Top > What's up around the Prime Minister > December, 2004

Meeting of the Council on the Promotion of Cultural Diplomacy Tuesday, December 7, 2004 The first meeting of the Council on the Promotion of Cultural Diplomacy was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. This Council has been established with the aim to contribute to world peace and prosperity by expanding and advancing friendly relations with other countries, and maintaining and developing the diversity of cultures around the world through global cultural exchanges. The Council will comprehensively consider this issue from a wide range of perspective and is scheduled to compile a report in March 2005. At this first meeting, Mr. Tamotsu Aoki, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), was appointed as chair, and discussion took place on the importance of international cultural exchanges in diplomacy and others. At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated on the need to nurture other countries' understanding of Japan through cultural exchanges, saying, "Japan's modern culture is very popular around the world as well as our traditional one. The TV drama series 'Oshin' has been highly evaluated among the Arab and Southeast Asian countries, but it is also important that the people know that the program does not depict modern day Japan."