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On May 13, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the first meeting of the Hometown Revitalization Support Team at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
 
“I would like to offer a few remarks on the occasion of the launching of the Hometown Revitalization Support Team.
 
Activities that instill people with a love of hometowns as bastions of the hearts of Japanese people and create hometowns that we can be proud of will significantly promote regional revitalization, which is the most important issue for the Abe Cabinet. We have created momentum across Japan to practice hometown development through the activities of the Hometown Development Practical Action Team to date. Building on these outcomes, our efforts of hometown development will enter the phase of extending support practically and effectively to those who work hard in this field across the country. To this end, we ask all of you, who play a significant role on the frontlines of hometown development, to come together as a newly established Hometown Revitalization Support Team.
 
In the Ano district of Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, fishermen’s guesthouses invested money to develop an experience facility where visitors catch, prepare, and eat fish, so as to receive school trips of elementary and junior high school students. The number of students visiting this facility has increased by more than 20 times over the past 10 years, and now exceeds 5,000 people from within and outside the prefecture every year, which resulted in a revenue increase by 4 million yen per guesthouse. The children, who tended to leave their respective hometowns before, now expressed their willingness to work in the fisheries industry. I also heard that some of the students who visited this facility, including those from other prefectures, are now pursuing marine sciences at high school in Obama City.
 
I hope that, under the leadership of Special Advisor Eto, we can obtain strong support from all of you who engage in hometown development on the frontlines, just like in Obama City, with your knowledge and experience. Thank you.”