieve a cashless society, which is a growing trend around the world.
 
We will swiftly harness these new ideas into actual reforms, using the framework of national strategic special zones. In that sense, national strategic special zones offer a breakthrough in reforming bedrock regulations.
 
Please give due consideration to ‘virtual special zones,’ which are allowed to apply certain reform items, as proposed from private sector members today.
 
Regulatory reforms are the main driver of Abenomics. The Government is committed to working as one on regulatory reforms, and I ask the relevant ministers to actively work on various proposals from the standpoint of finding out how we can materialize them, rather than finding reasons for why we cannot.”