The conference on location shooting has started.

■The conference on location shooting has started.    

The Public-Private Conference on Improving the Environment of Location Shooting has started.

The Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office is the chairman, while I am serving as the facilitator.

 Fuji Television, Kadokawa Daiei Studio, NHK, Shochiku, TMS Entertainment, the Japan Film Commission, ATP, Unijapan, etc. all participated.

Represented at the table are the Cabinet Office; the National Police Agency; the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; the Fire and Disaster Management Agency; the Agency for Cultural Affairs; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; the Japan Tourism Agency; and Tokyo Metropolis.

 The Film Commission (FC) comprises 307 organizations from throughout the country. 282 location shootings happened in 2000, a figure that doubled to 581 in 2015.

However, the issue has been reported that the procedures to obtain permits and licenses are complicated, and the points of contact around the country are scattered.

 In response to this, it was said that the government is moving forward to aim for flexible and smooth usage. The police will issue licenses based on the meaning that the shooting contributes to the stimulation of the region. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will simplify the procedures for road-occupancy permits, and will flexibly enter discussions regarding the use of the sea and sky (through drones).

 However, the point in question is what kind of “public benefit” has to be recognized before a permit for a location shooting is given.

The question is: the government does not emphasize the content of the film but the perspectives of local residents, and treats requests from local governments, etc., as the yardstick, but would it not be possible to rely only on the FC?

 Formulating guidelines on obtaining permits for location shooting will be the output of the meeting.

What kind of “public benefit” must there be and what kind of conditions must be present before permits can be given smoothly?

These are topics that stretch over different government offices and laws, and it is first important to share the current situation and knowledge.

 For instance, large-scale examples are the filming of Shin Godzilla in Kamata, or the filming of videos for the Rio Olympics closing ceremony at the Shibuya scramble intersection.

In the city of Kitakyushu, which has a track record of large-scale location shootings as attractions, a shooting of “Aibou” (“Partners”) included 3,000 extras, and involved six traffic lanes being shut down in the middle of the urban area throughout a Sunday.

However, some also pointed that people would not make their way to Kitakyushu for a shooting that was not of that scale.

 Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hagiuda (currently Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) made the comment that we had to be prepared. If we insisted that a shooting in a government office couldn’t deal with corruption, for instance, no progress would be made. He said it was important to recognize that this was “culture”.

 In these scenarios, it becomes important to prepare concerned parties for the fact that making movies itself is a “public benefit”.

The mission of this conference became to increase awareness of this in the government as well as in society, and to spread this message down to the regional level.